But the thought of Stephen Tompkinson as him curdles my blood.

He is a good actor though - excellent in Brassed Off. Just wrong as Inspector Banks.

He was very funny as Damien Day.

then Robson bloody Green has got to be up there along with Ray Winston, Michale Caine, Sean Connery and Benny from Crossroads.

playing wooden people?

http://youtu.be/isM1aKgV0zM

Sorry, tried to embed but.....

but he's no Charlie from Casualty.

A no charisma, wooden, slow talking dolt who got lucky applies to Monsieur Lyndhurst much more.

I much prefer Tompkinson - for Brassed Off and Drop The Dead Donkey alone.

And I can't recall anything of merit Lyndhurst has done outside of Only Fools ( and no that doesn't include Goodnight Sweetheart )

"No charisma, wooden, slow talking dolt."

He got to shag Dervla Kirwan, though. Lucky get.

how Peter Davison got so much high-profile work back in the day.

Wild At Heart is excellent. Mrs Vandelay grew up in South Africa, and watching the show and hearing all the accents always makes her cry.

With his hangdog face and slow delivery I find him unwatchable. But he gets so much work.

Nice guy though, which goes a very long way.

Not read the Banks novels, so perhaps that helps.

Both unfilmable, both have to be shorn of any sort of edge, intrigue and depth to meet Sunday evening audience expectations. Should have been left well alone. Tompkinson is not Banks. The girl who plays Annie is so far removed from the character in the book as to be laughable. Ken Stott was a terrible choice for Rebus, whereas John Hannah was ok but 15 years too young.

Tompkinson is a decent actor - as noted above, was great in Drop the Dead Donkey and also in the excellent, but oft forgotten, "All Quiet on the Preston Front".

The TV dramas were never going to match up. I'd agree that Hannah looked vaguely like how I imagined Rebus to be, but Tompkinson is nowhere near the Banks that I see.

An actor can only work with the material he/she is given. I love the Banks books and Tompkinson doesn't look like my mental image of Banks. But neither does anybody else. It seems a bit harsh to slag off an actor for not matching one's mental image of a character.

I thought Ken Stott was perfectly cast as Rebus. Hannah was far too pretty.

But I think what we're all saying is that, generally, the books are better than the telly. But, like films based on books, they are different things and should be judged on their own merits. No 90 minute TV programme is going to capture every nuance of any half-decent novel.

Got to agree Ken Stott was Rebus, Ian Rankin must have seen Stott when he set about writing the Rebus series. Hannah is a very good actor but was never going to fulfil the characterisation of Rebus.