BottomNavigationView not accepting styles

Can someone please help me understand how to add a background color to my bottom navigation view. I have tried a multitude of things online. If I specify individual colors for each of background, itemBackground, itemIconTint etc. then it shows in the AS preview but doesn't reflect on the device when I launch the app. [The device has Android 8.0.0 on it].

If I use the style attribute then the BottomNavigationView vanishes from the AS preview and there is no difference in the application when I run it. I was successfully able to apply ripple effects to the icon clicks but this seems to completely stump me. And as per Android styles this should have worked. [https://developer.android.com/guide/topics/ui/look-and-feel/themes#Theme]

Code in styles.xml

<resources>

    <!-- Base application theme. -->
    <style name="AppTheme" parent="Theme.AppCompat.Light.DarkActionBar">
        <!-- Customize your theme here. -->
        <item name="colorPrimary">@color/colorPrimary</item>
        <item name="colorPrimaryDark">@color/colorPrimaryDark</item>
        <item name="colorAccent">@color/colorAccent</item>
    </style>

    <style name="AppTheme.NoActionBars">
        <item name="windowActionBar">true</item>
        <item name="windowNoTitle">true</item>
        <!-- Customize your theme here. -->
        <item name="colorPrimary">@color/colorPrimary</item>
        <item name="colorPrimaryDark">@color/colorPrimaryDark</item>
        <item name="colorAccent">@color/colorAccent</item>
    </style>

    <style name="AppTheme.AppBarOverlay" parent="ThemeOverlay.AppCompat.Dark.ActionBar" />

    <style name="AppTheme.PopupOverlay" parent="ThemeOverlay.AppCompat.Light" />

    <style name="BottomNavigation" parent="AppTheme">
        <item name="android:background">@color/colorAccent</item>
        <item name="itemBackground">@drawable/bottom_navigation_colors</item>
        <item name="itemIconTint">@drawable/navigation_bar_txt_color</item>
        <item name="itemTextColor">@drawable/navigation_bar_txt_color</item>
    </style>

</resources>

My Manifest has the following

<application
        android:allowBackup="true"
        android:icon="@mipmap/ic_launcher"
        android:label="@string/app_name"
        android:roundIcon="@mipmap/ic_launcher_round"
        android:supportsRtl="true"
        android:theme="@style/AppTheme">
        <activity
            android:name=".screens.MainActivity"
            android:label="@string/title_activity_main"
            android:theme="@style/AppTheme.NoActionBars">
            <!--<intent-filter>-->
                <!--<action android:name="android.intent.action.MAIN" />-->

                <!--<category android:name="android.intent.category.LAUNCHER" />-->
            <!--</intent-filter>-->
        </activity>
        <activity android:name=".screens.LoginActivity"
            android:label="LoginActivity"
            android:theme="@style/AppTheme.NoActionBars">
            <intent-filter>
                <action android:name="android.intent.action.MAIN" />

                <category android:name="android.intent.category.LAUNCHER" />
            </intent-filter>
        </activity>
    </application>

I tried using navigation.setBackgroundColor() from the Java code and it worked for me.

But I still cannot get it to work using XML and styles. So will mark this as the answer for now, until a better answer explains why XML style isn't working.