BBC Rebus reboot turns him into ‘unhinged thug’
HE’S the maverick cop beloved by millions. But John Rebus may lose fans in a BBC reboot that portrays him as an ‘unhinged thug’.
Critics reacted with horror after viewing last night’s brutal opening scenes of Rebus, written by Gregory Burke, who himself has a violent past.
The BBC1 series is billed as a ‘reimagining’ of Ian Rankin’s popular Edinburgh-set detective novels, and now follows the policeman’s exploits in his younger days.
The first episode of the prequel opens with Rebus trying to suffocate a notorious gangster in the back of an ambulance. Only the intervention of a commanding officer prevents the killing.
‘The BBC’s Rebus reboot is so violent and uncompromisingly bleak that I had to force myself to keep watching past the first five minutes,’ said appalled television critic Kathryn Flett. ‘I suspect discerning viewers won’t care, they’ll recoil. And switch off.’
She added: ‘I didn’t want to spend time with Gregory Burke’s version of Rebus because he is patently a violently unhinged thug and life is far too short to be repulsed in the name of entertainment.’
The six-part drama, starring Outlander’s Richard Rankin as Rebus, is a modern update of the hugely popular ITV adaptations starring John Hannah and Ken Stott.
Writer Mr Burke, 56, was banned from the campus of Stirling University where he was studying politics in the 1980s after committing an assault on 17-year-old fellow student Mark Campbell.
Mr Campbell spent three days in intensive care and his family said the ‘unprovoked’ attack was so severe that he would have died had onlookers not intervened.
Their anger reignited in 2009 when Stirling University offered Mr Burke an honorary degree.
The Dunfermline-born playwright, who wrote the Olivier Award-winning Black Watch, declined the accolade. The victim’s family said the writer had refused to apologise for the attack.
Mr Burke blamed the incident on the ‘culture shock’ of moving from a tough area of Fife to the softer academic environment.
He declined to comment about the attack when approached by The Mail on Sunday.