Meet The Thursday Murder Club Cast: Netflix's Star-Studded Gamble

Retirement hobbies usually mean gardening, book clubs, maybe a cruise. These folks pick homicide. Netflix has turned Richard Osman's hit novel 'The Thursday Murder Club' into a glossy whodunnit with actual movie stars, and yes, the cozy caper gets real when a local developer ends up very, very dead.

What this one is about

Four residents at Cooper's Chase, a posh retirement village, spend their Thursdays poking at old unsolved cases for fun. Then property bigwig Tony Curran turns up murdered, and the hobby becomes an active investigation. The quartet dive in, crossing paths with shifty locals, patient cops, and one extremely controversial boss of the village, Ian Ventham.

Helen Mirren and Pierce Brosnan lead the club here, and Mirren has been happily banging the drum about their on-set rapport after also working with him on the TV series 'MobLand'. She put it like this:

'Pierce is my wonderful late discovery. I would like to work with Pierce for the rest of my life... We have a real chemistry.'

The cast: who plays who (and where you know them from)

• Helen Mirren — Elizabeth Best: Former spy, Cooper's Chase resident, and the Thursday Murder Club's founder. Mirren's been everywhere from The Long Good Friday, Excalibur, 2010, Gosford Park, The Queen and Hitchcock to the TV landmark Prime Suspect. She broke through on film with Age of Consent in 1969 and owns an Oscar, BAFTAs and Golden Globes.
• Pierce Brosnan — Ron Ritchie: A retired union firebrand and core club member. Brosnan did four tours as James Bond and also fronts Mrs Doubtfire, Mamma Mia!, and more recently the TV series MobLand.
• Sir Ben Kingsley — Ibrahim Arif: Ex-psychiatrist and club regular. Kingsley won an Oscar for Gandhi and has ranged from Sexy Beast and Shutter Island to Iron Man 3 and Jules.
• Celia Imrie — Joyce Meadowcroft: A former nurse and the newest addition to the club. Film fans know her from Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again, Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie, Bridget Jones's Diary, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, St Trinian's, Nanny McPhee and Calendar Girls; TV includes After You've Gone, Patrick Melrose, Keeping Faith, Better Things and The Diplomat.
• Jonathan Pryce — Stephen Best: Elizabeth's husband; he has dementia, though his clarity comes and goes. Pryce has a career's worth of highlights: Brazil, Evita, Tomorrow Never Dies, The Age of Innocence, Pirates of the Caribbean, The Two Popes; on TV, Slow Horses and he played Prince Philip in the final two seasons of The Crown.
• David Tennant — Ian Ventham: The slippery owner of Cooper's Chase, adored by no one in the village. Tennant is, of course, the Tenth (and Fourteenth) Doctor in Doctor Who, plus Good Omens, Broadchurch, Deadwater Fell, Netflix's Criminal, Casanova, Jessica Jones (as Kilgrave), Mary Queen of Scots, Inside Man, Litvinenko and There She Goes.
• Naomi Ackie — Donna de Freitas: A junior cop who becomes the club's inside woman on the case. Ackie pops up in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, Small Axe and The End of the F***ing World (BAFTA winner), led I Wanna Dance With Somebody, and has recently been in Blink Twice and Mickey 17.
• Daniel Mays — DCI Chris Hudson: The detective officially running the case, not thrilled by amateur interference. Mays first made noise in EastEnders in 2000 as Kat Slater's boyfriend Kevin, then stacked up credits including Line of Duty, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, Ashes to Ashes, Code 404, White Lines, Moonflower Murders and A Thousand Blows.
• Henry Lloyd-Hughes — Bogdan Jankowski: A hard-working Polish laborer who once worked for Tony Curran and now does the heavy lifting for Ian Ventham. You might know him as school bully Mark Donovan in The Inbetweeners, plus Parade's End and The Long Shadow.
• Geoff Bell — Tony Curran: Co-owner of Cooper's Chase whose demise kicks everything off. Bell turns up in Stardust, RocknRolla, Top Boy, War Horse, Kingsman: The Secret Service, Suffragette, Rogue One, His Dark Materials, The Curse and Death in Paradise.
• Richard E. Grant — Bobby Tanner: A slippery figure tied to both Ventham and Curran and quickly a person of interest. Grant's film run includes Withnail & I, Gosford Park, The Iron Lady, Jackie, Logan, Can You Ever Forgive Me?, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, Everybody's Talking About Jamie, The Lesson, Saltburn and Argylle; TV work includes Doctor Who, Downton Abbey, Game of Thrones, Loki, Suspect and The Outlaws.
• Tom Ellis — Jason Ritchie: Ron's son, a former world champion boxer forced to retire through injury and now a staple of reality TV. Ellis played the title role in Lucifer and Gary in Miranda, and has turned up in Vera Drake, EastEnders, Doctor Who, Merlin, Players and Exploding Kittens.
• Paul Freeman — John Grey: Devoted husband to Penny, a past club member now in a coma. Freeman features in Raiders of the Lost Ark, Hot Fuzz and The Long Good Friday, plus Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie, Monarch of the Glen, A Very English Scandal, Absentia and The Man Who Fell to Earth.
• Ingrid Oliver — Joanna Meadowcroft: Joyce's daughter, initially not sold on Mum moving into Cooper's Chase. Oliver (who is married to author Richard Osman) plays Osgood in Doctor Who, is half of the Watson & Oliver duo, and has appeared in Peep Show, Silent Witness, Hustle, Last Christmas, Beyond Paradise and Father Brown.

This is a proper starry hangout mystery: cozy vibes, sharp elbows, and a cast that makes even the red herrings feel well-dressed. The inside-baseball nugget that Richard Osman's wife pops up on screen is the cherry on top. Stream it now on Netflix, or if you prefer popcorn and a matinee, hunt down a cinema still playing it.