This article uses narrative analysis and screenwriting theory to explore how the theme of domestic violence and bullying is used to drive the narrative of the seven-episode HBO limited television series, Big Little Lies (2017).In doing so, it applies Porter et al.’s (2002) structuralist analytic narrative tool, the Scene Function Model, to investigate the structuring of complex TV. Drawing on the narrative and aesthetics of the domestic noir genre, this female-driven drama revolves around a ‘big little lie’ that drives the series narrative and connects each of the five individual stories of the series. This article explores the relationship between plotting complex narratives and the expression of theme in TV drama as a hallmark of Mittell’s (2006, 2015) concept of complex television. It also considers how the creators of Big Little Lies used the theme of domestic violence to drive the narrative of the television series, and via a series of complex interweaving ‘kernel’ scene functions, connect and reveal the lies beneath the surface, so essential to the genre of domestic noir.