The Stan Original Documentary Revealed: Ben Roberts-Smith Truth On Trial is coming to our screens.

He was once one of Australia's most decorated war heroes, but a dark shadow has since been cast over the legacy of former soldier Ben Roberts-Smith and his alleged history of committing war crimes. 

The allegations, investigation and court battle are laid out in the upcoming Stan Original Documentary Revealed: Ben Roberts-Smith Truth On Trial, which will premiere December 10 on Stan.

The documentary will trace journalists Nick McKenzie and Chris Masters’ early investigation into the soldier's alleged war crimes while serving in Afghanistan.

The journalists spent five years pursuing Robert-Smith, after hearing whispers from brave whistleblowers that a few 'rotten' SAS soldiers were committing possible war crimes in Afghanistan between 2006 and 2013.  

While doing their research, they found that Ben Roberts-Smith had repeatedly broken the moral and legal rules of military engagement. The investigations sought to reveal Australia's most decorated soldier as the opposite of the hero he had portrayed himself to be. 

Ben Roberts-Smith. Image: Stan. 

“Amid all the secrecy and attempts at cover-ups, this documentary gives Australians the inside story into the fight by brave SAS soldiers to have the truth about Roberts-Smith revealed," McKenzie said about the film.

"As well as our struggle as journalists to ensure the public learned the facts, not the myth, about Roberts-Smith."

The initial investigation later became a story on 60 Minutes which led to Roberts-Smith taking McKenzie and Masters to trial for a defamation lawsuit which began in 2019. 

In June 2023, Justice Anthony Besanko dismissed the defamation case, adding that several of the war crime claims that journalists and former soldiers provided testimonies for were proven to be substantially true.

Scene from the new documentary. Image: Stan. 

“I think of the Ben Roberts-Smith saga as a bundle of stories,” Masters said.

"We have two journalists inside the assignment of their lives; the elite SAS at war over one of their own; a courtroom drama for the ages, and behind it all, an extraordinary murder mystery."

The documentary is made in collaboration with 60 Minutes, The Age, and The Sydney Morning Herald.

Revealed: Ben Roberts-Smith Truth On Trial is the seventh instalment in Stan's Revealed documentary series, with the new documentary following Danielle Laidley: Two Tribes, The Cape, Reefshot, Trafficked, Amongst Us - Neo Nazi Australia and No Mercy, No Remorse.

The film is directed and produced by Dora Weekley and executive produced by Cailah Scobie and Amanda Duthie. 

The Stan Original Documentary Revealed: Ben Roberts-Smith Truth On Trial will premiere December 10 2023 on Stan.

Feature image: Stan.