Look at the title. Look at the cast of actors. Such talent. Such a seductive plot promise. It makes you tingle with anticipation. My biggest worry: It would be a shame if they screwed this up.
Gosh, the first scene isn’t reassuring. A young woman is tossed through a window, landing on the pavement two stories below. A young man rushes to her side, hesitates, then dashes off. Park all of this. It comes up later.
Next: Joyce Meadowcroft (Celia Imrie), the epitome of the kindly old widow, is showing her daughter around Coopers Chase, the posh retirement home, nestled in the idyllic English countryside, where she wants to spend her elder years. They happen into “the puzzle room,” where The Thursday Murder Club are intently studying a gruesome photo of a dead woman. This is the club’s latest cold case from years ago, the unsolved murder of that poor lass. The young man who ran away was caught but released for lack of evidence, and then disappeared from sight. Seems fishy, yes?
The group’s leader is Elizabeth Best (Helen Mirren), a woman who brings an unusual set of insights to the club, along with a determined focus on solving past injustices. Then there’s Ron Ritchie (Pierce Brosnan), a former union leader who has talents, one suspects, that go beyond the intellectual. And Ibrahim Arif (Ben Kingsley), a retired psychiatrist with a penchant for percentages. Should we call them a motley crew?
As you would suspect, that’s not all that’s going on at peaceful Coopers Chase. Owner Ian Ventham (David Tennant) fills the role of The Slimy Guy Up to No Good, who wants to move the dead tenants from the nearby cemetery and shoo all of the living tenants away from the home so he can turn the joint into luxury apartments.
Of course … Ventham turns up dead. And the Thursday Murder Club’s focus shifts from cold case to hot case: whodunit?
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It goes without saying, though I must say it anyway, that Mirren, Brosnan, and Kingsley are all delightful in their individually oddball ways. Mirren in particular is the most intriguing of the characters as she dodges questions about how she knows so much about investigative techniques. When someone asks, “You didn’t run MI5, did you?” her expression is priceless. Another mirth-inducing moment comes when Joyce says Elizabeth looks like the Queen; Mirren has played multiple English queens, and won an Oscar for playing Elizabeth II in The Queen (2006).
Let us mention at least a few of the dozen-plus other notable characters to play a memorable role. Celia Imrie as Joyce holds her own with her more celebrated costars, insinuating herself into their investigations with bright-eyed enthusiasm. Naomi Ackie plays policewomen Donna De Freitas with an understated “smartest person in the room” authority. She’s been sidelined within her chauvinistic department, but when she gets assigned to the case it turns out she has a knack for spotting clues. Then there’s Elizabeth’s husband Stephen (Jonathan Pryce), who, though suffering from dementia, plays a mean game of chess and observes more than he gets credit for.
Ah, I could go on. Suffice to say: superb acting all around!
I feel obligated to somehow insert a mention of Agatha Christie, the acknowledged master of the English murder mystery. I’m no expert on Christie or English murder mysteries. I’ve never been skilled, when watching these complex storylines, at observing all the wee nuances in order to suss out the villain before the Big Reveal comes round. I didn’t here, and I didn’t expect to. But I found the finale satisfying enough. I’ll venture that anyone who enjoys Christie, or just superbly acted whodunits, will enjoy The Thursday Mystery Club.
And so no, the good news is that they most certainly did not screw it up. Though the plot becomes labyrinthine, it all fits together nicely in the end. But you do need to pay attention.