Reichenbach Falls (TV 2007)

Wry and obsessive DI Buchan is a cop on the edge; suave and self-assured Jack Harvey is a best-selling crime novelist with the world at his feet. As Buchan probes a 100-year-old cold case, ... See full summary »

Director:

John McKay

Writers:

James Mavor, Ian Rankin (short story)

Stars:

Alec Newman, Alastair Mackenzie, Nina Sosanya

Cast

Cast overview:
Alec Newman	...	Jim Buchan
Alastair Mackenzie	...	Jack Harvey
Nina Sosanya	...	Sinead Burns
Laura Fraser	...	Clara
John Sessions	...	Professor Bell
Richard Wilson	...	Arthur Conan Doyle
The Monkey	...	Himself
Tom McGovern	...	Gerry
Greg Powrie	...	Tour Guide
David Robertson	...	Newsreader
Kirsty Wark	...	Herself
Cora Bisset	...	Publicist (as Cora Bissett)

Storyline

Wry and obsessive DI Buchan is a cop on the edge; suave and self-assured Jack Harvey is a best-selling crime novelist with the world at his feet. As Buchan probes a 100-year-old cold case, his investigation takes him on a journey into the Scottish capital's literary past that will cause him to question his very existence and set him on a collision course with his onetime friend. Written by James Mavor and based on an original idea by Ian Rankin, Reichenbach Falls (commissioned as part of BBC Four's fifth birthday celebrations) reflects Rankin's fascination with his home town of Edinburgh and the legacy of a city which has produced so many Scottish literary classics, from 'Kidnapped' to 'The 39 Steps', from 'Sherlock Holmes' to 'The Prime Of Miss Jean Brodie'.

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Genres:

Crime | Drama | Thriller

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Details

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

1 March 2007 (UK)

Also Known As:

The Acid Test

Filming Locations:

Edinburgh, Scotland, UK

Company Credits

Production Co:

British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

75 min

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Trivia

The original short story on which this is based, featured Rankin's John Rebus character. Jim Buchan was created for the purpose of this adaptation.

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Goofs

Towards the end, Clara reads from the book "42 feet per second per second" - gravity is closer to 32 feet per second to second.

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Crazy Credits

An actor, credited as The Monkey, was included in the credits. However this was an existing character, who had already been credited, in disguise.

User Reviews

One character in flight from an author

This is one of those dramas where simply to mention the sort of things that it brings to mind is to give away the plot.: the plays of Dario Fo and Tom Stoppard, or, on television, 'The Singing Detective'. One one hand, it's nicely executed, even if there'a certain element of cliché in this Edinburgh-set detective story, the necessity of whose introduction only eventually becomes apparent. But ultimately, there's none of the deep psychological underpinnings that characterised 'The Singing Detective', and the result is a story that whose whole is a gimmick, essentially less than the sum of its parts. One compensation for those of us who love Edinburgh is the fine use made of the city throughout the film.