What happens when four bright-eyed, feisty old-timers get together to solve crimes? They form the Thursday Murder Club, of course. This Miss Marple-esque murder mystery has some charm and a warm-hearted message. But that message is befuddled by foul language and the mystery’s ultimate unveiling.
In the British village of Fairhaven, there is a retirement community called Cooper’s Chase. If you go into the conservatory of this charming resort, you’ll find retirees solving jigsaw puzzles or taking knitting classes. But on Thursdays, the room hosts the Thursday Murder Club.
The club was founded by Penny and Elizabeth, a former detective and government worker, respectively. Eventually, the pair added Ron (a retired trade union official) and Ibrahim (a psychiatrist) to their group. Together, they solve murders—specifically, the cold cases that went unsolved when Penny was a police officer.
Sadly, Penny doesn’t participate in Club meetings anymore. She was moved into the hospice wing of Cooper’s Chase after falling into a coma. Elizabeth still visits her there, updating Penny on their progress and keeping John (Penny’s husband) company.
However, the Murder Club’s latest case has the group a little stumped: “The case of the woman in white who fell out the window,” as Ibrahim dubs it.
They need someone with medical expertise to help answer their questions and move the case forward. Luckily, someone who fits that description has just arrived at Cooper’s Chase.
Joyce Meadowcroft worked as a trauma nurse for many years before she retired. So, she’s been steeled for the brutal crimes the Thursday Murder Club investigates.
But shortly after Joyce joins, the group’s skills are soon put to the ultimate test: Tony Curran, one of the owners of Cooper’s Chase itself has been murdered.
Topping the suspect list is co-owner Ian Ventham. He wants to tear down Cooper’s Chase (and the nearby cemetery) to build luxury apartments. But because Curran’s beloved Aunt Maud lived at the retirement home, he wouldn’t allow it.
Unfortunately, motive doesn’t necessarily equal means. And lacking evidence to convict Ventham, police may just have to let him go. Which, of course, means that Cooper’s Chase is doomed.
The Thursday Murder Club may have to meet on more than just Thursdays to save their home. And perhaps they’ll find some clues to the woman in white’s case buried in Curran’s case, too.
One of the film’s running themes deals with loneliness, particularly the kind that arises as people age. Joyce comes to Cooper’s Chase because she’s been lonely since her husband passed away. Twice-divorced Ron also feels relationally isolated in his old age. Ibrahim sought the place because he has no family to take care of him in England. But even Elizabeth—whose husband, Stephen, is still alive—is experiencing some loneliness and grief.
Stephen is suffering from dementia. He has good days and bad days, Elizabeth says. When he has bad days, it’s hard on Elizabeth. But being surrounded by friends—and working with the Thursday Murder Club—helps Elizabeth endure the bad days. It gives her a purpose beyond just caring for her spouse. And it makes the good days with Stephen all the more precious, since she knows that her friends will be there for her no matter what.
And most of the people living at Cooper’s Chase feel the same way. This residential retirement community is close-knit, sharing in each other’s joys and supporting each other through loss.
Joyce and her daughter, Joanna, care for each other very much. But they have different ideas of what’s best for Joyce. Joanna wants Joyce to live near her, but Joyce knows that Joanna’s job (and perhaps her personality, too) will prevent Joanna from visiting. Once Joanna realizes how good the retirement community—particularly the members of the Thursday Murder Club—is for Joyce, she acquiesces and quits pestering her mother to leave.
Similarly, Ron has a strained relationship with his own son, Jason, who visits his dad several times a week. But Jason feels that Ron is disappointed with the trajectory that his career has taken. (Jason used to be a professional fighter, but he was injured and had to leave the sport.) However, with the help of Ron’s friends, the father and son eventually reconcile their differences. And Ron learns to accept Jason’s new role as a TV personality.
The Thursday Murder Club is assisted by a young police constable named Donna De Freitas. Donna occasionally puts her foot in her mouth, making offhand remarks about growing old. However, the Thursday Murder Club takes it in stride, helping Donna in her career and developing a friendship with her.
