Driven to drink over the BBC’s latest Rebus incarnation- Vladimir McTavish

The actor Richard Rankin is, however, a much better fit than John Hannah who was the first person to play the fictional detective on the small screen. In case you didn’t go to the cinema in the nineties or never watch telly on Christmas Day, I’ll explain John Hannah.

He’s that guy who pops up in British romcoms, as a member of a gang of unfeasibly posh young boys who spend their entire time going to weddings. We were asked to suspend our disbelief and buy into the notion that he could also be a hard-bitten city cop with a drink problem. It didn’t work.

Then we had Ken Stott. All of us who had read the books immediately agreed he was the perfect Rebus. Now we have this new series.

Admittedly, I have only seen one episode, but he doesn’t seem to be spending a great deal of time in the pub. Indeed he’s been in more police stations than bars. I didn’t see him smoke a fag once.

It used to be that he could only get to the bottom of any particular crime riddle by drinking very heavily but still collaring the baddies, unlike the useless, sober members of the force. OK, it may have been implausible, but that’s the whole point of fiction. And the whole appeal Rebus in particular. He always gets the job done, despite being blootered. His powers of deduction would have challenged a lifetime teetotaller.

Hibs fans of a certain age have fond memories of the legendary George Best’s all-too-brief time at Easter Road in the late seventies. Despite being well past his prime, Bestie could still turn on the skill with the ball at his feet.

What made this more remarkable, and doubtless endeared him to crowd all the more, was that he was regularly spotted drinking in the bar of the Balmoral Hotel a couple of hours before kick-off. His genius still shone through the alcohol.

Come on, BBC. Let the new Rebus be the Bestie of the Polis again, on a three-day bender. Otherwise, the viewers will be driven to drink.