Richard Osman’s phenomenal bestseller The Thursday Murder Club (2020) has now been adapted into a funny and likeable, if slightly bland, comedy-drama for Netflix.
★★★☆☆
With that old-fashioned feel of a Sunday teatime TV crime drama, The Thursday Murder Club also covers more gritty themes such as loss, human trafficking, and vengeance.
The scene is Coopers Chase, a retirement community set in a picturesque English countryside, and the retirement facility itself is a stately home grand enough to rival Downton Abbey. The residents are assigned gorgeously decorated sets of panelled rooms – what must the fees at such an extraordinary place be? – and have all sorts of hobbies, but the most remarkable is that of the Thursday Murder Club.
This club comprises former MI6 chief Elizabeth (Helen Mirren), ex-trade unionist Ron (Pierce Brosnan), retired psychiatrist Ibrahim (Ben Kingsley), and former nurse Joyce (Celia Imrie). They meet in the jigsaw room every week to discuss unsolved crimes, supplied to them by Elizabeth’s friend, retired police officer Penny, who is now in the palliative care wing. When their evil landlord Ian Ventham (David Tennant) unveils plans to redevelop Coopers Chase into luxury flats, this triggers a destructive domino effect with violent and mysterious events involving his business partners Tony Curran (Geoff Bell) and Bobby Tanner (Richard E Grant), investigated by local coppers DCI Chris Hudson (Daniel Mays) and WPC Donna de Freitas (Naomi Ackie). But, of course, the police won’t get anywhere without the help of the Thursday Murder Club.
The plot is not too complex, the pacing can be slow and predictable at times, but there are twists and red herrings to keep us guessing throughout, and there’s a fair bit to enjoy with the Thursday Murder Club members sometimes resembling a kind of senior-citizen Avengers group whose collective superpower is invisibility. Elderly people, it seems, can do things without other people noticing them.
Mirren, Brosnan, Kingsley, and Imrie, the primary quartet, all bring warmth and wit to their respective roles, creating both humorous and heartfelt moments, making the characters feel vibrant and engaging. The chemistry between the lead cast is undeniable, though there are some moments where it feels like Mirren’s in a power play for the camera’s attention, and Brosnan’s bizarre wandering mix of an Irish and Cockney accent is a significant distraction. But the quirky behaviour of each character is overall wholesome and entertaining – Imrie’s performance as Joyce stands out most; a former nurse with a cheeky grin and twinkle in her eye whose obsession with baking absurdly lavish cakes brings some Bake-Off energy to the cosy crime tale – and each of them putting their own spin on working towards their end goal is heartening to watch.
The film is a blend of mystery and drama with a touch of humour, and the wit and power of the superb cast puts the production in the same class as the Knives Out franchise. Its high praise comes in its retirement home setting – it is refreshing to see stories where older people have leading roles with such vitality and complexity. However, it is a mediocre adaptation that doesn’t entirely capture the quirky and playful essence of Osman’s book, with characters that have no time to properly develop and a frothy final act with no satisfying payoff. It has a “made for TV” vibe, perfunctory and visually safe, reminiscent of primetime television rather than a more cinematic experience.
The glaring issue is the tragic ending. Mirren’s character tracks down Bobby Tanner, a trafficker and violent criminal, and she offers to keep him a secret if he sells the retirement home to her friend. This ex-MI6 chief clearly has her morals in all the right places if she’s willing to protect a criminal so she can live in a luxurious house with her other rich chums. But the icing on the cake comes when she learns that Penny secretly took justice into her own hands by killing a domestic abuser in the 70s and her husband John (Paul Freeman) had helped her to hide the body, and all on the accusation that Penny “had that look in her eyes”. The next thing we know, both Penny and John die soon after in hospice care, implied to be a murder–suicide from fentanyl overdosing. So Elizabeth will let the not-so-much reformed florist go scot-free but her close friend’s vigilantism about half a century ago based on a sinister look must be punished?
These scepticisms aside, it is a tightly woven script that maintains the right dose of intrigue and humour to keep you engrossed and raise a few chuckles along the way. We also get some self-aware gags: Mirren’s character at one stage walks in and her husband Stephen (Jonathan Pryce – an outstanding mention should also go to his sensitive portrayal of dementia) says that she looks “just like the queen” – that is, Queen Elizabeth II, who Mirren portrayed in the ITV 2006 docudrama The Queen. The gag becomes a touch funnier when you consider Pryce also portrayed Prince Philip in Season 5 and 6 of the Netflix drama series The Crown. And let us not forget that some of the Coopers Chase exteriors were filmed at Englefield Estate in Berkshire which was also used as a filming location for Sandringham House in The Crown.
The Verdict
The Thursday Murder Club may not be the most complex crime drama, but it offers a light-hearted, humorous, and heart-warming story about elderly people who defy ageist condescension and solve crimes, promoting a positive and active view of old age, camaraderie, and community. Overall, it’s cosy, fun and very forgettable but enjoyable for what it is.
Words by Jugo O’Neill
The Thursday Murder Club released on Netflix on August 28th.
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