Original subtitles

Selection for the SAS is cloaked in secrecy.

'No-one knows what it is we do.

'We're the thinking soldier.'

And the truth about what it takes might surprise you.

GUNFIRE

An elite team of ex-special forces soldiers is

putting 30 civilians through the key stages of selection...

'At the end of the day, would I have this guy next to me in a war zone?'

HE SHOUTS

..each task taken from the real process.

Let's get the dogs out!

DOGS BARK

Physical fitness is no more than a starting point.

The true test is of the mind...

'Sheer inadequacy.

'The only thing that I'm really afraid of is rejection.'

I don't really believe that there's such a thing as a completely

weak person or a completely strong person.

..as each recruit is stripped back to their core.

'There might be strong characters.'

Fully submerged. Under!

Once we start unchipping their armour,

we'll find out exactly who they are.

I feel like a boy in a man's world.

No other test asks as much...

Well done!

..or means as much...

Still alive!

..to the few who make it through.

I know THIS works.

Show me that THIS works.

HE YELLS

What do you do normally? Trader. I work in the City. OK.

How old are you? 19. 19?! Dude! I'm twice as old as you, man!

That's good.

Selection is the most difficult thing I've done in my life.

'It pushed me both to my physical and mental limits.'

You can never be fully prepared for something like that.

Ant Middleton was in the Army

and Marines for eight years before passing

selection and becoming a sniper in the Special Boat Service.

On this course, he's the chief instructor.

Passing selection brought out a confidence in being able to

tackle any task, especially with the operations that we've been on

and the situations that we've been in,

so you have this sense of feeling invincible,

and I suppose it helps you through what you do.

Ant has assembled a team of directing staff -

soldiers with a combined experience of 27 years in the special forces.

It's their job to decide if any of the recruits has what it takes.

Some of the pressures that selection brings, whether you're cold,

wet, tired, hungry, those bring some natural character to the surface.

The whole point of selection is to actually break down the facade,

this facade we all carry around.

'It will show every weakness and it will show every strength.'

You wouldn't want to be on operations with someone who's

mentally not strong enough to deal

with what's ahead of them, at that moment in time.

For the next eight days,

the 30 recruits will have no contact with the outside world.

Their home will be a remote military base in Wales.

Follow the DS now. Turn with me, come on! Let's go!

They will eat, sleep and train together.

C'mon, c'mon!

DOOR BANGS SHUT

Take your fucking cap off. Where do you think you are?

Put it on the floor.

Take this opportunity.

This is the closest thing as a civilian that you're going to get

to the special forces world.

Throughout this course, I will be your chief instructor.

This is my team. You will address us as Staff at all times.

Is that understood? ALL: Yes, Staff.

We're not your part-time fucking special forces guys.

We're not your SF wannabes. We were all fully fledged,

badged members of the special forces community.

So, when I say that we've been there and done it, trust me,

we've been there and done it.

If, at any time, during this course, you want to quit -

you might not be fit enough, might not have it up here,

you might not have the combination,

and I can guarantee you that'll be most of you -

you simply take your number off. You're gone.

There's no shame in it, guys. There's no shame in it,

cos, trust me, 202 guys started on my course,

14 of us finished it.

I don't know if I've got what it takes to get through it.

If you come down here and you say you definitely did know that you

had what it takes to get through it,

you haven't really thought it through.

Or you're maybe lying to yourself.

'I lived in Lebanon till I was 16.'

I think my experiences, you know, growing up

in a conflict zone will probably give me the edge in some situations.

Ultimately, it's up to us who passes.

It's not about who's first or who's the strongest,

it's about who's made of the right stuff.

At the end of the day, would I have this guy next to me in a war zone?

You're all going to be allocated numbers

and from now on, you'll be known as that number.

Any questions? ALL: No, Staff.

Right, identify your number, identify your bed.

The directing staff, or DS,

will assess the 30 recruits over the next 48 hours.

Only 20 will make it to the next stage.

