The Rapture is not, it is fair to say, a popular story amongst Doctor Who CD listeners. Indeed, it has come in for a fair bit of abuse. Joseph Lidster makes a joke out of this in his précis to the Rapture’s entry in one of the BF script books. Possibly this poor reputation is due to the rather Grange Hill storyline of Ace’s brother (and the Grange Hill acting) and possibly it is because Doctor Who fans are at home with alien worlds, travelling through time and small furry creatures from Alpha Centauri but cannot relate to the drug and dance culture of Ibiza. Sandwiched between the varied awfulness of …Ish and The Sandman, the Rapture ought to sparkle but it hasn’t. Not for it the Dragonfire Factor which saw the garish and often irritating season 24 finale lauded as the best of a chronically bad bunch. These days you are more likely to find Delta and the Bannermen holding that dubious honour because it’s fun, it’s kerazy and it doesn’t have Sophie Aldred in it.

The Rapture does, however, have Ms Aldred in it and she is forced to revert to being an angst ridden teenager once more. One almost expects her to bawl "I ain’t got no bruva and I ain’t never needed no bruva". Of the other characters in the play, one stands out to me. Caitriona gets her fair share of abuse from caustic critics. It is true that I can’t work out if she’s meant to be Scottish or Irish but I still adore her accent. I found myself oddly attracted to Caitriona with her familiar blend of irrational insanity. I was sorely disappointed when I saw a picture of the actress who played her. I sound like a proper bitchy bitch but Anne Bird is not what Caitriona was like in my head.

I once asked Joseph Lidster if Caitriona’s condition was written from personal experience. It was too precise and real to have been written by someone who didn’t know first hand what it is like. He said that he had indeed suffered from Caitriona’s condition. He’d gone down the same route that she did of trying to blot it out with drink, drugs and dance music. He was determined not to give her a miracle cure. The Big Finish range has only skirted on this topic once – Shadow of the Scourge – which put the blame squarely on some interdimensional monsters who feed on negative human emotions. I much prefer the Rapture’s more sensitive handling of it. Caitriona could’ve been a case study in how to alienate your audience had she found love or otherwise become restored to health in the aftermath of their adventure. Imagine how awful it would’ve been if she’d announced that she was giving up booze and pills and was going to become a stronger, healthier and happier person as a result. Because drugs are bad, children, and only wacky loonies take them.

But they let her be. We want her to get better and certainly she comes away from the experience with greater understanding but she’s not cured. Normally I’m not big on Doctor Who concerning itself with "issues" (I even have a nagging distaste for the idea of Rose Tyler having a boyfriend in the new series) but I’ll make an exception for the Rapture. After all, we nutters have to stick together.

CD Facts

Part 1 - Tracks 1-4

Part 2 - Tracks 5-8

Part 3 - Tracks 1-4

Part 4 - Tracks 5-8