# ‘I thought there’d never be enough work!’ Ruth Madeley on sex, success and becoming a star out of sheer nosiness

- URL: https://talkfuse.com/story/i-thought-thered-never-be-enough-work-ruth-madeley-on-sex-success-and-becoming-a-star-out-of-sheer-nosiness/
- Published: 2026-07-17T12:00:07+00:00
- Updated: 2026-07-17T12:12:27+00:00
- Original publisher: The Guardian (publisher lean: Left)
- Original article: https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2026/jul/17/i-thought-thered-never-be-enough-work-ruth-madeley-on-sex-success-and-becoming-a-star-out-of-sheer-nosiness
- Topics: Celebrity, Culture, Entertainment, Music

## Key points

- Ruth Madeley leads new BBC drama The Rapture and produces for the first time.
- She plays a psychologist paralysed after an accident, drawing on her own disability.
- Madeley urges more disabled people in TV's directing and production roles.

## Summary

Ruth Madeley, the 38-year-old actor known for Doctor Who and Years and Years, discusses her latest lead role in The Rapture, a BBC adaptation of Liz Jensen's 2009 novel, in which she plays a paralysed clinical psychologist drawn into the visions of a young offender. The interview highlights Madeley's growing influence in the industry, both as a performer redefining disability representation on screen and as a first-time executive producer, at a time when questions remain about the lack of disabled people in senior TV production roles.

Madeley, who has spina bifida and has used a wheelchair full-time for most of her life, draws on her own experience of changing mobility to portray Gabs, a character newly disabled after a car accident that killed her husband. She reflects on the eerie parallels between the show's climate-driven, apocalyptic tone and real-world events, noting that her earlier role in Years and Years also preceded a real crisis, the Covid pandemic. Despite her success, she says she remains a self-described "grafter" who prefers not to watch her own rushes, and she calls for greater representation of disabled people in behind-the-camera roles.

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Summarised by TalkFuse (https://talkfuse.com/). Quote the original publisher for the reporting and link this page for the summary and discussion.