I own an old Penguin edition of John Wyndham’s The Day of the Triffids with a cover depicting that curious piece of extra-terrestrial fauna against the backdrop of a simple brick wall. There is something striking in the otherwise nondescript ordinariness of that image, something very British but not quite right.

There is something not quite right about this big-budget TV adaptation too. The topical updating of Wyndham’s tale to involve mankind bitten on the backside by its own tampering with dwindling global energy sources nevertheless covers similar territory to that now being doggedly pursued by the ongoing remake of Survivors on BBC1. Such visions of a post-apocalyptic (and post-28 Days Later) London suffer from what are now stock images of either a rubble-strewn or deserted central city which, for all the accompanying CGI, simply leave you idly wondering what time of morning they had to film the scene to get the desired effect?

As hard as they try, neither Dougray Scott nor Joely Richardson as the leads provide the necessary chemistry and edge created by the oddball cast of the early 1980s BBC series, while Eddie Izzard seems to be under the impression that he is still the cartoon villain he played in Mystery Men over a decade ago. Not even the clunking great theatrical muscle of Brian Cox and Vanessa Redgrave can sustain the 185-minute running time of this two-parter, which I had looked forward to when it first aired on BBC1 over Christmas 2009. When a UK-centred production tries to go all US on you, it shows. We are still somewhat a nation of terrestrial shopkeepers when it comes to TV drama, not a massive production line of cable chain marts. This version of The Day of the Triffids attempts to punch way above its weight. Ultimately and regrettably it fails to connect.