Ruth Madeley to Star in BBC Adaptation of Liz Jensen’s ‘The Rapture’

Liz Jensen’s bestselling 2009 novel “The Rapture” is to be adapted into a five-part drama starring Ruth Madeley (“Years and Years,” “Then Barbara Met Alan,” “Doctor Who”), and produced by Mammoth Screen (“The Serpent,” “World on Fire”) for BBC One and BBC iPlayer.

The writer is Bryony Kimmings (“Last Christmas”), with Rebecca Manley, and is directed by Chanya Button (“World on Fire,” and one of the forthcoming Doctor Who 60th anniversary specials starring David Tennant).

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Recovering from a car crash which has left her paralysed, forensic psychologist Gabrielle Fox (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?

Madeley said: “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.”

Kimmings said: “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 added: “ ‘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.”

Lindsay Salt, director of BBC Drama, said: “ ‘The Rapture’ blends a vitally important story of climate change with the gripping narrative rooted by two complicated and captivating women.”

“The Rapture” is a Mammoth Screen production for BBC One and BBC iPlayer. The series is comprised of five on-hour episodes. The producer is Bryony Arnold. The executive producers are Tom Leggett and Damien Timmer for Mammoth Screen and Rebecca Ferguson for the BBC. “The Rapture” is produced in association with ITV Studios, which will distribute it internationally.

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