Most of the recruits will be expecting their first task to

be physical, which is why I want to start with something

different - something they're not expecting.

Guys, listen in.

You've got a blank piece of A4 paper on a clipboard and a pen,

and I want two sides of that A4 paper filled with an essay,

a story of your life, about yourself, whatever you want.

OK? ALL: Yes, Staff.

'The essays for the recruits gives us an indication of who they are,

'but it also gives us an indication of how much they want to give away.'

So, big letters, guys. I'm triple-spacing the lines!

'Are they keeping their cards close to their chest?

But the course is designed to find out exactly who these people are.

RECRUIT GROANS

Are we wearing the stuff now, yeah?

Yeah, it's white checks now, everyone out front looking pretty.

Essays done, the recruits are instructed to fill

their rucksacks, known as Bergens, with exactly 30 pounds of weight.

Once you've had your Bergens weighed, guys,

and the DS are happy, put your kit on.

Yeah, you're fucking seeing yourself off, but, yeah. What is it?

Doesn't matter what it is. You're seeing yourself off.

To get here, each recruit has passed a physical fitness examination.

But the DS have their own, known as the Combat Fitness Test.

Right, OK, you're all good for weight.

However, some of you are nearly 40 pounds.

So you're just going to see yourselves off.

I'm not going to get you to take kit out, because that was the detail.

Right, face this way.

Let's go.

Come on, close it up!

The recruits don't know the DS expect them

to complete the eight-mile course in under 90 minutes.

Smash it up!

"Hello, my name is Jon Callaway.

"28 years of age, born and bred in Berkshire."

Back at base, Foxy and Colin work through the essays.

"I started gym training around 16, 17, moved on to jujitsu,

"wrestling, kick boxing, but my main goals is now in the film industry."

All right, Jon? Yeah, man! Fuck, yeah.

'SAS are elite. I class myself as, like, civilian elite.'

I'm not the same as everyone else. Something that's tough for me

is something that's impossible for somebody else.

"And I'm currently working on my stunt registration.

"I'm working on making some awesome scenes."

Right, fuck me. I'll put "Film-star stuntman"!

Yeah, fucking Hollywood wannabe. He's coming in. He's coming in, man!

I don't mean to say it arrogantly,

but I should squash every single person on it.

I should be doing better than everybody else.

Big eagles stick out in these essays,

people that talk about their achievements,

about how they're the number one.

Those, kind of, big alpha males, they're not good team players.

They're the ones that tend to fail quite early in selection.

Single file! Watch your footing!

Come on.

After 40 minutes of running, a huge gap opens up between the front

and the back.

No need to come first. Not till the final round.

Go all out on the last challenge. Fuckin' die on it.

How are you feeling?

OK, Staff. All right, with me. With me!

Ollie is sweeping up any stragglers.

Take your pack off for two minutes. Yes, Staff.

God! This sucks! 36 pounds! Have you got 36 pounds in there? Yes, Staff.

You were told 30 pounds.

If you're given a detail, you should be sticking to it.

Yes, Staff. Start thinking why you're here. Get your pack on.

"Life story, Matt Cust. I went to primary school from an early age.

"Was bumped up one year."

He thinks he's clever. "I had a few friends and a happy childhood."

'I am very proud of the fact that I'm a research scientist.'

I mean, I've got more book smarts than street smarts or common

sense, as you say.

"I still hold the school record for most trips to McDonald's in one day.

"The end." He's actually written "The end".

At the front is 33-year-old builder Dan Reynolds.

"I race triathlon for a hobby. I've been a stay-at-home dad.

"It's been the best year of my life."

I did quit the Army when I was 17.

It eats me up. I quit. I don't like that I quit.

'I want to do this to make it right. I want to finish.'

Number 7? "Hi, my name's Philip Hoban.

"I'm 38 years old and my story is how I met my wife.

"When I first seen Nikita, I thought, 'Wow, she looks fine.

"'I'd love to stick it...'" HE LAUGHS

"'I'd love to stick it in her'"!

