SAS Rogue Heroes: Inside Connor Swindells life from dating co-star to brutal diet regime

SAS Rogue Heroes Series 2 official trailer

SAS Rogue Heroes made its explosive return to our screens on New Years Day, with BBC viewers being treated to a thrilling episode full of guns, death and plenty of punch-ups.

At the end of Season One, fans saw Connor Swindells's character being taken to a prisoner of war camp. Playing the lead character of Captain David Stirling, the programme documents the story of the original SAS.

But away from the limelight, Connor's career has quickly gone from strength to strength and boasts a very interesting personal life. He made his big break when he landed the role of Adam on the hit Netflix show, Sex Education.

For those who didn't know - Connor actually dated one his fellow cast members in real life. From 2018 until 2020, he was in a relationship with Amy Lou Wood, who played Aimee Gibbs on Sex Education.

Despite forming a blossoming romance, the relationship wasn't meant to be. Speaking to Grazia, Amy said: "We’d had some time apart and then we realised that maybe the relationship wasn’t serving us both."

Connor Swindells shot to fame on the Netflix series, Sex Education (Image: Getty)

She also added: "We still really love each other and respect each other. It was an okay breakup, it wasn’t dramatic."

Connor recently tied the knot in October 2024 to fellow actress Amber Anderson. They married in the Scottish Highlands and the ceremony was officiated by Alistair Petrie, who plays Connor's on-screen father in Sex Education.

In preparation for his return to SAS Rogue Heroes, Connor has confessed that he took up a brutal diet regime in order to lose weight.

Connor Swindells as Captain David Stirling (Image: BBC)

Speaking about his character feeling malnourished in his cell, Connor admitted: "I lost a lot of weight for this series."

"I knew in reading the scripts I was going to have to and that was a big challenge, as it's something I've not done before. I felt like I had to do that in order to get to this place, I had to try and live as much like David as I could."

He also exclusively revealed that he was originally not supposed to be in the second season of SAS Rogue Heroes.

Speaking about the show, he said: "I was absolutely delighted to come back, but I was only ever meant to do the first season.

"So, when [producer] Steven Knight delivered episode one and there I was page 59, and I got a call from the wonderful Stephen Smallwood asking what I was doing in the summer...I was truly delighted."

SAS Rogue Heroes can be streamed on BBC iPlayer.