An original story for BBC Radio 4

The Deathwatch Journal

A gripping original story for BBC Radio 4 by award-winning crime writer Ian Rankin

A gripping original story for BBC Radio 4 by award-winning crime writer Ian Rankin, written for the landmark Radio 4 Book at Bedtime slot 
 
Saughton Prison, Edinburgh. 1962. 
 
Prison guard Thomas Scott watches over a condemned man sentenced to hang for the murder of his wife. 
 
His prisoner is a guilty man, that’s for sure. William Telfer has done enough bad things in his life. And Scott has been in his job long enough to know that guilty men often proclaimed their innocence right up until the moment the noose was placed around their necks. But as they wait out the days until his execution, Scott begins to suspect that Telfer is innocent of this murder. 
 
An innocent man could be hanged by the neck until dead. And his jailer doesn’t know what to do about it… 
 
To find out the truth, Scott must explore Edinburgh’s darkest corners. And he is running out of time. 
 
From the best-selling author of the Rebus novels, this original story asks what you would do in the face of doubt, and in the search for justice. 
 
(This release contains additional material not included in the radio broadcast, plus an extended postscript.)

Ian Rankin

Ron Donachie

Gayanne Potter

Full Cast

Eight Full-Cast BBC Radio 4 Dramatisations

Eight full-cast dramatisations starring Ron Donachie as Ian Rankin’s legendary detective 
 
John Rebus is Edinburgh’s most famous fictional detective – a hard-drinking, music-loving maverick with a defiant disregard for authority and a stubborn determination to get to the truth. Alongside his loyal colleague and friend Siobhan Clarke, he traverses Scotland’s dark and dangerous underworld investigating violent crimes – many of them involving his sparring partner and nemesis, notorious gangster Ger Cafferty. 
 
These eight thrilling dramas find him tackling suspicious deaths, serial killers and stone-cold cases. In Strip Jack, he probes the disappearance of an MP’s wife and the discovery of two dead bodies; while The Black Book sees him delving into an unsolved murder – with the help of a notebook full of coded clues. Black and Blue finds him travelling from Edinburgh to Glasgow and then Aberdeen as he pursues the psychopathic copycat behind the ‘Johnny Bible’ killings. Meanwhile, in Set in Darkness, the dour DI follows a trail of corpses found during construction at the new Scottish Parliament. 
 
A wealthy banker’s daughter goes missing in The Falls, and the only leads are a series of carved wooden dolls inside miniature coffins and a cryptic online role-playing game. In Resurrection Men, as an investigation into the murder of an Edinburgh art dealer begins, Rebus is ordered to undergo ‘retraining’ – and carries out a secret undercover mission of his own. A Question of Blood sees him enquiring into a school shooting, only to find himself the main suspect in a house fire. And in Fleshmarket Close, Rebus’ skills are put to the test when the teenage sister of a rape victim vanishes, two skeletons are found in a pub cellar and an illegal immigrant is murdered on a city housing estate. 
 
Ron Donachie stars as Rebus, with Gayanne Potter as Siobhan Clarke, Gary Lewis and Sandy Neilson as Cafferty and a supporting cast including Liam Brennan, Steven McNicoll, Iain Robertson, Brian Ferguson, Sarah Collier, Paul Young and Kenny Blyth. 
 
Text copyright © Ian Rankin 1992 (Strip Jack), 1993 (The Black Book), 1995 (Black and Blue), 2000 (Set in Darkness), 2001 (The Falls, Resurrection Men), 2003 (A Question of Blood), 2004 (Fleshmarket Close) 
 
Written by Ian Rankin 
Dramatised by Chris Dolan and Bert Coules 
Produced and directed by Bruce Young 
 
Contents: 
Strip Jack 
The Black Book 
Black and Blue 
Set in Darkness 
The Falls 
Resurrection Men 
A Question of Blood 
Fleshmarket Close 
 
© 2025 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd. (P) 2025 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

Ian Rankin

Books by Ian Rankin

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