Big Little Lies for the tennis set cannot inspire

Liane Moriarty trusts in the power of the three-word title. Big Little Lies, which was optioned by her Australian colleague Nicole Kidman and was filmed with a host of stars, is the book that made her famous on television. Kidman was then less impressive as the lead actress in Nine Perfect Strangers. Now comes Apples never fall (BBC One/Peacock), adapted from Moriarty's thriller about a matriarch who disappears.

Matriarch Joy Delaney is played by Annette Bening, which is a good sign. So is Sam Neill as patriarch Stan, former owner of a second-rate tennis academy from which all four of his children did not become professionals. Now Joy is missing after a bicycle accident (in which apples Do falls, oh so figuratively, out of her basket) and the Delaneys want to know if she stormed off or was killed.

The main culprit, besides her father, is Savannah (Georgia Flood), who knocks on the door one night and is clearly an imposter. The plot constantly switches between the time periods before the disappearance and after, piecing together what is what. What we do know, because it is at the end of the first episode, is that Joy and Savannah are seen driving away after the accident.

Unlike other Moriarty films, this one doesn't have high-schlock maestro David E. Kelley at the helm. Instead, it's Melanie Marnich, who wrote Big Love, The OA, The Affair and last year's Icelandic oddity Murder at the End of the World. The source material doesn't give her much to think about, and it's almost as if the script knows how superficially conceived its characters are. “Con artist; bootlicker; rich wanker; hot mess; missing, probably dead,” says a detective examining a family photo. They're less richly drawn than Dopey, Bashful, Sleepy and Grumpy.

If you look closely, you might be able to see a weary look on the faces of Bening and Neill. You thought they were going to star in the next Big Little Lies, a drama that manages to make you care about Moriarty's privileged women.

The problem with this dull thriller is that there is absolutely no one to root for. Everyone seems to have typical relationship problems and monotonous father complexes, and long before the disappointing denouement, Joy's disappearance has become a mystery wrapped up in a musty rag and stuffed into a used travel bag.

Apple's Never Fall starts tonight at 9.25pm ​​on BBC One; all episodes are available now on BBC iPlayer.