The Rapture

Trust me Gustavo, angels are never what they seem.

The Seventh Doctor

Synopsis

Ibiza, 1997, and thousands of young people are acting like mindless zombies.

Which is to be expected. Ibiza, the island of dance music, sex, drugs and alcohol, is the ultimate hedonistic paradise.

God has sent help from on high to save the sinners of Ibiza. He has sent His angels to save their souls.

Which would be simple enough if those souls didn’t include an alien time-traveller working in a bar, a woman who went missing in 1987, a young man carrying a photograph of a girl he’s never met and an Irish girl who doesn’t even know who she is anymore.

Review

When I approached The Rapture, I did so with a certain degree of apathy. This, I think, was because I was aware of the main setting. I have never been one for clubbing or dance music and so the idea of Ibiza has never really appealed to me, so Doctor Who setting a story there, in the middle of the club scene, did not feel like an idea that interested me.

I think that Joseph Lidster’s script did manage to grab my attention and keep it for the majority of the run time, by giving this story some interesting themes and trying to develop the character of Ace and provide her with more of a home life. I will be completely honest and admit that I have never read a Virgin New Adventure story in my life, but I understand that this feels quite similar to one of those in playing around with the idea of gods and religion. I think that Lidster does something interesting things in this story, like the idea of playing round with structure in Part 2, making each scene follow on from the preceding one by using the last word of the scene before as the first of the new scene. This makes the dialogue seem super snappy and it’s something that I don’t remember hearing before. Lidster also plays around with ideas of youth culture and how clubbing has replaced religion and other important formative experiences over time. Lidster deals with the mental health aspect in respect of Caitriona quite well, and extremely sensitively.

Ultimately though, the biggest flaw with The Rapture is that it’s final part is very messy and feels as though it meaningfully ends early in Part 4, and everything that happens after this is difficult to engage with. Everything feels a little bit messy once Gustavo and Gabriel die, and it certainly took me out of the story. Lidster has the Doctor consider taking Jude away from Ibiza but then the character seeks revenge for the death of his brother. Part 2 also suffers from at times being quite unclear, especially during Caitriona’s trip on angel dust with Gabriel, where she sees alternate versions of the Doctor, Ace and Liam, which the story never really explains. There is no doubting that Joseph Lidster has a lot of good ideas, but it feels as though the temptation to put all of those ideas into one story creeps in, and other elements, like the central villains, suffer as a result, despite good performances from Matthew Brenher and Neil Henry as Jude and Gabriel.

This story is pretty important for Ace, coming at her lowest ebb of travelling with the Doctor and deeply impacted by the events at the end of Colditz. We are only one story into Ace insisting on being called McShane and I am already bored of this concept. It all feels as though she is protesting too much, and I’m not sure how much blame can be placed at the door of Sophie Aldred, because this idea is clearly being pushed by production at this point. With the benefit of hindsight, we know that Ace’s name does not change and that makes this all the more frustrating. I appreciate that the events of the conclusion of Colditz were traumatic, but the name change feels like a bit of an overreaction. However, her wanting a break from the Doctor to spend time with people her own age is understandable, albeit she should realise that, when with the Doctor, death is not too far behind. Aldred does do a good job with what she is given to do, especially with the reveal that she has a brother, Liam, who has been looking for her.

The Seventh Doctor seems somewhat melancholy here, and obviously views Ibiza as a place of rest and refreshment for both himself and Ace. I think it is a good performance from McCoy, who imbues that spirit really well, along with his moments of outrage and anger well too. It would be easy for him to be over the top in places, and he certainly treads that border on a few occasions, but I think that on the whole, it’s a good performance.

Verdict: I enjoyed The Rapture but it was certainly not without some problems. 5/10.

Cast: Sylvester McCoy (The Doctor), Sophie Aldred (Ace), Tony Blackburn (Himself), Matthew Brenher (Jude), Neil Henry (Gabriel), Carlos Riera (Gustavo), David John (Liam McShane), Anne Bird (Caitriona Henderson), Daniel Wilson (Brian) & Jeremy James (Bouncer/Clubber).

Writer: Joseph Lidster

Director: Jason Haigh-Ellery

Composers: Jim Mortimore, Jane Elphinstone, Simon Robinson & Feel

Parts: 4

Main Range Release Number: 36

Release Date: 26th September 2002

Behind the Scenes

• Each part of the story features a different remix of the Doctor Who theme tune. In the draft scripts, the parts had individual episode titles – Essential Selection, A Higher State Of…, Deeper and Euphoric Breakdown.
• This would be the final story released in the Main Range to feature the Seventh Doctor and Ace travelling alone until 1963: The Assassination Games.
• Tony Blackburn’s appearance marked the fourth time a celebrity played themselves in Doctor Who, and the first time in a Big Finish production.

Cast Notes

• Matthew Brenher also appeared in the Main Range plays Whispers of Terror and Red Dawn, as Chronomancer and The Wrong Side of History (The Sixth Doctor Adventures).
• David John had previously played Derek in Survival.
• Daniel Wilson previously appeared in Project: Twilight playing Eddie.
• Jeremy James, also known as Jez Fielder, is best known for appearing in the Big Finish Sarah Jane Smith stories.

Best Quote

Previous Seventh Doctor review: Colditz

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