See, romance isn't dead.

Recruit number 7, Phil Hoban,

is on the course with his 19-year-old son Callam.

Summat I've always wanted to do from being a child.

And it's just a way of punishing him...legally.

"Then, went into high school and by that time the PS3 had come out.

"One downside to staying in all the time was I lost all my confidence.

"I didn't really like speaking to anybody new,

"because I was scared how people would talk to me or look at me."

Quite excited, cos it's really the first thing we've done together,

to be honest.

'We will have to stick together and help each other.'

I don't want to go first, and I don't want to see him go.

Hopefully, it'll, er, bring us closer to together

and he'll respect me a lot more after this.

HE GROANS

Fuckin' hell!

Not going to crack eight miles at that pace, is he?

But he's not running properly now, is he? No.

Might not be used to the weight, either.

Medics Chantelle and Steve are travelling behind the group

in the safety car.

HE BREATHES HEAVILY

Just can't do it.

Fuckin' hell!

His head's gone. Get your head up. Get your head up.

Oh, he's fucking stopped.

Right, I'm going to talk to him, cos he's stopped. Yeah.

Come on.

I can't really do it.

Take your kit off. Put your bag in the back of the van.

Get in the seat.

For his own safety, Callam is pulled off the run.

It will be up to Ant and the DS to decide

whether he can stay on the course.

Keep drinking your water.

I'm not making excuses, that was hard.

Yeah, definitely.

Number 26, Michael Patrick Dwyer. "I'm 35 years old.

"Mum and Dad bought a pub when I was seven.

"By eight and a half, I'd pretty much seen it all.

"My twenties were a blur.

"Plenty of parties and, with it, booze and drugs.

"I was also a heavy gambler." Seems like a...

Normal sort of bloke.

'My family are really proud that I've turned it around like this.'

I can go and I can drop ten miles, no worries.

You know, I can get up, I can be a good dad, I can be a good husband.

Then I just started getting a bit of pride back by pushing myself.

If I manage to get through the eight days,

then I think I'll have an inner peace.

Well, I hope.

You all right? It's a lot harder than you thought, innit?

Joining Callam off the run is recruit number 1, naval cadet Laurence.

If that's the first bit, I dread to think what t'rest of it's like.

That is one hour 28.

Only half of the recruits have covered the eight

miles in the hour-and-a-half time limit.

Can't we carry on? No, you can't carry on.

The rest are ordered to stop...

I can fucking do it again, if you want. No, just...

..including number 7, Phil...

and number 21, Matt.

Fall in here. Two files.

A decision about their future will be made when the DS meet tomorrow.

This is a basic combat fitness test

and you fuckers are taking the piss.

You think this is a fucking game, don't you? ALL: No, Staff.

Yes, you fucking do. If you don't want to be here,

give me your fucking numbers and fuck off.

When I was on selection, every task,

every test march that was in front of me I took on with a full heart.

'If you don't go in with the right frame of mind,

'then you're going to suffer.'

Don't worry, just fall in.

After being taken off the combat fitness test,

19-year-old Laurence is hyperventilating.

HE BREATHES HEAVILY

Don't give up, don't wrap. Feet out in front of you. Knees up.

Extend your head and neck.

Right, now, listen to me. Slow your breathing down.

The team struggle to get his breathing under control.

Emergency medics are called.

Lift your head up, mate. That's it.

'Selection is designed to push people to their absolute limit.

'And that is always a risk.'

Deep breaths. That's it.

'You just never know how far people can go.

'You don't know where their breaking point is.'

After struggling to breathe following the combat fitness test,

recruit number one, Lawrence, is taken to hospital as a precaution.

He'll play no further part in the course.

29 recruits are now left.

Well, you didn't really come in last. I come in last.

Phil is with his son, 19-year-old Callum,

who was also pulled off the fitness test by the medical team.

So, what did they say to you? Who? Anyone.

'With Callum's mam, we were only young, weren't we? So we split up.'

