Rebus

Watched all episodes about a year ago, after enjoying one of the books, and I have to say I liked it. Having now read most of the books, it's disappointing watching the series again. Some episodes have nothing to do with the book, like Knots and Crosses, many others are loose adaptations which lose a lot of the plot intricacies and 'bite' of the books. Even allowing for the fact that they have to squeeze the stories into an hour long episodes, there could be more suspense. Stott is the best thing in it, good characterisation of Rebus, little else.

I recently saw a list of the top 10 crime series in the US and I have to say that none of them were anywhere near as good as British crime shows. I love the ability to tell a story without all the vulgarity and sex that seem to be the mainstay of the US shows which by the way are just getting worse and unwatchable. My only problem with Rebus is that he is portrayed s a disheveled individual who enjoys his beverages a little too much and yet women jump into bed with him. While he might have charm his personal hygiene is certainly lacking and deems him undesirable.

The first season has great film noir qualities. From the nearly black and white filming to the "mood of pessimism, fatalism, and menace", it is a current take on a neglected genre. My favorite added little feature is the audio narration voiced by the lead actor of season one: John Hannah. It was a very pleasant change to hear the insights, thought and reflections of the character that are not actually spoken aloud. It gave useful insight into the overall direction of the characters and the episodes.

I might agree that the lead actor John Hannah might not have been the best actor that could have been cast. However, given that I did not read the books, the only distraction he had for me was that he looked too young for the part.

After season one all the magic is gone. There is a change of lead actor. The film noir is gone. There is no narrator. It becomes just another lengthy British style detective story with no broken heart nor tortured soul. What a shame!

John Hannah may a good actor, but he was no Rebus. Which is a shame, because the Hannah series had longer episodes that let some of Rankin's genius through. And they had Gerald Morris Cafferty, Rebus' nemesis, a running feature in the books. But they got Rebus wrong and Clarke as well.

Word was that Rankin was not happy with Hannah, so when the series resumed, Ken Stott got the nod, and he is a much better Rebus. The stories are streamlined, which stinks, but any time spent with Stott is time well spent, as he nails Rebus' craftiness, as well as his emotional tension, perfectly. And the Stott episodes more accurately portray Rebus' partnership with Siobhan Clarke (Claire Price), both in its inception and then as it grows over time.

This should be addicting for fans of Ian Rankin's books, which are among the best in modern police fiction.

/refers to all episodes/

As I am fond of British (and Scandinavian) detective dramas, I try to watch them as many as possible - preferably in sequence. Although recent decades have seen the bloom of series without single cased based episodes, it is sometimes nice to "look back" as well - as here in Rebus.

It is a bit odd that this series is divided into 2 - the episodes starring John Hannah and those with Ken Scott as DI John Rebus; both the approach and the depiction of Rebus are different, and now, after watching all series, I would say that I find Scott's performance more pleasing - he is rougher and his views and behaviour patterns include giggling moments, plus the episodes are shorter. Although not all episodes are equally interesting and sustained - in some cases I could guess too early who the wrongdoer was - the series in general is another nice example of respective British talent, with the beautiful city of Edinburgh within a supporting cast.

As a whole, 8 points from me - 7.5 for Hannah's Rebus and 8.5 for Scott's.