"Poverty is no excuse for crime!' says SAS hardman Billy Billingham
It's not unusual for ex-Special Forces hardman Billy Billingham to make people quiver or cry. As the chief instructor on Channel 4’s SAS: Who Dares Wins, and its equally popular celebrity version, he’s well known for laying into under-performing or lazy contestants competing in the show’s military exercises.
Yet after six seasons Billy, 59, has acquired a celebrity status that these days can leave those who cross his path quaking with excitement rather than fear. Which happened in Manchester earlier this year when he joined police officers on an undercover raid while filming his new BBC series, SAS: Catching the Criminals.
“It was one of the bizarrest experiences I had,” he recalls. “The guy [under arrest] looked at me and said, ‘Oh my God, it’s Billy Billingham! He’s my hero!’ It was quite funny. He asked if his son could get a selfie with me. I said, ‘No mate, you’ve got to go and explain yourself to the police.’”
It’s uncertain if the light-hearted moment will make the final cut of the BBC show in which Billy finds out how experts are using covert intelligence, surveillance and disruptive tactics against criminals – but he promises lots of humour elsewhere regardless.
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During his UK-wide investigations he sees everything from how environment agencies are preventing the illicit smuggling of prize eels from rivers to the intelligence operations behind sting operations against terrorism.
“It was a shock to me to see how much crime there is in the UK,” says Billy, who is married to designer Julie Colombino and has six grown-up children.
“It’s just unbelievable, from petty thefts to Class A drugs, car thefts to burglary and assault to human trafficking.”
During his 20 years in the SAS, he often worked collaboratively with the police and led several covert military operations including hostage rescues in Iraq.
Yet he was taken aback by how resourceful the police have become.
“They may not strike immediately unless it’s life-threatening or needs an immediate strike – and then they do what they have to do but no one gets away with [committing crime],” he says. “They’ll build evidence and it’s a lot of manpower spent on putting together a case.
“But it was so reassuring to see the forces’ dedication and sacrifice. It reminded me so much of what the military was when I was in it.
“You’re not paid the best wages but you go out there and sacrifice everything for a greater world and greater good.”
Tactics are increasingly technology-focused and smart. But boots on the ground are still a vital part of bringing in the bad guys, he says.
“In one episode we went after big drugs people – not just the gangs but their leader. The police were so accurate with their information and how they locked him down; it was like cornering a rat. It got the adrenaline pumping in the early hours of the morning.”
window.topArticlesScript="https://cdn.images.express.co.uk/js/dist/article-top-articles20240903.min.js"Billy points to a “ladder of crime” in modern-day Britain.
“It starts at the bottom with shoplifters and, once they’re used to having a bit of money, it moves into drugs then burglary and assault,” he says. “Before you know it there’s a situation where people have injured somebody or even committed murder.” In an interview over the weekend, Prime Minister Keir Starmer condemned this summer’s riots that came in the wake of the Southport knife attack. At the time Billy was frustrated at the negative comments he saw directed towards police on social media.
“There were a lot of people saying it was all happening because the police aren’t doing their job,” he says. But he stresses, whatever the valid concerns of communities, most opposed the lawlessness.
“They really don’t want trouble,” he says. “They want to come together and build their neighbourhoods and support the police and other agencies.”
During filming, Billy met with victims of some crimes. “People always think the victim is a person – it’s not, it’s a whole family,” he says. “We show the ripple effect.” But he holds mixed opinions about the causes of crime, believing some people in poor communities turn to it “as an excuse to release their anger and rage”.
“It’s fair to say that a lot of the crime comes from poverty-stricken areas and not having opportunities,” he continues. “We need better opportunities for everybody, from better playgrounds and safe areas to more job opportunities.
“I came from that background – I was a rogue kid from the age of nine, was stabbed at 15 and thrown out of school.
“I was able to turn a corner and these kids that are causing a lot of trouble, they know what they are doing. You can’t just use being in an area of poverty as an excuse and not having things, because I didn’t have them. I hope that younger kids will think: ‘There’s better things I can be doing.’”
