“Truth be told, I’m not the man I once was.”
John Rebus has returned to our screens for a six-part BBC series starring Outlander’s Richard Rankin as the Scottish detective sergeant.
Gregory Burke’s drama, which was executive produced by Ian Rankin, the author of the long-running novel series on which it’s based, follows Rebus in his younger years in modern-day Edinburgh.
His brother Michael (Brian Ferguson), who is a minor character in the source material, plays a central role here, choosing chaos in an effort to tackle his mounting debts – which places Rebus in an intensely compromising position, with potentially ruinous consequences.
“It’s full-on,” said author Rankin in an exclusive interview with RadioTimes.com. “At certain points, some viewers might even say it’s slightly harrowing. There’s an awful lot of visceral stuff happening. It’s great.”
He also said that even he “jumped” in his seat a couple of times when watching episodes that he had already seen.
Read more:
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Actor Rankin was also full of praise for Burke’s writing, describing his take on the world of Rebus as “exciting”.
“He understands this world, the political and social landscape of it all,” he added. “I feel very lucky [to have worked on this].”
To distinguish this version of Rebus from the ITV series in the 2000s, the team behind it have selected a new theme song, which some of you might recognise.
But for those of you who don’t, read on for everything you need to know about it.
What is the Rebus theme song?
The song that plays at the beginning of the BBC’s Rebus reboot is Glory by Jamie N Commons, an introspective, brooding number, the lyrics of which could well have been written by John Rebus himself.
“Truth be told, I’m not the man I once was,” sings Commons. “Truth be told, I feel broke down inside.”
You can listen to it below.
The blues singer-songwriter was born in Bristol but moved to Chicago at the age of 6, before returning to the West Country at 16, and attending Goldsmiths in London at the age of 18 to study music.
Commons has worked with a number of well known artists including Jay-Z, Eminem, Lewis Capaldi and Paloma Faith.
He was named on the BBC Sound of 2012 longlist.
Rebus starts on Friday 17th May on BBC iPlayer. All episodes will be available on BBC iPlayer from 6am, with episode one airing on BBC Scotland on Friday 17th May at 10pm and on BBC One on Saturday 18th May at 9:25pm.
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