Meet Bethany: a 17-year-old in a Welsh high security medical centre convicted of murdering her mother by putting a screwdriver through her left eye. India Amarteifio – of Bridgerton spinoff Queen Charlotte fame – is unrecognisable as the patient and gives a physical, gripping portrayal of an angry, possibly scared young person who is sure she can predict future events, whether climate disasters or what is going to happen to individuals around her. She portrays her visions in drawings, and who gives her clinical psychiatrist – a thoughtful, troubled Dr Gabs Fox, played by a perfect Ruth Madeley – a hell of a hard time. Bethany is also estranged from her cult-leader father – either creepy or charismatic – whose ostensible desire to support and see his daughter is at odds with her perspective. The fact the five-episode BBC drama is set during a savage, 40-degree heatwave adds to the show’s intensity and makes it an alarmingly well-timed series to come out after weeks of record-breaking temperatures in the UK.
The premise
Based on the 2009 novel by Liz Jensen, the story finds Dr Fox tasked with assessing Bethany, who continues to plead innocent, and has regular episodes of ‘seeing’ the future, ferociously scribbling her prophesies onto paper in pictures. She believes she not only predicted the way her mother would die, but also the end of the world.
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The characters
It is striking that the show is led by a wheelchair user and a young Black woman. As Amarteifio puts it, “Two people who society would see as marginalised. I think there’s something really powerful in that.” And as for Bethany in particular, she was keen to make her a fully three-dimensional person. “I’m never setting out to be scary, uncouth or impulsive – I didn’t want to be wild or make her a caricature. Humanity and showing how medical drugs affect people was key – I was led by the script and did a lot of research into people in society and are, right now, in mental-health institutions and psychiatric wards across the country.”
Madeley’s Dr Fox is kind and stubborn, and recovering herself from a car accident two years prior, which killed her husband and left her partially paralysed. Funny as well, she is grasping a new existence, which involves patients and potential love interests.
The plot
Bethany’s visions continue, pointing to clues she thinks lead to her mother’s assassin, to what the weather will do and to more mysterious happenings that Dr Fox does her best to get her head round – and that lead her away from strict professionalism.
Photographer:Sam Hazeldine as Bethany’s father, Leonard Krall
The timing
It seems horribly well-timed as a show – after a punishing heatwave across Britain (and Europe) – it’s a sticky watch but worthwhile. “I would like to think that maybe people at home are slightly more aware at this moment of things happening around them. You know, think, ‘That was actually us about two weeks ago.’” Amarteifio says. “Yes, The Rapture is slightly dystopian, and we can call get swept up in our own lives and not take a look around – but the show does point to the fact that yes, this is actually happening.”