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Rebus

Eight Full-Cast BBC Radio 4 Dramatisations

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Rebus

By: Ian Rankin
Narrated by: Ron Donachie, Gayanne Potter, full cast
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About this listen

Eight full-cast dramatisations starring Ron Donachie as Ian Rankin’s legendary detective

John Rebus is Edinburgh’s most famous fictional detective – a hard-drinking, music-loving maverick with a defiant disregard for authority and a stubborn determination to get to the truth. Alongside his loyal colleague and friend Siobhan Clarke, he traverses Scotland’s dark and dangerous underworld investigating violent crimes – many of them involving his sparring partner and nemesis, notorious gangster Ger Cafferty.

These eight thrilling dramas find him tackling suspicious deaths, serial killers and stone-cold cases. In Strip Jack, he probes the disappearance of an MP’s wife and the discovery of two dead bodies; while The Black Book sees him delving into an unsolved murder – with the help of a notebook full of coded clues. Black and Blue finds him travelling from Edinburgh to Glasgow and then Aberdeen as he pursues the psychopathic copycat behind the ‘Johnny Bible’ killings. Meanwhile, in Set in Darkness, the dour DI follows a trail of corpses found during construction at the new Scottish Parliament.

A wealthy banker’s daughter goes missing in The Falls, and the only leads are a series of carved wooden dolls inside miniature coffins and a cryptic online role-playing game. In Resurrection Men, as an investigation into the murder of an Edinburgh art dealer begins, Rebus is ordered to undergo ‘retraining’ – and carries out a secret undercover mission of his own. A Question of Blood sees him enquiring into a school shooting, only to find himself the main suspect in a house fire. And in Fleshmarket Close, Rebus’ skills are put to the test when the teenage sister of a rape victim vanishes, two skeletons are found in a pub cellar and an illegal immigrant is murdered on a city housing estate.

Ron Donachie stars as Rebus, with Gayanne Potter as Siobhan Clarke, Gary Lewis and Sandy Neilson as Cafferty and a supporting cast including Liam Brennan, Steven McNicoll, Iain Robertson, Brian Ferguson, Sarah Collier, Paul Young and Kenny Blyth.

Text copyright © Ian Rankin 1992 (Strip Jack), 1993 (The Black Book), 1995 (Black and Blue), 2000 (Set in Darkness), 2001 (The Falls, Resurrection Men), 2003 (A Question of Blood), 2004 (Fleshmarket Close)

Written by Ian Rankin
Dramatised by Chris Dolan and Bert Coules
Produced and directed by Bruce Young

Contents:
Strip Jack
The Black Book
Black and Blue
Set in Darkness
The Falls
Resurrection Men
A Question of Blood
Fleshmarket Close

© 2025 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd. (P) 2025 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

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I found this dramatisation really good. I wasn't sure what to expect when choosing to download this but was pleasantly surprised. Rebus is a Scottish detective created by Ian Rankin & sometimes it was difficult following the accents & terminology but that didn't detract at all from its enjoyability. The actors do a really good job with their characters. Overall this was very enjoyable.

Enjoyable

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Stories heavily edited little chance for relationships and characters to develops like in the books but, was enjoyable nevertheless- more please

Cast excellent - gritty performances

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If you are to the books then a great introduction. A bit too edited down perhaps if you have read them.
Recommended and good value.

Excellent

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The acting was great and the stories interesting. Having never read the books, I didn't have anything to compare it with, so probably enjoyed it a lot more because of that.

A great listen

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As ever great stories and performance, but if you are a fan of Rebus and read or listened to all the books then this will be a disappointment. You will know the stories and everything that hasn’t been included. I mistakenly preordered this months ago under the impression it was new work from Ian Rankin, so disappointed.

Too Edited Down

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