That were a big mistake,

because I lost out on a lot of time with Callum.

Just do it, keep going, do it and just...

Yeah, cos I was at the back.

You try to catch up and it puts pressure on you to catch up, yeah.

'It affected Callum not to have me in his life.'

This is why, to do this, it will give us that bond,

that trust, where he can trust me again.

Callum, get your water, pal. Is everyone taking water? Yeah.

Take your water with you. If, at the end of the day,

you're out there, you'll wanna drink, don't you?

Number six.

Sit yourself down.

Ahem.

Right. As the chief instructor and after today's performance...

I can't let you carry on with the course.

So, if you'd like to pass me your number.

Erm...you're a young lad, so don't take it too harshly.

You've got age on your side.

It's gone.

Here, you might as well have that.

I'm off. Are you fuck. I swear to God.

Where do you think my number is? You've just handed it in?

No, they asked for it. It was that run this morning, pretty much.

He's having a fucking laugh, man.

Callum, are you being serious, with me?

Well, I'm not joking, am I?

When I went to Afghanistan, I didn't have photos up on my walls

of my wife or children, I didn't make phone calls

that often back home to my loved ones,

I very much cut myself off from the outside world.

Callum.

I'll see you later.

I just concentrated on the missions ahead.

All right, mate. Good luck, anyway. Do us proud.

He's out there already. Oh, is he? Yeah.

Where have I got to go? Where is it?

The remaining 28 recruits are told

they must man an observation post, or OP.

To test their attention to detail,

they will have to log any movement on the base, 24 hours a day.

Has one of you not eaten? Yes. Yes.

Each recruit will take an hour-long shift through the night.

You reckon you'll stick it out?

Oh, there's no way I'll quit,

but I think it's to a point where they decide,

ain't up to you any more.

Some people weren't physically up to it, were they?

Whose dad's here, so I don't know how that's going to help his dad.

VIDEO: 'Yo, now, turn on the radio.

'Beatbox radio.' HE LAUGHS

The DS prepare for the next stage of selection by taking a deeper

look at the recruits' backgrounds.

First on the list is 24-year-old insurance broker Dwayne McDaid.

What the fuck is that?

It's beatbox, mate.

VIDEO: 'Check this out.'

BEATBOXING

THEY LAUGH

One of the things that we look into is open sourced information,

anything that's on the internet.

You can dig and dig and dig and find out who that true individual is.

At any point, recruits can be called in for TQ, tactical questioning.

14.

They have no idea where or why they are being taken.

Kneel down facing the shutter. Hands behind your back.

Would you say you perform well under pressure?

What's wrong with you? What's wrong? What's wrong with your eyes?

Why are you fidgeting? What's wrong? You seem agitated.

'We put them under certain pressures to see how they cope.'

Tell us a funny story. Tell us a joke.

'What's their body language like?

'How do they fill silences?'

Relax.

Talk to me about your experience so far in this course.

It's absolutely incredible, yeah. That's more than I can say for you.

How incredible do you think you are?

I'm not that incredible, just a normal man.

You've broken already, haven't you?

Self-doubt will be going on - what's the correct answer?

What should I be saying? What should I not be saying?

Grew up in Adelaide, Adelaide is a small town...

so I'm used to big audiences like this.

Is that the joke? Yes, Staff.

Beatbox for me.

HE BEATBOXES Seven Nation Army by The White Stripes

What the fuck is all that about?

Being able to show initiative, be a leader -

how far down the list do you think fucking beatboxing is?

I don't think there's anything wrong with it.

Guard!

You might also occasionally get to see the sacky people.

Sacky people?

They're marching people up and down with sacks on their heads

and I'm not entirely sure why.

Go on, off you go. Don't talk about fuck all.

So it's one of us. OK. Yeah.

The staff holds your hands and guides you.

Ooh! I know, romantic, right?

Let's talk about addictions.

I think everyone's got some sort of skeleton in their closet

that they don't really... Not too keen on talking about.

