The BBC's new six-part series "Rebus" "doesn't feel necessary, exactly", said Rachel Cooke in The New Statesman: every day seems to bring "sheeting rain and another new police drama, and Ian Rankin's novels have been well adapted before": between 2000 and 2007, there were four ITV series based on the books. Still, this outing, written by the playwright Gregory Burke, "is shaping up to be a keeper".
While the detective sergeant John Rebus of Rankin's most recent books is "a weary, wily old-timer", said Dan Einav in the FT, this Rebus is a younger man (played by Richard Rankin, no relation).
A divorced alcoholic with questionable ethics, he seems to be on the cusp of losing his job; then, a gang turf war "spills out from Edinburgh's underworld into its picturesque streets", and Rebus finds himself facing "all manner of personal and professional dilemmas".
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Elements of the drama feel rather familiar, but Richard Rankin "offsets the more hackneyed elements of the character as he negotiates both flashes of menace and quieter moments of self-awareness and shame".
-
Democrats push for ICE accountabilityFeature U.S. citizens shot and violently detained by immigration agents testify at Capitol Hill hearing
-
The price of sporting gloryFeature The Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics kicked off this week. Will Italy regret playing host?
-
Fulton County: A dress rehearsal for election theft?Feature Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard is Trump's de facto ‘voter fraud’ czar
-
February TV brings the debut of an adult animated series, the latest batch of ‘Bridgerton’ and the return of an aughts sitcomthe week recommends An animated lawyers show, a post-apocalyptic family reunion and a revival of a hospital comedy classic
-
6 gorgeous homes in warm climesFeature Featuring a Spanish Revival in Tucson and Richard Neutra-designed modernist home in Los Angeles
-
Touring the vineyards of southern BoliviaThe Week Recommends Strongly reminiscent of Andalusia, these vineyards cut deep into the country’s southwest
-
Nan Goldin: The Ballad of Sexual Dependency – an ‘engrossing’ exhibitionThe Week Recommends All 126 images from the American photographer’s ‘influential’ photobook have come to the UK for the first time
-
American Psycho: a ‘hypnotic’ adaptation of the Bret Easton Ellis classicThe Week Recommends Rupert Goold’s musical has ‘demonic razzle dazzle’ in spades
-
Properties of the week: houses near spectacular coastal walksThe Week Recommends Featuring homes in Cornwall, Devon and Northumberland
-
Caribbean resorts that call for serious rest and relaxationThe Week Recommends Serenity is a flight away
-
February’s books feature new Toni Morrison, a sapphic love tale and a criticism of Mexican historyThe Week Recommends This month’s new releases include ‘Autobiography of Cotton’ by Cristina Rivera Garza, ‘Language as Liberation’ by Toni Morrison and ‘Heap Earth Upon It’ by Chloe Michelle Howarth
