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Why I Love...Rebus

Ken Stott as DI John Rebus
  • Posted at 3:38pm
  • 26 October 2007
  • by LauraPledger-RT
  • 1 comment

There will be people who'll read the title of this blog in disbelief. How can you love ITV's Rebus, they'll be asking - probably wearing a frown that wouldn't disgrace the eponymous hero himself.

Most of the dissenters will probably be dyed-in-the-wool fans of Ian Rankin's original novels. I write as an aficionado myself - Exit Music (the last Rebus novel) is still sitting on my bookshelf waiting to be read because I can't quite bring myself to say goodbye to the bloke just yet.

It's certainly true to say that the scripts aren't doing justice to the two strong, likeable actors who've tackled the title role. Successfully adapting novels for the screen is a bit like alchemy - unfortunately, more often than not the producers of Rebus end up creating Lord Percy of Blackadder fame's "green" rather than gold.

But then it's difficult to tell a decent crime story in 68 minutes, let alone one as complex as in an Ian Rankin novel. The earlier adaptations, which had a slightly longer running time, tried valiantly to remain true to at least the kernel of Rankin's original idea. But by the time we got to the travesty that was Fleshmarket Close, it seemed the writers had mislaid the nutcrackers altogether.

The first series started well, with dour shots of Edinburgh's rain-soaked, cobbled streets and a world-weary voiceover by John Hannah that gave the whole thing an agreeably Chandler-esque aura. Hannah captured the dark, intense, dangerous side of Rebus, spending a lot of his time gazing moodily out of windows (which I suspect had less to do with drawing a parallel between the TV incarnation and the Rebus of the books, and somewhat more to do with the glass reflecting his tormented, chiselled features to great effect).

But those cheekbones - and the fact that the waistband of his trousers lay flat against his stomach - were to be his undoing, as dissatisfied fans pointed out Hannah was much too young and good-looking for the role.

So come series three, it was Ken Stott's turn to give his health insurers a coronary by risking the very same on a steady diet of booze, cigarettes and the sort of fatty foods that Scotland's chippies have turned into an art form. I don't know whether Stott left a joke book lying around the set, or whether the writers finally looked up "funny" in the dictionary, but suddenly we had Rebus exposing his teeth in something other than a snarl, and some sparkling repartee with sidekick Siobhan.

We shouldn't judge Rebus so harshly. After all, how many Scottish crime dramas do we get? (OK, there's Taggart, but at least with Rebus viewers are in with a vague chance of following the plot and making sense of things at the end.) There are only so many US crime dramas you can take before you find yourself wishing for a shot of a mist-shrouded British landmark, in a series where the supporting actors actually resemble true local colour, not the latest intake at Storm modelling agency.

As the show itself said, we want to see "the kind of Edinburgh night that makes Cowdenbeath seem like an attractive holiday destination", where a criminal "knows more law than the Procurator Fiscal", and a grizzled, alcoholic cop walks the mean streets with just the hint of a wry smile. Rebus fits the bill.

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  • Posted on 08 November 2007
  • at 11:58am
  • by Ionaclio
Just got round to watching the recent Rebus which was a terrific episode. Ken Stott is definitely more Rebus than Hannah. He was completely wrong but hey, he had a Scottish accent and was pleasant to look at but not the Rebus of the Rankin books. (Did they, or will they, ever get round to showing the 2 episodes which went out around 9/11.) Rightly so they were cancelled because of the tragic circumstances but would be nice to see. I must admit I have rarely finished a recent Rankin book so the TV adaptations are a godsend to me,but appreciate that they do not keep closely to the books. I love to watch Rebus for a spot the location exercise as I knew Edinburgh well in my youth! Friends tell me that the inhabitants of Auld Reekie record Rebus as they are so busy spotting locations, they miss the plot the first time round! I admire Ian Rankin as a person and friends who have met him say he is the same in the flesh as on TV. A regular nice guy whom the citizens of Edinburgh fiercely protect so that he and his family can live in peace and he can shop in Morningside unmolested. which is more than poor Rebus could do, as there would certainly be a body in that terribly "poash" part of Edinburgh. I liked your comment about Cowdenbeath...how well you seem to know it. It may be quite rough but it does have a nice shoe shop! More Rebus, please ITV!

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