It doesn't really float around with me any more.

What do you mean by any more?

Well, I knocked the booze on the head about...

two-and-a-half years ago now.

Have you got an addictive personality?

Would you say that you're easily led?

I've an addictive personality but I'm not easily led.

We look back at people's history,

stuff they've done, criminal records.

It's not about judging them,

it's not about judging what they've done in the past.

It's about how they react to it.

If they're lying about that, for example,

what else could they lie about?

Do you recognise this room?

What does it remind you of?

Like the police are watching or something.

Why have you just mentioned the police, Phil?

Just reminds me of an ID parade or something.

Anything personal? No. No?

Be very careful how you answer these questions. I can't remember.

I don't think so. You can't remember? No, I don't think so.

You've never been in trouble with the police?

I have been in trouble with the police, yeah.

OK. Do you want to talk about that?

How long do you want to talk about it for?

Mate, I've got all fucking night,

so you can fucking tell me all night if you want to.

I've been done for stealing a cash machine.

Stealing a cash machine? Yeah.

Oh, right. So you go round with the chains and pull it out

the fucking wall and shit like that, do you?

Yeah, it was something like that. OK.

Tell me more about this cash machine.

My dad had just died, I wanted money to be able to get a nice gravestone

and I couldn't get it on my wage. Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait.

Your dad had just died. Yeah. Is that a sensitive subject? Yeah.

It is, isn't it? Because I can see that you're getting a bit twitchy.

Hm. I understand where you're coming from...

because, believe it or not, in the SAF world,

half of us grew up without our dads, because half of us are degenerates,

half of us come from broken families.

I've been through a lot but...

My mate dying in my arms. You know, he got stabbed.

That must be difficult. Yeah, it were. That were my best pal.

Do you dwell on that? Do you have, like, flashbacks or anything?

I won't say...

Well, I've moved on, but it's still there when I think about it,

it still hurts just as much, do you know what I mean? It's...

They say time is a great healer, it's healed but every night,

I say a prayer to him every night before I go to sleep.

OK. Guard!

What is refreshing about selection is, actually, regardless of what

went before, whether good or bad, it's now that counts and the future.

Move on, you know, the past is your past.

The recruits have been awake for 17 hours.

Right, everyone, up! Get all your PT kit on

and make sure you've got your head torches with you now, as well.

I knew it!

Fucking freezing, man.

Recruits are given no information about what's coming next.

They don't know when they will eat, or sleep or what the next task

will demand of them.

Press up position. Let's go!

It's important that the recruits don't really know what's going on,

because it gives us a good indication

on how they deal with the unknown.

Are you in fucking slow motion?! WORK!

In the battlefield, it happens all the time.

We get off the helicopters, we run towards our target,

it will be different to how we've structured it.

The building might be different, there might be doors missing

and you do start to shit yourself, but then everything slows down,

you start to think about your training and it starts to kick in.

Work the knees! Work! Work! Work!

It just becomes an everyday part of your life to live on the edge,

kicking doors down every night, you know,

being in fire fights every night, you get used to it very quickly.

By the end of tomorrow, the directing staff will have to decide

which recruits can stay and which will be sent home.

Fucking block out the pain and get moving!

Right, in an emergency...

you press this, and what I mean by emergency

is if you're lost on the hill, you can't see no-one, you're totally

disorientated, you're stuck up there...OK, you press that.

After just four hours' sleep,

the 28 remaining recruits face one of the toughest challenges in

SAS selection, a gruelling march over the highest peak in South Wales,

Pen y Fan.

They will be carrying 35 lbs of weight in their bergens,

over the 21.5km.

For us it's called the Fan Dance.

At any stage we pull you off,

it's for your own safety, OK?

Because we're literally going to be going up and down, up and down.

Foxy, good to go.

The march will be led by former SBS operator Foxy,

a veteran of multiple tours in Afghanistan.

All of us versus the hill.

Oi, Fatboy Slim! You'd better start moving.

