Customer Reviews
Buy this instead of the UK release - By: KM, 21 Sep 2007 
This 2-disc DVD set of 'Rebus' is the first series from the ITV show based on the books by Ian Rankin. John Hannah plays the miserable & bad tempered Inspector John Rebus in three episodes of some of the best books in the long-running series.
The first episode, "Black & Blue" introduces the Scottish Detective Inspector John Rebus to the screen, & he is looking into the case of a serial killer dubbed 'The Disciple' who appears to be a copycat of a murderer from the past, known as 'The Preacher'.
In the second episode, "The Hanging Garden", a young mother, Candice, is kidnapped from Cosovo to work as a prostitute, & time is of the essence if Rebus going to help her see her young son again. Sammy, Rebus' 19-year-old daughter, provides a safe-house for Candice. Then shortly after the young refugee moves in, Sammy becomes the victim of a hit-and-run accident & is in a coma in hospital. Rebus is convinced that she was a deliberate target because of his efforts to keep Candice safe & bring down two of Edinburgh's most dangerous gangs.
In the third episode, "Dead Souls", Rebus is devastated by the death of a close colleague, which appears to be suicide until he takes a closer look. But he's distracted by an unexpected visit from an ex-girlfriend with an offer he cannot refuse.
In the forth & final episode on this DVD, "Mortal Causes" it's payback time for DI John Rebus in his pact with the crime under-lord Morris Gerald Cafferty for his finding the person who put Rebus' daughter in a life-threatening coma, the result of a hit-and-run accident. This time, it's Cafferty's illegitimate son who was "six-packed" & killed, & Cafferty is callling in his chips from Rebus. Rebus has to cope with a backdrop of gun running, jailbreaks, left- & right-wing extremists, nationalists & other splinter groups who are spouting racist philosophies, & imported white-power fanatics who are perpetrating hate crimes
All four episodes are good adaptions of the books, even if a fair bit has been changed to fit the length of the show & to cut corners from having a too deep storyline. In my humble opinion, John Hannah is the better Rebus, as opposed to Ken Stott (who took over the role in series 2 & 3), as he is exactly as I pictured him being in my mind when reading the books (if a little young) & it is a shame he was replaced.
Overalll this is one of the best gritty British crime drama shows on DVD. If you like shows like Cracker, Prime Suspect, Messiah, Murder in Mind, Silent Witness & Waking the Dead, I can guarantee you will enjoy Rebus. Fans of the books should also love this set too.
(Also, strangely, the forth episode ("Mortal Causes") from this first series of Rebus is missing from the UK release, so it might be worth buying this Region 1 set instead as alll 4 episodes are included for the pretty much the same price).
