The Rapture: Everything We Know About The BBC’s Heatwave Thriller

With UK temperatures soaring and quality television in short supply, The Rapture is a timely thriller. This BBC adaptation of Liz Jensen’s acclaimed 2009 novel unfolds during an apocalyptic heatwave, mirroring the real-world chaos around us. Starring Ruth Madeley and India Amarteifio and reportedly coming soon, it’s exactly the kind of gripping, dark drama we’ve been waiting for. Here’s everything we know so far.

Dick Carwyn (IWAN RHEON) and Dr Gabriele Fox (RUTH MADELEY) in The Rapture. (BBC/Mammoth Screen)

The Rapture: Plot, Cast, Release Date & More

Based on Liz Jensen’s bestselling 2009 novel of the same name, The Rapture is described by the BBC as ‘a high-stakes thriller which crackles with danger’. Despite being penned almost two decades ago, fittingly for our summer so far, The Rapture unfolds during a heatwave of apocalyptic proportions, which matches freak weather patterns unfurling across the globe.

We centre on forensic psychologist Gabs Fox (Ruth Madeley), who starts a new job in the midst of this unrest. She will be working at Oxsmith, a high-security psychiatric hospital, and it is here that she meets 17-year-old Bethany Krall (India Amarteifio) who is described in the trailer as ‘guilty of murder and very dangerous’.

Bethany Krall (INDIA AMARTEIFIO) in The Rapture. (BBC/Mammoth Screen)

Bethany is being detained for the murder of her mother, but the teenager insists she is innocent. She also tells Gabs that she has psychic powers and can predict the future. But what will it take for Gabs to believe her? And if Bethany didn’t kill her mother, who did?

One lead is the family: Bethany is estranged from her father Leonard (Sam Hazeldine), who happens to lead ‘an influential religious movement’, the BBC teases. We are reading this as a euphemism for a cult. Of course, there’s also the title: the rapture, in Christianity, is the belief that before the apocalypse Jesus’ most devout followers, living and deceased, will be gathered up with Christ from the Earth and ascend into heaven.

Leonard Krall (SAM HAZELDINE) in The Rapture. (BBC/Mammoth Screen)

The Rapture is one piece in an expanding genre of British dramas about religious cults. Netflix kicked things off with Unchosen at the start of the year, while the upcoming seventh series of Strike will see Robin Ellacott (Holliday Grainger) going undercover in a cult on a Norfolk farm.

First announced in 2023 and shot in Wales in October 2025, The Rapture was written by Bryony Kimmings, an award-winning performance artist and playwright as well as screenwriter. She is best known for penning 2019’s festive rom-com Last Christmas with Emma Thompson, starring Emilia Clarke and Henry Golding and inspired by the Wham! song of the same name. Kimmings worked with Rebecca Manley to bring Jensen’s novel to the screen.

Max Leland (STEPHEN CAMPBELL MOORE) and Dr Gabriele Fox (RUTH MADELEY) in The Rapture. (BBC/Mammoth Screen)

The Cast

The Rapture is led by Ruth Madeley as Gabs Fox and India Amarteifio as Bethany Krall. Born in Westhoughton in 1987, Madeley is best known for her roles in Years and Years, The Rook and Doctor Who – so she’s no stranger to the supernatural.

The 24-year-old Amarteifio, meanwhile, is most recognisable for her leading role in Netflix’s Bridgerton spin-off, Queen Charlotte (2023). This is her first TV role since then, though she also has an upcoming role in Arie and Chuko Esiri’s film Clarissa, a modern-day adaptation of Virginia Woolf’s 1925 novel Mrs Dalloway, set to land in cinemas this December.

Madeley and Amarteifio are joined by a stellar supporting cast, including Sam Hazeldine as Bethany’s father Leonard Krall, Iwan Rheon as Dick Carwyn, Stephen Campbell Moore as Max Leland and Ruth Jones as Mel.

Lisa Palfrey, Siena Kelly, Naby Dakhli, Richard Elis, Dean Rehman and Robert Rhodes also star.

Mel (RUTH JONES) in The Rapture. (BBC/Mammoth Screen)

Release Date

No specific date just yet but the BBC assures us The Rapture ‘will be coming soon to BBC iPlayer and BBC One’. The series will be made up of five episodes.

In the meantime, there are scores of gripping shows available to stream on BBC iPlayer. Here are our favourites.