The Fan Dance is notorious on selection.

Not only do the recruits have to go up and over the 3,000 ft peak,

they then have to come back up and back over to where they started.

The Pen y Fan isn't just a physical test, it's a mental test as well.

When you get to the halfway point you look back up and you think,

"Right, I've got to do that all again."

It can be demoralising and it can break a lot of people

and it DOES break a lot of people.

For weeks I was excited about this.

And now I'm here,

it's fuckin' awful. HE LAUGHS

Stop the fucking chitchat!

If you've got the fucking energy to talk,

you should have the energy to get up this fucking hill.

Unbeknown to the recruits, the DS don't expect any of them

to keep up with Foxy and complete the march in four hours.

They are being judged on whether they have

the mental resilience not to give up.

You're looking to put them in a situation where they feel

physically and mentally drained but they still understand they have to keep pushing themselves on.

I can remember a time where I was literally having to

run for my life and I'm sure I was almost in tears.

I was in the middle of a marshy, boggy land just pumping my legs

and it was like, there's two ways to go,

you either quit -

and in that situation I was talking about personally

you get killed - or you decide not to quit,

your survival instinct kicks in and you fight on,

whether that's on a course where you're getting fragged a little bit

by the directing staff

or whether you're in a ditch somewhere getting shot at.

Foxy covers six and a half miles and 6,000 feet in 75 minutes

by the time he reaches the halfway checkpoint.

1:15... He's nearly 30 minutes ahead of the frontrunners.

From the beginning they spread out, cos I sort of

wanted to give that quick sharp shock into it, basically.

There was, like, two frontrunners,

then there was a sort of gaggle of maybe about seven to ten perhaps.

And then after that it was pretty much...Dunkirk.

Fuckin' Nora!

I feel like my legs are just not moving. Brutal, isn't it? Yeah.

Horrendous.

Messes with your head.

Some of the recruits have yet to make it to the summit of the mountain.

It's all in your mind. Come on, man. Just come back with me now.

I can't, mate, I can't. You carry on.

Recruit number 18, Chris,

and number 13, Alexander,

drop out of the march with injuries.

I'm fucked.

Tired.

Just hungry.

Recruit number seven, 39-year-old MMA fighter Phil,

whose son Callum was kicked off yesterday,

is struggling to keep going.

Think I'm done on this.

HE PANTS

Just come off the comms. Number seven...

flagged. Oh, no.

I like him, he's got a good character.

Yeah, he had a good character.

I think he's got it

in his mind that he thinks, "I can't do this" -

I believe he can, he's overcome quite a lot of stuff.

I've taken a bit of a shine to him.

'There'll be definitely people that are amongst the recruits that

'I probably see a likeness to myself in.'

The person that fails and picks themselves back up

and gets back into the arena and continues scrapping, pushing on -

because at one point or another on selection you will do something

where you question whether you should actually be there.

Good effort, fellas.

You need to fill your water bottles up when you get a chance.

The frontrunners have reached the halfway checkpoint

in under two hours.

The DS give the first five the chance to make it back up

and over the mountain.

Make sure you drink a lot of water.

One of the first to begin the march back is recruit number two,

24-year-old landscape gardener Freddie.

I was very keen on joining the military when I was at school.

I didn't join because I wanted to travel.

I was deep-sea tuna fishing in Australia.

After two months on the boat it was the mental stuff that got me.

You know, it's just not sleeping.

You've got, like, sores all over your hands and your feet

cos you're constantly wet.

Um, yeah, so you're just worn down, knackered.

How are you feeling? Fucked, mate. It's a good effort, mate.

You should be proud of yourself.

Can't say I've spent my life trying to push myself that hard,

you know. Maybe that's the reason why I am doing this, you know.

With the frontrunners continuing to the finish line,

20 exhausted recruits push themselves to halfway...

Single file.

..three hours after starting.

21. 21. You'll be the last guy in.

I think so, staff.

