Outlander’s Richard Rankin Takes Us Inside Viaplay’s Detective Drama Rebus (And Decodes Some Scottish Slang Along the Way)
Outlander fans may be drawn to the Scottish crime drama Rebus thanks to its star, Richard Rankin. But after the very first scene, they might ask themselves: “Roger who?”
Indeed, the Viaplay series’ opening moments introduce Rankin as brooding Det. John Rebus, a man capable of violence and prone to making bad decisions. The character is a far cry from the much gentler role of Roger Wakefield MacKenzie, whom Rankin plays in Starz’s time-traveling romance.
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“I find [Rebus] himself as quite self-loathing, anyway,” Rankin tells TVLine during a chat ahead of the show’s United States debut; all Season 1 episodes are available today via Viaplay (which itself is available via Prime Video). “There’s something in his upbringing. He’s got a very self-destructive quality to him… he always takes the hard route. Never goes for the easy way out of a situation. It’s almost like he feels like he deserves a tortuous route.”
If Rankin’s character’s name sounds familiar, it’s because he’s the main character in the Inspector Rebus novels by Sir Ian Rankin (no relation), and those books have been the inspiration for several adaptations — including ITV’s Rebus starring John Hannah and, later, Ken Stott in the title role.
Rankin praises Hannah and Stott (“both incredible actors, and a lot of love and respect for them both”) but points out that the latest version’s take, from Gregory Burke (ITVX’s Six Four) offers “much more of an opportunity to explore these characters over a longer arc and really get into their heads,” he says. “Because of that, and because it’s not so much a procedural crime show, what we ended up with was a character-led drama.”
The series’ premiere kicks off with Rebus at the scene of a nasty car accident; he hunts down the responsible party, a man named Cafferty, who’s being treated in an ambulance. Rebus starts to beat him, but is interrupted before he can finish him off. Then the action jumps to a year later: Rebus is divorced and maybe a little depressed, and his relationship with his brother isn’t great, either. We learn that George, John’s mentor in the serious crimes squad, was paralyzed in the crash we sat at the start of the episode… and then we learn that Rebus is carrying on a secret affair with George’s wife, Maggie. Later, it gets worse: A meeting with Cafferty reveals that the criminal is expecting John to do his bidding (and he, too, knows about the affair).
Read on for Rankin’s thoughts on playing the conflicted Det. Rebus (and stay for a wee education in Scottish slang).
TVLINE | I wouldn’t say John Rebus is a dark character, but these are dark circumstances that we meet him in, right? It seems like there’s been a lot of bad s–t that has happened in his life right up until before we meet him.
This is what I love about the show. When I picked up the script the first time, I was sold on it within, like, 10 pages. I read that opening scene and I thought, “This is just the best way to start a show.” This is the best way to introduce us to this protagonist because it’s a huge mixture of emotions, complexities. There’s a danger to him. There’s a potential there for violence, and a threat to him, but they aren’t for the sake of it. So, when you say he’s not a dark character I completely agree with that… I don’t think anyone or anything in this show is black-and-white. There’s nothing sort of [arbitrary] about it, right? Things happen for a reason.
There’s a lot of provocation to these characters, as well, which cause them to behave in ways that are perhaps not quite characteristic. The drama starts to heighten and build, and people find themselves in really quite complicated and sticky situations, which give them a real richness. I think that’s what’s so good about it is, at times, he looks like he’s in quite a dark place, but there’s always reasons for it.
TVLINE | How does it feel at the end of the day, physically, after playing him?
Oh yeah, it’s exhausting. He’s always in a certain mood… and that character certainly took a little bit more to shed I think than I’ve been used to recently — but then he is in it quite a lot. So, I was in every day, an enormous workload to do, and I was having to try and get ahead of that and work my weekends, work on a Saturday, work on a Sunday to try and get ahead of the coming weeks. Work on any notes or reach out to the director, reach out to the writer and get in any of my ideas. So, it felt like it was nonstop, which was great. Great. Incredible experience, and I loved working, and I loved everyone that we worked with.
TVLINE | But it’s a lot.
It’s a shit lot for sure. You may not hear the accent difference so much, but Rebus is from the East Coast [of Scotland], right? So, he’s from Fife, which is quite a different accent to my own, which is Glaswegian. I’m from the West Coast. People would notice that quick a lot in normal life. They would remark on how I’m still coming home with [Rebus’ accent and] mannerisms, which was quite funny.
TVLINE | You’re right: My idiot American ears did not clock the different accent.
You know, actually it’s not that subtle. [Laughs] It’s quite a big difference. You’ll probably not hear it outside of the UK, maybe even outside Scotland.
TVLINE | Speaking of being an idiot American, I could just Google these, but I thought it’d be more fun to ask you. There are three terms I noticed in the premiere that I did not understand. At one point, Rebus’ sister-in-law mentions turning him in, and he says, “I’m not a grass.” Translate for me. I’m not a rat. Grass, rat, snitch. It’s all the same.
TVLINE | Got it. OK. Then at one point, Rebus is talking about how how it’s OK if the drug dealers are hitting each other “in the schemes” but not in the town. “Schemes” like … back alleys?
In the rundown poorer areas… One of the main themes of the [show] is that parallel between sort of Edinburgh sort of middle and upper class potential and your Fife, which is more of a working class environment. So, absolutely we do tread that lane in the show for sure. It’s very deliberate.
TVLINE | And the last one is when Rebus is talking with Siobhan, the new detective, and he describes himself as “a quiet Jambo.” It means he’s a Hearts fan. He supports Hearts football club. He’s sort of trying to play this sort of humble, quiet man. [Laughs] Like, you’re not that. You’re not just a quiet Jambo.
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