I loved the first series although Eve was a bit odd but the real female spies and resistance would have been incredible women so I can accept her as a fictional character. I quite like this series but hate the portrayal of Mayne and others like Seekings and Cooper who are just bylines in this.
Maynes real friends said he was kind, polite, quiet, well thought of, and highly intelligent although he lacked charm until he had a few too many then completely different character appeared. Also that once they got to Europe he became quieter and colder because Europe was a meat grinder and those men were trained to be disruptive and saboteurs not vanguards. Mayne is said to have regretted his decision to agree to changing into the SRS and spearheading the invasion of Europe because it cost too many lives unnecessarily. He also, unlike Lewes would, if possible, collect the dead and wounded. Not sure about the complete psycho character us entirely correct, complex and umpredictable yes, callous and psychotic ... not so sure
As someone from a military family it gets on my last nerve that they show one of the most highly decorated men of WWII from a group of highly specilised and incredibly brave and uniquely talented soldiers doing something that had almost never been done in a way like no other has made the men of the original SAS look like a bunch of loud mouth dickheads.
I wouldn't have wanted to have met Mayne or any of the originals, I doubt many were charming and lovely, however I appreciate their sheer courage, and that Mayne was denied the Victoria Cross for sketchy reasons is bad enough. To make out he was a garrulous psycho is a real disservice because that's what will be remembered.
And as much as I love Madness et al, the music is way way off and now I have Night Boat to Cairo in my head for the evening 😆