Rebus (TV Series) The Falls (2006) User Reviews

Not sure I agree with the other comment - but, then, I haven't read the books.

[txakura · 8/10 · 1 February 2006]

For 90 minutes they manage to get in a lot of character development. I look forward to seeing any and all of the previous - or later "Rebus" stories.

I find lots of new characters in stories on British (aka PBS and BBC America) television. I'll have to admit I'm partial to British mysteries. They know a lot more about how to make a story a story instead of "defaulting" to gore, violence and destruction. That plus, as I said above, REAL character development and REAL characters.

P.S. I'm absolutely overwhelmed by Claire Price. She's beautiful and thoroughly believable in the Detective Sergeant character.

Why do this to my favourite books???

[burny-7 · 8 January 2006]

If the makers of the Rebus films are reading this, please take this piece of simple advice.

Instead of trying to take one of the huge Rebus novels and cram it into one and a half hours, use one one of the earlier books which are quite straightforward tales or even take one of the short stories that Rankin has done and film or expand that.

How about writing a new story altogether for t.v? Because between the earlier John Hannah Rebus and now the Ken Stott version (which is better) you are in danger of destroying what could be the new "Morse" or "Taggart" which is a shame.

Oh and Rebus doesn't support Hibs, sort it out.

Disappointing

[ewanmci · 5/10 · 7 January 2006]

I love the Rebus books. and felt the John Hannah films, while OK, were miscast and disjointed plot wise. I was looking forward, therefore to the new attempt. The cast looked good, Ken Stott was a good choice. Why, then, am I so disappointed? I cannot understand why you would take a book like The Falls (11th of a series of about 16 so far), take the names of a few characters and ram them into a hackneyed plot about upper class incest in Edinburgh. The Falls bears no relation to the book, bar character names and the appearance of small wooden coffins. This could have been any detective show on British TV. I realise that the sheer scale of the plots in Ian Rankin's originals mean that they would have to be condensed, with some jettisoning of side stories. Ditching the whole plot seems to me to be a bit of an insult to the author. Does the writer really think he knows what these characters should do better than their creator? On the plus side, the acting was of a high standard and Edinburgh (and Glasgow I think!) looked great. Shame they were let down by the dubious plot. Hope next weeks "Fleshmarket Close" is better. Or at least has a semblance of the original plot.

Disappointing

[myrndra · 3/10 · 19 September 2008]

I agree with the gentleman above, that future Rebus films, if there are any more, should be based on short stories or written fresh. There is no writer besides Rankin himself, or maybe Jimmy McGovern, with the talent to do justice to the layered plots and characterisations of Rankin's creations.

Ken Stott is all right as Rebus, rumpled and grumpy, but we're still watching Ken Stott. I think they need to cast a Scottish unknown if they do a future series.

The biggest disappointment has been the actress who plays Siobhan Clarke. Whining, whingeing, don't do this, how could you do that... you almost expect Rebus to cry, 'What are you, my mother???' Siobhan in the books was really cool, a Hibs supporter and a well-rounded female character. Here she is just a two-dimensional nag.

I know that films are seldom as satisfying as books because they are different media; but it is so disappointing to watch a crime drama that could have been so much better had the production people, writer and director got their thumbs out and tried a little harder.

The Falls

[Prismark10 · 5/10 · 18 June 2020]

I could understand why writer Ian Rankin might had been unhappy with the adaptation of his book by ITV.

The Falls is just too generic and derivative. Almost as if the audience itself was always going to be one step ahead of Rebus.

Thankfully the producers avoided the 2 hour running time including ad breaks so at least this is fast moving. If you discount Rebus wanting to get all romantic with someone.

Rebus investigates the murder of a retired obstetrician. He was tied up and his wrists had been slashed and he bled to deaths slowly. A miniature coffin was left behind.

The doctor had dinner with banker Sir James Hogarth the night before. Rebus tells DS Siobhan Clarke that Hogarth's son in law killed himself around 20 years ago, several days before his wife was due to give birth. The baby had died at childbirth.

Later Hogarth's ex wife is also found dead in similar circumstances. She could not bear to live with her husband anymore. Hogarth and his daughter are still close.

A suspect turns out to be someone who has also been stalking a university student. However he keeps changing his appearance to evade the police.

Of course it would be too easy for the stalker to be the ultimate villain in all this. Someone has to be pulling his strings.

There is little here that surprises you and even Rebus is just a bit too bland.

The drama also goes out of its way to show you all the nice bits of Edinburgh. That might be a good thing as these days all the nice bits of Edinburgh has jumped on the Harry Potter bandwagon.

What a load of rubbish and I've read the book.

[EdinaJambo · 1/10 · 22 May 2021]

Where do I start? This episode is so far removed from the book it should have had Rankin squirming. The murder victim is a student named Phillipa Barbour (Flip) and not a wealthy banker. It makes no reference to the ongoing computer gamesmanship played out between DS Clarke and a mystery online gamer who leaves puzzles which need to be solved. It makes no mention of 'The Falls' a fictional village outside Edinburgh which provides further links to the killer. It makes no reference to the arrogant smug suspect that Rebus has down as the killer of Phillipa (Flip - was she actually mentioned in the episode?). AND Rebus is definitely not a Hibernian FC supporter, he is a Hearts supporter (Edinburgh football rivals) and didn't sneak into Easter Road and turn on the floodlights as shown in the episode. In fact football is never mentioned in the book apart from the opening remark from on duty PC 'Good result for the Jambos eh sir?' - a reference to Heart of Midlothian FC. Utter garbage.

There's just one thing I don't understnd, inspector.

[crumpytv · 2/10 · 27 August 2021]

Well, that was what I was hoping for. A clear explanation at the end as to who did what to who and why.

Unfortunately this was not forthcoming and I was left in the dark.

My wife nd I did not understand the reason for it all.