For safety reasons,

the medical team pull the remaining recruits off the march.

I've definitely got a blister.

I can feel everything squishing in my feet.

HE PANTS

Phil makes it to the summit...

..but is told he can't continue, because he's so far behind.

You've got all your kit on. It's no wonder you're going slow.

You've got a hat on.

Fucking hell, I didn't even wear that shit in the Arctic. Yes, sir.

Can I finish this walk? No. You know what I mean, cos I don't quit.

I never quit, man. I keep going. This were my dream, man.

Got three of them... One of them's coming down now.

Freddie finishes just 25 minutes after Foxy...

Good. Basically you fall in there.

..followed by three other recruits.

Good effort, mate.

The only frontrunner left on the mountain is number eight, John.

Fuck me. Should have eaten breakfast.

Mate, I'm fucked. My fucking legs.

After 16km and on his second climb, the DS pull him off.

He's driven to the finish line.

I, like, died, that close up the mountain.

I had no energy. I didn't eat any breakfast.

I couldn't get up the mountain. I was fucked.

I could've got all the way up twice, just saying!

LAUGHTER

Back at the barracks,

the recruits think the Pen-y-Fan task is over.

Oh... Argh, crap!

Urgh, that is not pleasant.

Maybe afterwards, you'll look back on it differently.

But at the time you just feel like it's gruelling shit.

Just because you're doing something physically demanding

doesn't mean that you should switch off mentally.

You're always looking where you are.

You're looking at exits, you're looking at what

people are wearing so that you can recall that information

if the shit hits the fan.

I'm going to ask you a series of questions.

I'm going to ask the question

and then I'll choose someone to answer the question.

Nobody shout out.

Does everyone understand? ALL: Yes, staff.

At the bottom of Pen-y-Fan, behind you there was a sign.

There was a fine for litter.

Put your fucking hand down. Sorry, staff.

Did you not understand what I said at the start? Sorry, staff.

You.

I'd be taking a guess, staff.

I didn't read the number. Wrong.

What was the VRN - that's registration number -

of the green vehicle at the turnaround point?

You. I don't know, staff.

Wrong.

What was the colour of the medic's watch?

You. Black, staff. Wrong.

Get into your PT rig.

You've got two minutes to get into your PT rig and to be here.

Move it, let's go.

That's how you want to play it, that's how we'll play it.

The recruits don't realise it,

but with the threat of another brutal PT session hanging over them,

the DS are about to offer them a way out.

They can quit at any stage. People do.

Just mentally you can't go any further.

They've reached their break point and that's as far as they can go.

The 28 recruits left on the course

are facing another physical thrashing.

They've had four hours' sleep in the last 40

and have no idea what's to come in the next six days.

The DS want to see if this is enough to make anyone quit.

I'm going to give you the chance now

to VW, to voluntary-withdraw yourself.

There will be people that you think are strong,

you think they're coasting it, they're doing really well.

Then all of a sudden they just quit.

There's plenty of times where you do contemplate quitting.

You know it's there, you know it's an option.

If you want to voluntary-withdraw yourself,

hand your number in of your own accord.

Is there anyone that wants to do that?

Thank you. Go into your accommodation.

28-year-old farmer Chris

is the first to withdraw.

Anyone else?

Yes.

30-year-old Stephen,

a personal trainer, is next to go.

Yes, staff.

Scientist Matt also voluntarily withdraws.

Sorry, staff.

25 recruits remain.

The rest of you get outside, now. Move it.

Jogging on the spot.

The recruits don't know that only 20 of them

will make it to the next stage.

Before the DS make the decision about which five will go,

there is one recruit they want to bring in

for tactical questioning.

You're currently working on your stunt registration,

have you got your stage combat?

I've got, erm, two... I'm a...British Action Academy...

I've done two stage combats for that. OK.

You look at, you know, all the Jason Stathams, people like that,

I mean, that can set you up to be a pretty top star. That's the plan.

That's the plan? It is the plan. OK.

I want to overtake Jason Statham.

