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Taggart star John Michie joins Rebus cast as season two filming begins

News imageBBC John Michie wearing a dark blue suit jacket and blue shirt. He has short dark hair.BBC
John Michie will star alongside series regulars as part of a guest cast

Holby City and Taggart star John Michie has joined the cast of the BBC's adaptation of Rebus for its second series.

Based on Sir Ian Rankin's best-selling novels, the programme first aired in spring 2024 starring Outlander actor Richard Rankin as the Edinburgh detective.

The six-part second series, produced by Eleventh Hour Films and written for the screen by Gregory Burke, is now being filmed in Edinburgh and Glasgow and will air in 2027.

Michie is part of a guest cast who will star alongside series regulars including Brian Ferguson, who plays Rebus's younger brother Michael, and Lucie Shorthouse, who plays DC Siobhan Clarke.

The 69-year-old Scottish actor, who was born in Burma and grew up in Kenya, is no stranger to solving crimes having played DI Robbie Ross in STV's detective drama Taggart for 12 years.

He then moved to Britain's biggest soap to play Karl Munro in Coronation Street.

While that character was serving life for murder, Michie joined the BBC's Holby City to play consultant neurosurgeon Guy Self.

He will now feature in Rebus's guest cast with Shetland and Vigil actor Stephen McCole, Douglas Russell from Adolescence and Department Q and Emily Barber, who starred in The Wayfinders and Mobland.

Rebus's exploits have been told across 25 novels, the first of which was published in 1987.

An estimated 35 milion Rebus novels have been sold and creator Sir Ian Rankin was knighted in June 2023.

Rebus was previously played by actors John Hannah and Ken Stott, in a series of ITV films between 2000 and 2007.

The TV reboot reimagines the detective sergeant as a younger man and is set in present-day Edinburgh.

Its first episode picked up 6.3 million viewers across all platforms and it won three RTS Scotland awards last year.

The BBC said season two will "explore the links between violent criminals and the professional bourgeois world of law and finance, where police sometimes fear to tread".

News imageBBC/Eleventh Hour Films/Mark Mainz Richard Rankin. He has dark hair, a beard and a moustache and is wearing a blue denim shirt with a black jacket over the top. He is holding a clapperboard with REBUS 2 in large black letters.BBC/Eleventh Hour Films/Mark Mainz
Outlander star Richard Rankin plays Det John Rebus in the BBC adaptation

Richard Rankin said: "There's a real sense of excitement about stepping back into Rebus' world.

"We were incredibly fortunate with the team we assembled for the first series, and it's a genuine pleasure to be returning alongside so many familiar faces, both in front of and behind the camera.

"At the same time, we're welcoming some fantastic new talent this season, and it's already exciting to see the energy, ideas and depth they're bringing to the story."

He said he continues to look forward to bring Rebus to life in his next chapter.

Rebus is part of a growing list of BBC dramas from Scotland, including Counsels, Shetland, Vigil, Granite Harbour, Half Man, Mint, Sutherland, The Young Team and Grams.