The BBC is currently cutting a distinctive path through the overcrowded field of crime dramas – the gritty Belfast-set Blue Lights and equally unflinching Liverpool-based The Responder are now joined by Rebus, a confident new “reimagining” of Ian Rankin’s popular Edinburgh-set detective novels following the exploits of gung-ho detective inspector John Rebus (except here he’s a younger detective sergeant).
Unlike the somewhat sanitised ITV Rebus adaptations starring John Hannah (and then Ken Stott) of the early 2000s, the six-part single storyline in this darker, grungier reboot is not a simple rehash of the books. The author has given writer Gregory Burke “carte blanche” with his creation and that trust has been amply repaid in this series that sets the macho Rebus from the early books in a contemporary, more by-the-rules world of policing.
The new series follows just one investigation, but with two converging arcs playing out over the six episodes – one involving gang wars plaguing the city, the other a more personal narrative thread featuring Rebus’s wayward brother and his descent into criminality.
While John Hannah was too fresh-faced for the role and Ken Stott too crotchety and Inspector Morse-like, Richard Rankin (no relation) is perfectly cast as the titular detective. Apart from the actor being Glaswegian, that is – a dialect coach was apparently hired to spruce up his Edinburgh accent, though as a Sassenach, I couldn’t really tell the difference between the two.
And while Detective Sergeant John Rebus may have all the generic personality traits we expect from a noir detective (a jaded divorcee with a drink problem and no respecter of rulebooks) the Outlander actor gives an intelligent performance, avoiding a hackneyed caricature of the unkempt, chain smoking and whisky guzzling loner.
Ian Rankin was originally inspired by Robert Louis Stevenson’s Jekyll and Hyde story, and the influence is obvious here too. Rebus’s dark side is quickly introduced from the very start as he attempts to suffocate a notorious gangster, Ger Cafferty (Stuart Bowman) in the back of an ambulance – the gangster having just rammed Rebus’s car and severely injured his partner. Only a timely interruption from his commanding officer preventing his extrajudicial killing.
Later, Cafferty tries to coerce Rebus to arrest a rival mobster, his leverage being the knowledge that Rebus is sleeping with the wife of a wheelchair-bound former police colleague – the one injured during the car ramming.
Rankin exudes the soulfulness requisite for us to root for a man who otherwise might seem too much of an unhinged vigilante. This comes to the fore in dealings with his ex-wife, Rhona (Amy Mason), who is ensconced with a successful businessman, and his 12-year-old daughter Sammy (Mia McKenzie). He clearly still has feelings for Rhona and is sad that he can’t provide Sammy with the rich trappings provided by her new father figure.
Rebus’s dark side takes over again when he punches his brother in Sammy’s presence (“Mum’s right; you are an arsehole,” she later admonishes him). This wayward sibling, Michael (Brian Ferguson), an ex-soldier and a somewhat underused character in the novels, plays a major part in the series. Strapped for cash, he saw an easy payday in the shape of two teenage drug dealers in a nearby flat. Coincidentally, the young dealers are linked to the gang that Rebus is already investigating.
It’s no surprise that Burke – best known for Black Watch, his acclaimed 2006 play about Scottish troops in the Iraq War – is drawn to the former squaddie character, and there’s plenty of sympathy for Michael’s struggle back on civvy street.
He’s not the only well-rounded character. Rebus’s new police partner, a fast-track graduate (and English to boot!), DC Siobhan Clarke (Lucie Shorthouse), begins the series as a repository for the detective’s dyspeptic view of a changing Edinburgh (“The town’s a theme park these days,” he ranted at her. “F**king Instagrammers. Quidditch nonces”).
I sense that Burke – like Ian Rankin, a lifelong Fifer – shares his protagonist’s view of the way the city is overrun by tourists, especially those on the Harry Potter trail. Mind you, the production makes Edinburgh look so beautiful, it isn’t exactly going to deter visitors.
DC Clarke soon takes on a complexity of her own, revealing a close relationship with a police standards officer who seemed to have it in for Rebus. The detective’s unorthodox methods are seemingly under review.
You don’t need to have read any of Rankin’s series or watched the previous TV adaptations to enjoy this new version – it’s all clearly laid out for Rebus newbies. And in a genre that has grown stale and unimaginative over recent years, with seemingly endless permutations of Broadchurch, it’s good to see the BBC putting so much thought into the genre without trying to reinvent the wheel.
‘Rebus’ is streaming on BBC iPlayer now and on BBC One tomorrow at 9.25pm