You want to overtake him? Yeah, get better than him.

He's got a good 20, 24 years on me. I'll catch him by then, I think.

I can see myself within some of the recruits as a young soldier.

I was sort of cocky and cocksure of myself, shall we say?

I mean, the SAS would have been all right...I think.

This is something I could have done,

or could have worked for if I wasn't doing what I was doing.

Once you identify the weaknesses in individuals,

especially looking back at yourself, thinking, I had that weakness,

you know it's possible to focus them in a certain direction.

There's cockiness and arrogance that can get you in trouble,

but there's cockiness and arrogance that can also change a situation.

Every time I went onto operations, I never thought I would get hit.

I never thought I would get shot. I never thought I would get injured.

I never thought... You know, I just knew that I would go on there

and I would be on that helicopter on the way home.

Always at the back, always limping, putting a face on.

From day one, it's been the same.

Right, let's fuck him off.

At the end of every key stage of selection,

directing staff come together

for what is known as a prayers meeting

to discuss which recruits are making the grade and which aren't.

He's got some good qualities at this stage.

He's a bit cocksure of himself but I would tick that one for now.

At the prayers meeting it's very important that we get a collective

decision together, so we're not missing anything.

He's there to stay, yeah?

'We all see different things.'

Different attributes or different characteristics

on certain individuals.

Number eight.

Again, I've had limited exposure, and what I have had,

he's got an attitude, big-time.

For me, he's a fucking show pony.

He does put himself on a pedestal

and he's come on this course thinking, "I'm the man here.

"This is it." But they're starting to chip away at his armour now.

I'd really like to see that switch happen.

Whether he can do it in time to make it to the end, I don't know.

Foxy.

At times, I hate his guts.

But would you like to see him suffer?

I do want to see him suffer, so, yeah, keep him on.

Fucking hell, do you think they'll let us go to sleep now?

'OK, number seven.'

Erm, he's not the quickest learner.

If you was to put him on a learning curve, he wouldn't go up,

he's slip straight off of it.

I am on the fence with him.

He's very passionate about being here.

Yeah, unsure.

Obviously, I've fucking taken a shine to him, fuck knows why.

I would say yes but not for the right reasons, probably.

I'll play devil's advocate with number seven.

If we put him against test about everything he's been through

he comes up short on quite a lot of them.

I'll put this to you, out of all the ones up there on the wall,

you're pinned down with fire,

who's the first guy up there who's coming to get you,

out of all of those?

All the ones up there on the wall? It would be him.

He'd come right through a hail of fucking bullets to get you.

It puts a different spin on it.

Lights out!

What's the time? 20 to one, innit? Quarter past one.

Quarter PAST one?

Oh, we can't have phys.

Guys! All of you out here now!

Fill in, two ranks.

Some of you will be going home tonight.

You just simply haven't made the grade.

If I call your number out, you step forward,

you walk towards the DS, hand him your number.

Is that understood? ALL: Yes, staff.

Your ultimate question that you ask

after you've measured physical capability, tactics, is,

would I have this guy fighting alongside me?

24.

Would I trust this guy to have my back when I kick that door,

when I go round the corner?

13.

Do I trust this guy as part of my team?

17.

If the answer is yes, then he should get in.

Nine.

If the answer's no, then he won't make it.

20.

Some of you were very close.

So have a good look at yourselves

and ask yourselves if you want to be here.

It's only going to get harder.

Away you go. ALL: Yes, staff.

Still here, can't believe it. Fucking buzzing.

We keep going or we withdraw.

I'm going to drill this attitude out of you tonight.

Pick the weakest member of this course.

Number seven, sir.

This will not stop until one of you give me your armband.

DOOR SLAMS

The worst thing is the mind games.

Once we start planting that seed of doubt into their mind,

we'll find out if you will break mentally.

ALARM RINGS Fucking hell.

I can tell that you've never grafted in your life.

I feel like a boy in a man's world.

Subtitles by Ericsson