Ian Rankin admits he found new Rebus TV series 'too violent'

Author Ian Rankin outside The Oxford Bar.

Ian Rankin has revealed he found the new TV incarnation of Rebus so violent he had to look away from some of the more graphic scenes.

The author said he felt there was far more bad language in the latest show - which saw actor Richard Rankin take on the role - than in his novels.

Richard Rankin plays detective sergeant John Rebus in the new BBC TV series. Picture: Mark Mainz

Rankin also admitted he had been unconvinced about screenwriter Gregory Burke's idea of setting the new adaptation in modern-day Edinburgh until he saw his scripts.

The writer, who became executive producer of the Rebus reboot, has also revealed how a planned cameo appearance at the Oxford Bar was dropped after he was forgotten about by the production team.

The author, who was speaking at the launch of his new novel Midnight and Blue at a Portobello Bookshop event in Edinburgh, which sees Rebus behind bars after being convicted of the attempted murder of long-time nemesis Big Ger Cafferty.

The book has been published as a new Rebus stage play A Game Called Malice, which features former Coronation Street star Gray O'Brien in the lead role, is currently on tour.

Gray O'Brien plays Rebus in Ian Rankin's new Rebus play A Game Called Malice. Picture: Lisa Ferguson | National World

During an in-conversation event with broadcaster Nicola Meighan, the author said: "It's very hard. I've got to think: 'Which Rebus am I talking about?' The TV Rebus is very different from the stage Rebus, who is very different from the book Rebus.

"The play has been great fun. It was written during lockdown to entertain myself. I thought: 'Coming out of lockdown, what kind of plays will/do people want? Short, funny, cheap to put on and an interval so you can get a drink' It was machine-tooled to be post-Covid entertainment.

"There are a lot of good gags in it, but not all audiences get them, which is quite funny. We're still adding gags here and there, or changing the gag."

The recent six-part series was the first new Rebus adaptation to be made for TV since the STV shows starring John Hannah then Ken Stott, which were made between 2000 and 2007.

Rankin said: "I knew this TV Rebus was going to be so different from my Rebus. My guy is in his seventies and has got COPD. Richard Rankin's Rebus in his early forties.

"I thought: I can watch this. It's not going to affect the way I write my books. The problem with John Hannah and Ken Stott is that they were much closer in age to the Rebus of the books.

"I didn't want an actor's voice and an actor's mannerisms interfering with what was in my head.

"When Gregory Burke was approached to do Rebus, he said: 'I want a young vigorous, hard-boiled Rebus who can get into fights and not get beat. I want to set it in the present day because I want to look at present-day social and political issues.'

"I thought it would quite be a hard-sell for the fans, but the scripts were so good. I thought: 'Why not? It'll take about 15 or 20 minutes to recalibrate.'"

First announced in 2017, the TV reboot of Rebus saw the character in his early forties, coming to terms with a recent divorce and involved in a toxic relationship, while grappling with familiar villains and their henchmen.

Rankin added: "I did think the new TV series was a bit too violent.

"My wife and I were sitting there thinking 'has he chopped his finger off yet? None of that was in the books. That was Gregory Burke, the screenwriter. He kept adding more and more violence.

"The nice thing about writing crime fiction about cops is that they arrive after the act of violence has taken place, so I don't have to describe any of that stuff. But Greg was in there, going: 'Let's have people getting their fingers chopped off. Let's have them swearing."

Rankin joked: "If there is a season two, and I very much hope there will be, I'll be taking control of it and having words with him. There won't be as much swearing and violence."

Rankin, who had brief appearances in the previous TV incarnations of Rebus starring John Hannah and Ken Stott, agreed to make a third cameo in the new adaptation, which launched in May.

He told his fans: "They said to me: 'Do you want to have a cameo?'

"They said: 'You can walk in the Oxford Bar as Cafferty's walking out and can hold the door open for him. Just wear your normal clothes.

"I turned up at the Oxford Bar and everything was happening outside. I got a pint and sat in the back room. All the extras were sitting there. I was just chilling out with a paper, a book and my phone so I was quite happy. A couple of extras went out, I got another pint and did the crossword. Then I looked around and none of the extras were there.

"I looked around the corner and there was no-one there except the barman.

"He said: 'They're finished.' I went outside. The trucks were gone, the directors were gone and the actors were gone.

"I walked home and texted Gregory Burke. He said: 'They must have forgotten about you.'

Rankin has told how fans of Rebus often walk right past him in the Oxford Bar because they do not recognise him.

He said: "I feel bad about going to the Oxford Bar. Fans come from all over the world. I always feel I'm letting them down by not being Rebus.

"They come looking for this dark, brooding, dangerous, charismatic detective and get me, sitting in a corner, with a pint of IPA and a paper. I always think: 'On no, I'm not who they're looking for.'

"I'm often standing at the bar having a pint when fans come in, they go into the back room, finish their pint and go out again, and never notice that I'm standing there. They don't really know what I look like. I've even held the door open a few times."