It’s time to listen to and discuss The Rapture
Buy it online using the link above, or listen for free - you’ll find links where to listen free on the story page!
Once you’ve listened, talk about it below! Even if you listened to it before and just want to discuss it - dive right in! Just please use spoiler tags where appropriate.
Everyone who participates will get a coveted Audio Club badge! 
Just for fun, add your rating here:
Joseph Lidster is an excellent writer.
This is not an excellent story.
Clearly, the man was having some kind of off day because The Rapture is nothing short of a mess.
Ace (or McShane, I guess) gets some nice character development but the story is messy, the performances are pretty bad and it has a really awful mishandling of mental health.
Nice soundtrack though.
5/10
Full review here. If you enjoy, feel free to drop a like:
I actually liked this one. I thought that Ace played the role great and I liked her motivations throughout the whole story. It was also a fun and different setting for a Sci-Fi story. 4/5
I’m very excited to listen to this one because I’m heading into uncharted territory with The Rapture. It’s the first MR release I haven’t listened to before!
I feel like this one is quite widely disliked but I enjoyed it when I listened. It’s one of those ones that tries something a bit unusual, and it worked for me
I’m also in the ‘don’t get the hate’ camp. I remember enjoying it at the time. I also remember the fact it has Tony Blackburn in it and how that was played up in the trailer. It’s very funny!
Weird, I thought I already gave my opinion here! I absolutely loved this story, and I had no idea until now that it’s disliked… it was a great story with a good atmosphere, even if I don’t like the remixes of the themes.
I haven’t heard this story in ages, but I regularly listen to Jim Mortimore’s excellent soundtrack. The club tunes are genuine bangers!
Looking back, this story was preceded by …ish and followed by The Sandman. How experimental and willing to try new approaches Big Finish were back then. As with all experiments, some work, some not so much.
For me, this is mainly successful. It’s too messy to completely succeed and I found the delicate issues tackled here might have been done more sensitively. That’s something I think present-day BF might have improved apon. It’s bizarre and joyous to hear Tony Blackburn here, and as many have said, Jim Mortimore’s soundtrack is a banger (available here on Bandcamp, kids!).
As for the cast, Ace is a little annoying, but The Doctor is portrayed well; I like Matthew Brenher as Jude (I wish he still acted for BF, in fact) and it was great to hear David John (from Survival) as Liam.
As a whole, I enjoy listening to this. As a story, it doesn’t quite come off, but I always give it marks for a darn good try!
Well, I went into this with no expectations and came out of it with mixed feelings. I adore the experimentation, the unique setting, the music and the general themes. But the performances leave a lot to be desired, the narrative is pretty messy, and the villains are underwhelming.
I also found Ace a bit annoying, though understandably so, and that McShane business is pure nonsense. Liam being revealed as Ace’s younger brother was a great twist, and I was excited about learning more about him until I read that he’s yet to reappear. Gustavo was a nice addition as well, though the twist surrounding him was somewhat worn out.
I might need to relisten to this to fully appreciate it, but right now it sits at a strong 5/10.
Haven’t heard it in a while but I really liked this one.
Was expecting a fun experimental cover and a very middling story, but it turned out to be a surprising succes for me! I often prefer stories where there aren’t any real villains, and this one handled the tragedy of our antagonists very well. I think what many seemingly see as messiness in how the story goes, like how quickly Jude changes plans, I see as a portrayal of how stressed out and traumatized the characters are. It’s missing a lot of structure because it reflects their internal struggle. The story just dances on. It doesn’t go smoothly, but it goes, and in the end you had a good time. Maybe fitting for this writer’s first ‘dance’ with Doctor Who.
Also a big fan of how trippy it is. All the drama and horrible things happening, and that dance music just beats on in the background, like everything is actually fine. Do not worry about the deaths, just get entranced and keep feeling the music in your soul. And then I haven’t even mentioned the literal drug trip. Great stuff imo.
I came out of this with so many conflicting feelings. The setting is outstanding, the characters are interesting, the vibes are immaculate. But it doesn’t stick the landing for some reason. I’m not quite sure why it doesn’t hit for me. Enjoyable enough but not the best. We are soon to come to the start of Hex though and that is an exciting development.
I enjoyed the bits with Ace and her backstory, there was some nice character development there, but didn’t really like the setting or the rest of the story. Nice music though and enjoyed the way it was quite experimental. 2.5/5
