Who was Reg Seekings in SAS Rogue Heroes and what happened to him?

That is, of course, the tragic storyline surrounding Reg Seekings, who is seen dealing with emotional turmoil after an Italian family he had grown close to are killed in a German attack, apart from a young boy who was gravely wounded, and who Seekings had to kill himself to end his pain.

But how much of Seekings's story, as seen in the show, is true? And what else happened to him throughout the war?

Read on for everything you need to know about the real-life Reg Seekings, whose life is dramatised in SAS Rogue Heroes.

Who was Reg Seekings, as seen in SAS Rogue Heroes?

As was detailed in his obituary, which is available on The Independent, Reg Seekings was born in Stuntney in 1920, and after leaving school he worked with his father on a local farm, to which the family cottage was tied.

He was almost blind in one eye, yet wanted to be a professional boxer. His plans were put on hold when, in 1940, along with his brother, he volunteered for part of Layforce in the Second World War.

After his troop were disbanded, he was recruited by David Stirling as one of the original members of L Detachment SAS Brigade.

Stirling explained his plan to form L Detachment SAS, and once he had it approved by his commander-in-chief, Claude Auchinleck, he arrived at Geneifa to recruit men from Layforce for his new brigade.

Seekings took part in their first airborne raid in November 1941, which failed, while his first successful raid was led by Paddy Mayne on Tamet, where they destroyed 24 German aircraft.

He and his brother continued to be key members of the SAS throughout their time in North Africa, and into their action in Sicily and Termoli.

In Termoli, Seekings was at the back of a truck that was hit by a shell strike. He somehow escaped practically unscathed, and went on to collect the dismembered limbs of those who had died in the strike. He made sure they belonged to the right body before each of those killed were laid to rest.

The scene in season 2 episode 4, in which Seekings is seen shooting a young boy to end his pain after he was gravely wounded, is based on fact.

Seekings later said of this incident: "Suddenly he [the boy] got up and ran around screaming. Terrible sight. There was absolutely no hope for him, and you couldn't let anybody suffer like that. So I caught him, and I shot him."

Seekings looked back on what he saw at Termoli years later, simply saying: "Termoli was bad, very bad."

Seekings, along with his comrades, also took part in D-Day, landing by parachute. While in Normandy, he was hit in the back of the neck by a bullet which passed close to his spine. He carried the bullet in him throughout the remainder of the war.

What happened to the real-life Reg Seekings?

After the war, the SAS was disbanded in September 1945, and Seekings married Monica Smith in 1945.

They took over the pub in Ely for nine years, before moving to Southern Rhodesia, where Seekings set up a farm and became an inspector in the police's Anti-Terrorist Unit.

In 1982, he and his wife moved back to England, settling in Suffolk. He died in 1999.

Who plays Reg Seekings in SAS Rogue Heroes?

Reg is played in both seasons of SAS Rogue Heroes by Theo Barklem-Biggs.

The actor has also had roles in series including Silent Witness, The Fades, Silk, Death in Paradise, White Gold, Cleaning Up and Carvinal Row, as well as films such as The Inbetweeners Movie, Kingsman: The Secret Service, The Festival, Femme, Cherry and The End We Start From.

Barklem-Biggs spoke with RadioTimes.com about his portrayal of Seekings in the show, saying that while "in the first series we tackled the veneer of Seekings", in the second run they "kind of shone a light on his inner state a lot more".

He said: "I wanted to do justice to Reg's real story – although we’re playing the myth of these men, there were some moments that I think he really was affected by. You see him, he's kind of a guarded shell.

"There's a great interview in Rogue Warriors where you see him speak about this specific scenario [in Termoli], and you see he's a bit of a guarded character, and you see him crack a bit.

"We wanted to kind of go inside him, essentially, and expose that bit you don't see for these lads more generally. So that was the tougher part."

Barklem-Biggs said he had known about Reg's experiences in Termoli from reading the real-life figure's obituary and from Ben Macintyre's book.

"For me as an actor, that was incredible to hear, and obviously feeling kind of close to Reg, the actual man, I thought that was fantastic that they get to show that real story," he explained.

"I think it's really important, and it's not just a genius stroke from [creator, Steven] Knight.

"I think he genuinely did suffer. In that Rogue Warriors documentary, you can see him kind of crack very slightly talking about Italy.

"But to get to shine a light on what we now call PTSD, to tap into someone that's the most palpably hard in the division amongst Jock [McDiarmid] and maybe Pat Riley, it's an interesting marriage of a palpably hard guy, and this real vulnerability. I think it was important, actually."

SAS Rogue Heroes season 2 is available to stream now on BBC iPlayer.

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