Were it not for the Armed Forces, Billy could have easily fallen into a life of crime, and he encourages children to follow his good example at his countrywide talks.
As a youngster he joined a gang but says getting stabbed in the back was a “turning point” in his life.
“It wasn’t so much being in so much pain and almost dying,” he says, “it was more ‘what am I doing to my family? What am I doing to my street and community?’
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“I found my way out of that situation through the military. It gave me hope, it
gave me a direction and turned me into a good person.”
Hailing from a working-class community in Walsall, West Midlands, Billy joined the Parachute Regiment in 1983, aged 17, and travelled the world as a patrol commander, training instructor and military specialist.
He joined the SAS eight years later and left as a decorated Sergeant Major, earning the Queen’s Commendation for Bravery and an MBE for his work as a ground commander in the wake of the July 2005 terror attacks in London.
Before becoming famous on SAS: Who Dares Win, he was also a bodyguard to A-listers including former couple Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie. But his life could have taken a terrible turn had Billy not made the pivotal decision to join the Army in his mid-teens. “It was a stupid thing going into gangs,” he admits, “but I have no one to blame but myself.
“I had a brain even though I didn’t have the best school [experience] and I knew what I was doing.”
He’s a strong advocate of bringing back National Service as a way of giving opportunities to those who might otherwise fall by the wayside.
“Life is about perception – as soon as you say ‘military’ then people think of guns, tanks, war. But that’s a very small percentage of what military people do,” he says.
“There are some people in regiments who never see combat. Most of the military is learning skill sets such as engineering, medical communications, surveyors or veterinary work. And they’re probably the best in the world because they’re always trying to advance at what they do and be better than any-one else.
“I believe any child leaving school who isn’t going into further education or a job should go into National Service. For two years, those kids can learn a skill set with hands-on experience – whether that’s fixing roads or bridges – giving them a great step up. They’re also getting paid. It may not be the greatest wage in the world but they’re supporting their families and communities and learning camaraderie, discipline and respect.
“And parents know where their child is for two years – they’re safe, learning and doing great things.”
Celebrity SAS: Who Dares Wins will return to our screens in a fortnight with famous faces taking on a series of punishing winter warfare operations in New Zealand. Among the contestants are actor John Barrowman, 56, and journalist Rachel Johnson, 57.
Earlier this year, Billy said in an interview that “one of the guys on this series shouldn’t have bothered signing up. He had the worst attitude I’d ever seen. Barely bothered to try to apply himself to anything.”
He’s remaining tight-lipped, for now, on who that is. On the show he forms part of a tight-knit presenting team with Jason “Foxy” Fox, Rudy Reyes and Chris Olivier, so going solo on his new BBC show was a challenge at times.
But he loved the experience nonetheless, saying: “It’s a lot of my voice, face and opinions and that’s been a little bit difficult to adjust to, if I’m honest, but what I’m doing, it couldn’t be better.
“I’d been in the military 30 years, I’ve seen war, conflict and natural disasters, I’ve got so much experience to offer. I feel like I did in the military, like I’m giving something back to make a better place for everybody.”
And that’s exactly what he did when he and the police came across a young woman whose car had got a puncture on an isolated country lane outside Northampton at night. They pulled over to change her wheel. It’s a side of community policing Billy says the public don’t often see.
“She was petrified and luckily the first people that showed up was us,” he says. “I joked, ‘I didn’t sign up to this!’”
Did she ask for a selfie? “No, she didn’t have any idea,” he laughs. “She probably thought I was a mechanic – and a bad one at that because it took me ages to change that wheel!”
It just goes to show even Special Forces members can sometimes be ordinary.
SAS: Catching the Criminals is on BBC One weekday mornings at 10.45am. All episodes are available on BBC iPlayer"Poverty is no excuse for crime!' says SAS hardman Billy Billingham
"Poverty is no excuse for crime!' says SAS hardman Billy Billingham
"Poverty is no excuse for crime!' says SAS hardman Billy Billingham
"Poverty is no excuse for crime!' says SAS hardman Billy Billingham
"Poverty is no excuse for crime!' says SAS hardman Billy Billingham
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