Rebus returns: Edinburgh's 'dark, brooding and slightly dangerous' detective looks set to win city new fans – Scotsman comment

Oxford Bar and other haunts of novelist Ian Rankin’s detective can expect to be busy as new BBC adaptation of the books begins

“There’s rules and there’s laws, right? The law is whatever society says it is at any given point, and the rules are the rules: blood is thicker than water, don’t grass on your friends, an eye for an eye. Criminals follow the rules. Sometimes they need a reminder that the police know the rules too.”

The trailer for the BBC’s new adaptation of Ian Rankin’s Rebus novels makes it clear that this is one detective sergeant who is not to be messed with. As Rankin says, he is “dark, brooding and slightly dangerous and edgy”, someone who, in real life, you wouldn’t want to hang out with for too long.

Another star of the show is Edinburgh, although viewers get a different perspective to the one provided by sightseeing buses. With good reviews ahead of today’s first episode, it looks like Scotland may have another TV hit on its hands, so the Oxford Bar and his other haunts can expect to be busy. Visitors flocking in his footsteps may just have to hope they don’t bump into Rebus-made-flesh. Or know ‘the rules’ if they do…