From last year’s adaptation of Adam Kay’s This Is Going To Hurt to the edge-of-your-seat appeal of The Girl Before, the BBC certainly knows how to bring a bestselling book to the screen. 

And that’s what makes the announcement of its latest upcoming series – an adaptation of Liz Jensen’s 2009 novel The Rapture – so exciting.  

Starring none other than Ruth Madeley – whose previous work ranges from the dystopian series Years And Years to the historic film When Barbara Met Alan – The Rapture follows the story of Gabrielle Fox (Madeley), a forensic psychologist who is recovering from a “shattering” car accident which left her paralysed.

But that’s just the starting point for this chilling story about disaster, passion and everything in between. Here’s everything we know about the series so far. 

Set against the backdrop of a hot, blistering summer, Jensen’s novel follows Fox as she takes a job working in a maximum-security facility for juvenile patients. There, she meets a 16-year-old inmate called Bethany Kraull, who has been found guilty of brutally murdering her mother.

Assigned to Kraull’s case, Fox begins to worry she’s made a mistake – especially when the violent, intuitive teenager tells her she has psychic powers and can foresee natural disasters.

However, as time goes on and Kraull continues to stress her psychic abilities, Fox begins to question everything. Is she a highly manipulative psychopath struggling with doomsday delusions, or is she telling the truth about being able to see an impending eco-disaster?  

The only confirmed cast member we have so far is Ruth Madeley, but we’ll update this space when we hear more.

The Rapture is being produced by Mammoth Screen, the company behind The Serpent and World On Fire.

Bryony Kimmings will lead the writing team alongside Rebecca Manley, and the series will be directed by Chanya Button, who has worked on World On Fire as well as one of the forthcoming Doctor Who 60th anniversary specials starring David Tennant. 

Responding to the news of her casting, Madeley said she was “thrilled” to be leading such an “epic” series.

“I loved Liz Jensen’s novel and Bryony Kimmings’ scripts are brilliantly inventive and funny and scary,” she said. “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.” 

The Rapture’s five episodes will air on BBC One and BBC iPlayer. We don’t know when to expect the show just yet, but we’ll keep this space updated with the latest news as and when we get it. 

Images: Getty/Bloomsbury Publishing