Steven Knight has promised he has plenty in store for his new BBC drama SAS Rogue Heroes, saying he’s already got plans for another instalment - three more, in fact.
Knight has, of course, a pretty solid track record when it comes to longevity, having seen Peaky Blinders through six popular and unfaltering seasons, while his hit 90s comedy The Detective spanned five.
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Then there’s the small matter of Who Wants to be a Millionaire?, co-created by Knight, which is not only still running after first debuting in 1998, it’s also become a huge, international franchise.
His latest ace card is SAS Rogue Heroes, which follows a motley crew of soldiers as they create a brand new special forces unit, roping in the toughest, boldest and most daring fighters for their radical plan.
The six-part series stars Sex Education's Connor Swindells, Jack O'Connell, Alfie Allen, Sofia Boutella, Dominic West, Jason Watkins and Tom Glynn-Carney, who all play the real-life people behind the formation of the SAS in the 1940s.
Speaking to LADbible, Knight revealed he has high hopes for the future of the show, saying he has several more seasons in mind.
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“We're gonna go another three,” he said.
“We're gonna to take it to after the end of the Second World War and then see what happens, because the story just keeps it keeps going.”
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The revelation appeared to come as good news to the show’s stars – many of whom were also on the Zoom call with us at the time, and had clear traces of pleasant surprise on their faces.
Knight continued: “Obviously the war keeps going and it just gets more and more incredible.
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“And we might break away and do Colditz as well – [Julius] Green meets [David] Stirling.”
Knight clearly believes in the potential his source material offers, having also told us that he believes the new drama will have the same cultural impact as Peaky Blinders.
“It's a really interesting character driven true story, where the truest bits are the weirdest bits,” he said.
“And it was just irresistible.”
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When asked if he felt any pressure on delivering to his legion of loyal Peaky fans, he replied: “Not really, no. I mean, I don't tend to think of it in that way.
“I think, once I start writing, I forget everything else anyway - it just becomes whatever's coming onto the page, so I'm not thinking in the moment of writing anything about Peaky Blinders.
“It's like dreaming. You're having a dream, you're not thinking about the last dream you had."
He continued: “But the thing is, when we got this cast, and when I first started to see the rushes, there was no anxiety at all, because you just thought, ‘This is something that's reinventing, first of all, what this genre is, but I don't think there's been anything like this on TV ever, really.
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“And it’s getting such a great response from people who have seen it that, if I'd started to see the rushes and it was bad, I’d think there is pressure.
“But this is so good, and the performances are so good. It's so different, as well. It's the same in some ways, but it's very different.
“But I think it will have an equivalent effect on the culture that Peaky had. I think people will be really drawn to it.”
Watch SAS Rogue Heroes every Sunday at 9:00pm on BBC One, or catch up on BBC iPlayer.
Topics: TV and Film
Jess Hardiman