Elizabeth is also a little condescending to Joyce at first, finding her simple. However, she softens toward Joyce and warmly embraces her as a full member of the Club.
At its core, the Thursday Murder Club exists to seek justice. The individual members can be a bit macabre at times (Joyce is practically gleeful when she realizes they have the opportunity to help out in an ongoing investigation), but they really do want to see wrongs righted.
Cooper’s Chase used to be a convent, and it houses a cemetery. A priest tells Ventham that it would be a sin to dig up those “sacred graves,” but Ventham pays him no mind. In fact, he says that “in the absence of God Himself making an appearance,” the demolition will go through. Crosses adorn some of the graves in question.
Elizabeth pretends to be a nun, telling a man she can’t speak to him since she has taken vows to be with no man but Jesus. (And there are a few other jokes related to this.) Someone starts to quote Confucius, but he’s interrupted. A man talks about “saluting the sun” after his yoga session is interrupted.
Penny’s husband says that sometimes he prays that she’ll be able to hear him talking to her, while other times he prays that she can’t.
A model poses for some artists at Cooper’s Chase wearing nothing but a curtain tied around his waist. Joyce, who is a very good artist, draws the man fully nude, and the audience sees her explicit depiction. Later, another woman petitions for models to be naked in all art sessions.
A few men kiss the backs of women’s hands when being introduced. Elizabeth and Stephen dance together and kiss a couple of times. Stephen finds it touching that magpies mate for life, “just like us.”
One man is going through an expensive divorce due to marital infidelity on his part. However, he says that his wife is also guilty, and we later see proof of this: Someone pulls up a picture of her snuggling in bed with another man (they’re apparently unclothed but covered by sheets).
Ron says he has been divorced twice. Later on, he says he met his son’s mother through an extramarital affair. And he occasionally flirts with women. Someone makes a crude reference to erectile dysfunction.
Ibrahim calls himself a “confirmed bachelor.” Near the film’s end, while Joyce is showing him her wedding pictures, he shows her a photo of himself as a young man standing next to another young man, suggesting a relationship that’s never verbally confirmed.
The current cold case being investigated by the Thursday Murder Club is depicted in a black-and-white flashback a couple of times. We see a woman thrown through a second-story glass window to the pavement below. A knife protrudes from her stomach, and her head is surrounded by a pool of blood. The Club hypothesizes that the woman might have been saved if first aid had been administered. And several members suspect that the woman’s death was the result of domestic violence, not a robbery as police at the time determined.
A man comes home to find his alarm disabled and his house torn apart. The next thing we know, police are at his house: He’s been “bludgeoned to death,” and a pool of blood surrounds his dead body.
During a protest, a man shoves an elderly priest, and Jason comes to the vicar’s defense. People swarm the attacker, shoving him from side to side and telling him to leave. After the exchange, the man collapses. Joyce examines him and pronounces him dead. Later, police confirm the man was poisoned.
Someone shoves a female police constable. Somebody gets punched in the face.
When Joyce first sees a crime photo from the Murder Club, she doesn’t flinch. Elizabeth correctly ascertains that Joyce must be used to seeing brutal injuries due to a history as a trauma nurse.
Ibrahim was a psychiatrist who helped war veterans with PTSD. He suggests that a man may have attacked his girlfriend due to PTSD, since he had been injured during a war.
We learn the Club previously investigated a cold case involving dismembered body parts being sent through the mail. Someone says a current crime lord cuts off the fingers of his enemies. A man discovers the bones of an unknown victim hidden in the grave of another person.
Someone threatens Elizabeth on a few occasions, sending a goon to stalk her one night and to sneak into her apartment while she sleeps. However, Elizabeth responds with an equally dangerous verbal threat of her own.
Elizabeth notes that the sleeping pills she gives her husband would be fatal if he received more than one at a time. There’s a brief incident where she worries someone may have intentionally done just that, though she turns out to be wrong, and Stephen is just fine.
