Top Guns: Inside the RAF series two takes viewers back into the skies, command centres and hangars as RAF crews continue to defend Britain’s skies from threats at home and abroad

​We’re living in turbulent and dangerous times. And as tensions rise around the world, it’s the Royal Air Force’s job to protect Britain’s interests.

But what is life like for those pilots tasked with intercepting Russian fighters approaching NATO airspace, gathering top-secret intelligence in the skies close to Ukraine, or carrying out targeted strikes to protect shipping lanes in the Red Sea?

Is it anything like the Hollywood movies, in particular the film which inspires its title, Tom Cruise’s Top Gun?

The first season of this Channel 4 documentary in 2023 showed us what life is really like for our own Mavericks, Icemen and the other personnel at the heart of the UK’s defence.

And from the outset, it was clear that the reality is nothing like the films.

“The first one [Top Gun] is absolute bobbins,” Typhoon pilot Ben Chergui, who featured in the programme, said.

“It’s a great film and one of my favourites, but it’s so far from what the job actually is.”

Top Guns: Inside the RAF was a huge hit with viewers, and many were astounded by the reality of the RAF pilots’ work and the training they go through – pointing out they would never receive such interesting and accurate information from movies, TV series, or indeed exhibitions.

Channel 4 Documentaries commissioning editor Rita Daniels Rita Daniels was delighted with its ratings, saying: “The first series of Top Guns was a such a success, with production company True North doing a fantastic job of bringing the high-stakes of the RAF’s work to our screens.”

Now, as it returns for a second run, she adds: “We can’t wait to follow up with what promises to be an even more high-octane series with unprecedented access to two new RAF bases.”

From inside the cockpits of lightning-fast jet fighter bombers to remotely piloted aircraft operating from top secret bases in the UK, the second run takes viewers back into the skies, command centres and hangars.

This time we’re getting exclusive access to RAF Coningsby and RAF Waddington in Lincolnshire, the spiritual county home of bomber command, as pilots, engineers and armourers deal with ever-increasing pressure and demands before being deployed in eastern Europe, the Mediterranean and the Middle East.

Over the next few weeks, we’ll see the air force face down hostile threats and carry out some of its most audacious missions in decades.

Cameras inside the cockpit take viewers into the very heart of the battle – from secret spy missions over Syria to precision strikes in Yemen, and intercepting Iranian drones threatening Israel.

The series begins with a rookie pilot ordered to escort a top-secret British spy plane over the Black Sea as it gathers intelligence on Russian military activity. However, they face a dangerous threat which could spark all-out war.

Meanwhile, in Cyprus, a young weapons engineer comes to terms with another deadly task.

Finally, in Romania, the RAF jets feel the need… the need for speed, when they rapidly redeploy as Iran threatens Israel.

In the words of Lieutenant Slider from a certain Hollywood film, there are no points for second place here.