Gregory Burke To Adapt Ian Rankin’s ‘Rebus’ Series As Eleventh Hour Drama

UK-based indie Eleventh Hour Films has acquired rights to Ian Rankin’s Inspector Rebus series of detective novels, and attached ’71 writer Gregory Burke to pen a contemporary TV drama adaptation. The Rebus books center on Inspector John Rebus, a hardboiled Edinburgh cop with a tendency to bend rules. The first book, Knots And Crosses, was published in 1987 and the series has gone on to sell over 30M copies worldwide.

BAFTA-nominated Burke’s credits also include next year’s José Padilha hijacking thriller Entebbe. Of Rebus, he says, “As someone who has grown up and lives in South East Scotland, Ian Rankin’s best-selling books provide the perfect material to make a thrilling series about crime in the modern world.”

Executive Producer Jill Green promises “a fresh and revisionist take in every way introducing both Rebus and Edinburgh to a new generation.” An earlier Rebus series starred John Hannah and later Ken Stott and aired on ITV in the early oughts.

Eleventh Hour is behind shows such as ITV’s Safe House and Collision. Earlier this year, it restructured its senior management team to expand the business. Established in 2010, the company produced 11 hours of original drama in 2016, which also included BBC One’s New Blood and ITV’s Foyle’s War.

Rebus launches Eleventh Hour’s new TV drama slate which is driven out of Scotland as overseen by the company’s recently appointed Head of Development Mike Ellen.