Rebus: Richard Rankin is 'mildly hypnotic' as the titular detective

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". 

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

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.

Sign up

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". 

I loved the series, said Carol Midgley in The Times. This Rebus has a "dark, dangerous charisma and bone-dry sarcasm that is mildly hypnotic to watch". And though the "plot is bleak", the script is so witty that it often made me "laugh loudly. You don't necessarily expect that from a crime drama in which young lads have their fingers chopped off with secateurs."