Future of Rebus series filmed in Glasgow impacted as Viaplay pulls UK streaming service

Will we ever get the chance to see Glasgow actor Richard Rankin star as one of Scottish fiction’s most famous detectives? The new television drama reimagining Sir Ian Rankin’s Rebus novels is now without a home after Viaplay announced the end of its streaming services in the US, Canada and the UK. The move is part of cost-cutting measures as the company plan to lay off more than 25% of staff and focus on its core Nordic markets.

Viaplay launched in the UK on 1 November last year. That month, their first commission was announced: screenwriter Gregory Burke was creating a drama with Sir Ian Rankin as executive producer, planned as a returning series exclusively for Viaplay.

Filming took place in Glasgow and Edinburgh in April and May this year with local locations including Byres Road and Great Western Road set to feature. Sir Ian Rankin said during production: “Rebus has been a big part of my life for a long time now and to work with Gregory Burke to create a new story that sees him navigate life as a younger man in a contemporary - and ever-changing - Scotland has been a truly fascinating process.

“I’m very much looking forward to watching Richard bring the character to life – he’s the perfect fit for the role, and not just because we coincidentally share the same surname.” Actors John Hannah, Ken Stott and Brian Cox have portraying the Edinburgh detective from the book series that started in 1987. Filippa Wallestam, Viaplay Group EVP & Chief Content Officer said the production with Eleventh Hour Films would “put Viaplay even more firmly on the drama map in the UK.”

The future of Rebus was called into question by an update from Viaplay CEO Jorgen Madsen Lindemann on Thursday: “We are today announcing a new strategy and plan, which includes, but is not limited to, focusing on our core Nordic, Netherlands and Viaplay Select operations (which make available a wide range of Viaplay series, films and documentaries through partners around the world); implementing a new operational model; downsizing, partnering or exiting our other international markets; rightsizing and pricing our product offering in the Nordics; undertaking a major cost reduction program; and conducting an immediate strategic review of the entire business to consider all options, including content sublicensing, asset disposals, equity injections or the sale of the whole group.”

The company plan to move quickly to address various challenges, Lindemann said: “The content investments that have been made are not all paying off, and are committed in the short and medium term. Furthermore, the pursuit of subscriber volume growth has been at the cost of value, especially when it comes to our partner agreements. The weakness in the advertising markets and currency exchange rates are additional factors that we must live with. The international expansion assumptions, including the timelines to profitability, have also been pushed materially into the future since the expansion started.”

Viaplay reported “higher quarter-over-quarter losses for the international operations due to the content investments that we have made, the consolidation of the U.K. operation and the launches in North America.”

The new six-part series of Rebus was due to stream on Viaplay UK in 2024. Outlander actor Richard Rankin led the cast alongside Lucie Shorthouse, Brian Ferguson and Stuart Bowman.

The new story, set in contemporary Scotland, saw police detective John Rebus, in his late thirties, who finds himself at a psychological crossroads. “At odds with a job increasingly driven by corporate technocrats, involved in a toxic affair he knows he needs to end, and all but supplanted in his daughter’s life by his ex-wife’s wealthy new husband, Rebus begins to wonder if he still has a role to play – either as a family man or a police officer. In a world of divisive politics and national discord, does the law still have meaning, or is everyone reverting to an older set of rules? And if so, why shouldn’t Rebus do so too?”