Rebus

Six episodes, no fat, a tormented hero and a country in crisis. All this and mayhem can be found in “Rebus,” a new adaptation of Ian Rankin’s celebrated detective series centered on Scottish detective John Rebus.

It is terrific, mainly for two reasons. The first is Richard Rankin (no relation to Ian), who plays John Rebus with a dark, dangerous charisma and bone-dry sarcasm that is mildly hypnotic to watch. The second is Gregory Burke’s script, which is nimble, non-clichéd and underscored with a wit that sometimes made me laugh loudly.

The nimble plot, all fat deftly excised, grips through to the final frames. No character goes to waste.

It’s early days but, so far, it’s prickly and exciting.

You don’t need to have read any of Rankin’s series or watched the previous TV adaptations to enjoy this new version – it’s all clearly laid out for Rebus newbies.

Sometimes it feels as if screenwriter Gregory Burke and author Rankin are grappling with the difficulties of how to present this world of hard men, without offending the sensitivities of today’s BBC, but they get by.

Richard Rankin, meanwhile, looks set to be the strongest screen Rebus. .... But in a TV series that can’t and won’t replicate the novels’ auxiliary function of documenting social changes in Scotland over time, a lot rests on Rebus being uniquely roguish – and it’s hard to differentiate this troubled, rule-breaking maverick from all the others.