The Rapture: Ruth Madeley to star in TV adaptation of hit novel on BBC One

Liz Jensen’s bestselling 2009 novel The Rapture is to be adapted into a five part drama on BBC One.

Ruth Madeley (Years and Years, Then Barbara Met Alan, Doctor Who) will star in the new series which is being produced by Mammoth Screen (The Serpent, World on Fire) for BBC One and BBC iPlayer.

It is written by Bryony Kimmings (Last Christmas), with Rebecca Manley (episode four), and is directed by Chanya Button (World On Fire and one of the forthcoming Doctor Who 60th anniversary specials starring David Tennant).

A synopsis shares: “Recovering from a car crash which has left her paralysed, forensic psychologist Gabrielle Fox (Ruth Madeley) takes a job working in a maximum security facility for juvenile patients.

“Here she meets 16-year-old inmate Bethany Krall who was found guilty of brutally murdering her mother and tells Gabs that she has psychic powers. Is she a highly manipulative psychopath or is she telling the truth when she says she can foretell a natural disaster linked to climate catastrophe?”

Ruth Madeley said: “I am thrilled to be teaming up with the BBC and Mammoth Screen to lead such an epic series. I loved Liz Jensen’s novel and Bryony Kimmings’ scripts are brilliantly inventive and funny and scary. Gabs is such a rich and complex character and I cannot wait to play her.”

Bryony Kimmings added: “When I read The Rapture I fell immediately in love with its fallible, weird, potty mouthed, struggling female leads. The gift of the book is its reluctant protagonists with too much on their plate to think about the climate. That’s me – that’s most of us! I can’t wait to bring them to the screen so you can fall in love with them too.”

Executive producers Tom Leggett and Damien Timmer from Mammoth Screen commented: “The Rapture is a dream project for us – Liz Jensen’s novel and Bryony’s scripts crackle with wit and danger and feature two outstanding female lead characters, all set against a genuinely urgent story about climate catastrophe. Having Ruth Madeley as Gabs is the icing on the cake!”

The five part series will air on BBC One and iPlayer with further details to be announced.