A man brags about his martial arts prowess. We hear many threats of violence. A florist maniacally prunes some roses as his hands bleed heavily from the thorns.
We hear about the deaths of several other people throughout the film.
We hear two uses each of the f- and s-words. The f-word’s verbal prominence stands out, because it’s uttered after Elizabeth asks what “WTF” stands for. Joyce repeats the word twice, quite loudly, in front of a child. And the two women apologize to the girl’s mother.
Elsewhere, we hear uses of “a–,” “d–k,” “h—,” “p-ss” and “pr–k.” We also hear frequent uses of the British vulgarities “bloody,” “bugger,” “cocker,” “plonker,” “sod,” “tw-t” and “w-nker.”
God’s name is misused about 20 times, and Jesus’ name is abused twice.
Characters drink alcohol. Donna is shocked when the Thursday Murder Club orders two bottles of wine to share for lunch. They feel justified in their actions: Since they wake up earlier due to their age, it feels much later in the day for them. Elizabeth and Joyce drink gin from cans on a public bus. Ron pretends to be drunk in one scene to trick a police officer. We hear a few jokes about drinking elsewhere.
Elizabeth sometimes puts sleeping pills into her husband’s tea (without his knowledge) to help him sleep. We hear about some illegal drug deals. A few people die from fentanyl overdose.
Ian Ventham does not care about the people living at Cooper’s Chase. Though he promises to compensate the residents fairly for their apartments, he ignores their pleas to let them keep the community running. He becomes more cantankerous the more they protest.
Ventham resorts to illegal means to make sure the demolition of Cooper’s Chase takes place. He manipulates a man into doing his dirty work.
Of course, Ventham isn’t the only one breaking the law. We hear about several illegal operations, one of which involves smuggling foreigners into the country and then stealing their passports, so they’ll be forced to work for the men holding their passports hostage. One of the guys involved in this scam says he’s better than the others, since he occasionally gives back the passports so the workers can visit their families abroad.
We see and hear about instances of bribing, lying, spying, manipulating and gambling. Elizabeth makes a deal with a crime lord, offering to keep his identity hidden in exchange for ending one of many scams. People pull out their phones to take pictures and record when a man drops dead.
We hear about a history of sexism in the medical field and police force. Several characters, though mostly Ventham, make ageist comments.
A good man does bad things to help his mother, who is very sick and dying. There’s a joke about incontinence. Parents sometimes have misunderstandings with their adult children.
Based on the 2020 novel by Richard Osman, The Thursday Murder Club has some delightfully Miss Marple-esque charm.
Viewers feel connected to the characters of Elizabeth, Joyce, Ibrahim and Ron. And the film delivers a lovely message about the importance of finding community—finding your people—even as you enter your golden years.
Unfortunately, the mystery’s solution tells a very different (though not necessarily contrasting) message. Without giving away any spoilers, suffice it to say that love, while a wonderful and beautiful thing, becomes a justification for wrong deeds. People prove they’re willing to kill for the ones they love. And because of that, justice is not always served.
And on that note, there’s the murder itself. Most of the deaths in this film occur offscreen—including two deaths that might be seen as a mercy killing/suicide, which should not be glazed over. (Focus on the Family has some excellent informational resources about physician-assisted suicide, and you can also call 1-800-A-FAMILY to be connected with a counselor.) So this isn’t a particularly bloody film, but tonally, it is a very serious one.
There’s also quite a bit of foul language—which Miss Marple almost certainly would not have approved of, and which really pushes the film’s PG-13 rating.
If you really enjoy murder mysteries, The Thursday Murder Club has all the plot devices necessary to the genre. But if you wanted to watch this one as a family, it’s probably not the right fit.
Emily studied film and writing when she was in college. And when she isn’t being way too competitive while playing board games, she enjoys food, sleep, and geeking out with her husband indulging in their “nerdoms,” which is the collective fan cultures of everything they love, such as Star Wars, Star Trek, Stargate and Lord of the Rings.
