SAS: The Shadow War

As the peace process gathered pace in Northern Ireland, the war on the ground did not simply stop.

In episode seven of SAS: The Shadow War, The Independent’s world affairs editor Sam Kiley hears how the mission changed as political negotiations moved closer to a deal. Former SAS commanders describe hunting an IRA sniper team, mounting a huge surveillance operation and, increasingly, being told that restraint mattered as much as force.

One commander recalls warning his men that, in the context of the peace process, the death of an IRA member could carry consequences far beyond the battlefield.

As the Good Friday Agreement approached, the episode asks how soldiers adapted when winning the fight was no longer the only objective, and whether the shadow war helped bring the conflict to an end.

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In June 1991, an SAS unit lay in wait in the village of Coagh, County Tyrone, after intelligence suggested an IRA team was preparing to assassinate an off-duty soldier. Within seconds of the gunmen arriving, three men were dead.

In episode six of SAS: The Shadow War, The Independent’s world affairs editor Sam Kiley meets ‘David’, the former SAS commander who planned the operation. He reveals how a British soldier was used as a decoy, how the trap was set and how the decision to open fire unfolded in a matter of seconds.

Decades of legal scrutiny followed. Alongside another extraordinary SAS encounter involving Bernadette Devlin, the episode asks the question at the heart of these operations: when do you arrest, and when do you shoot?

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On St Patrick’s Day 1978, a covert surveillance mission in rural Londonderry went catastrophically wrong.

In episode five of SAS: The Shadow War, The Independent’s world affairs editor Sam Kiley meets ‘Blue’, a former 14 Intelligence Company operative speaking publicly about the night he and a fellow soldier were ambushed while watching a farm linked to wanted IRA man Francis Hughes.

Shot three times, with one bullet tearing through his stomach, Blue was left bleeding heavily in the dark, his radio failing and help far away. What followed was a desperate fight to stay alive, improvise first aid and get a message out. It is a story of instinct, split-second decisions and survival, and of the brutal consequences when a covert operation collapses in seconds.

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By the mid-1980s, intelligence had become one of the British state’s most important weapons in Northern Ireland, with covert surveillance teams working the streets of Belfast knowing discovery could prove fatal.

In episode four of SAS: The Shadow War, The Independent’s world affairs editor Sam Kiley meets ‘Bob’, a veteran surveillance operator, and ‘Liz’, a pioneering former female intelligence operative speaking publicly for the very first time. They reveal how secret teams shadowed suspects, navigated anti-surveillance traps and operated alone in hostile territory.

From a stolen submachine gun to the murder of Corporals Derek Wood and David Howes, the episode reveals how a single mistake could have deadly consequences, and asks why so much of Britain’s intelligence war remains secret.

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Four miles south of Omagh, at the height of the Troubles, the SAS launched an ambush against an IRA unit suspected of carrying out a series of deadly attacks on soldiers.

In the first episode of SAS: The Shadow War, The Independent’s world affairs editor Sam Kiley meets ‘George’, the former SAS ground commander who led the operation at Drumnakilly. He reveals how the mission unfolded – and the decisions made when it mattered most.

But decades on, the battle over what happened in Northern Ireland is far from over. As former soldiers face renewed legal scrutiny, the episode asks: where does the duty to protect lives end, and the demand for accountability begin?

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