Detective Inspector John Rebus

John Rebus
First appearance	Knots and Crosses
Created by	Ian Rankin
Portrayed by	Alexander Morton (BBC radio) John Hannah (TV) Ken Stott (TV) Ron Donachie (BBC radio)
Information
Gender	Male
Occupation	Police Officer
Title	Detective Inspector
Nationality	Scottish

Detective Inspector John Rebus is the protagonist in the Inspector Rebus series of detective novels by the Scottish writer Ian Rankin, ten of which have so far been televised as Rebus. The novels are mostly set in and around Edinburgh. Rebus has been portrayed by John Hannah and Ken Stott for Television, with Ron Donachie playing the character for the BBC Radio dramatisations.

According to Ian Rankin, John Rebus was born in 1947 and grew up in a pre-fabricated house in Craigmead Terrace, Cardenden, Fife, the son of a stage hypnotist. His grandfather was an immigrant from Poland. He grew up in a terraced house along with his brother, Michael. He left school at the age of fifteen and joined the Army, one of the few mainstream career options open to young men of the area, the others being coal-mining or working at Rosyth Dockyard, whilst his brother followed in their father's footsteps. After serving in Northern Ireland during The Troubles, he applied to undergo selection for the SAS. After passing selection – where Rebus excelled – he and a colleague were selected for further training for a secretive elite programme, training which eventually prompted Rebus to resign from the SAS and which spurred a nervous breakdown. Following lobbying from the Army, Rebus was given a position with Lothian and Borders Police in order to recover from the trauma. He went to Summerhall as a detective constable in November 1982

Ian Rankin prefers to leave the physical appearance of his characters to the reader's imagination, although when Rebus is first introduced in Knots and Crosses, we learn that he has brown hair and green eyes, like his brother. His rough lifestyle means that his clothes are often less than immaculate. He was married, but divorced sometime in the 1980s. His ex-wife, Rhona, and his daughter, Samantha, appear frequently in the novels. Since the series takes place in real time, Samantha grows from a child to a young woman.

...
Wikipedia