Is Apples Never Fall based on a true story?

Well, it's a good thing, then, that the original novel is penned by none other than Big Little Lies author Liane Moriarty.

Starring the likes of Annette Bening and Sam Neill, the series originally aired in the US, but is now going to be available for UK fans to watch to their hearts' content.

The series follows the picture-perfect Delaney family, who are rocked by the sudden disappearance of matriarch Joy.

As they seek to try and find out what happened to her, we soon discover that the family are concealing a lot more secrets than first thought.

But is the new series based on a true story? Read on to find out.

Is Apples Never Fall based on a true story?

The TV series is based on the novel of the same name by Liane Moriarty, but as for the tale at the centre of both the book and drama, it's all entirely fictional.

However, Moriarty has said that the premise of Apples Never Fall was partially inspired by true crime podcasts where she found out more about missing persons cases involving married couples.

Speaking to The Sydney Morning Herald, Moriarty admitted that the idea for Apples Never Fall came to her after listening to various podcasts in the Covid-19 lockdown.

She said: "Sadly, there are multiple cases where a woman goes missing and the husband is the chief suspect in her murder. He is invariably described as a loving father, and that just got me thinking about how would I feel if my mother went missing and everyone was saying my father had possibly murdered her."

In an interview with her book's publisher, Penguin, Moriarty explained some of the things that were whirring in her mind before writing the novel.

She said: "First of all, there was one particular newspaper article I read about an elderly couple who let a young woman into their house, who said she was a domestic violence victim, and she then committed some crime.

"I was intrigued by the idea of the poor elderly couple thinking they were doing the right thing by letting her in. So that was one, the other was a few true crime podcasts that I'd started listening to.

"There was one case that really made me think, 'How would you feel if your father was accused of murdering your mother?' and about those conflicted feelings, especially if you had siblings. What would happen if one of you thought he was guilty and the other didn't? That was another thought."

As for the opening scene in both the book and the series? "I was having a year off from writing, and I asked my sister to send me some writing prompts, just to do some writing, not to necessarily get started on anything.

"She sent me a little description of a bike lying in the grass with apples lying next to it. And that became the opening scene of the book," Moriarty says.

Of course, the eye of suspicion quickly turns to Stan (Sam Neill) after Joy (Annette Bening) goes missing, but as for Stan's role in the disappearance, that was something Moriarty didn't make her mind up about until she was writing.

She also told 7news.com.au: "I would often think about the children and how you would feel as an adult if your mother went missing and your father was the person everybody was talking about who was possibly responsible.

"I then thought about if you had siblings and how would your siblings feel, and then you could possibly have factions where one sibling thinks, 'Yes, Dad may have done this,' and the other says, 'No, absolutely not.'"

Apples Never Fall premieres on BBC One and iPlayer on Saturday 21st September at 9:25pm.

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