On Screen: “The Thursday Murder Club”
The Thursday Murder Club
If you’d enjoy an Agatha Christie-like whodunit mystery that’s set in someplace like “The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel,” visit Netflix’s “The Thursday Murder Club.”
Coopers Chase is a stately old English country mansion that’s been converted into comfortably plush quarters for retirees like astute Elizabeth Best (Helen Mirren), who was once an MI6 intelligence officer, Ron Ritchie (Pierce Brosnan), a feisty former union activist known as Red Ron, and Ibrahim Arif (Ben Kingsley), a dapper psychiatrist.
They’re charter members of The Thursday Murder Club, puzzling over cold cases, until newcomer Joyce Meadowcroft (Celia Imrie), a congenial cake-baking ER nurse, joins their group — after they realize that there’s a real killer on the loose.
When Tony Curran (Geoff Bell), co-owner of Coopers Chase is murdered, his partner, Ian Ventham (David Tennant) is eager to evict the current tenants, sell their flats as luxury apartments, remove the emotional support llamas, and turn the grounds, even the cemetery, into an event space.
That’s totally unacceptable, particularly since Elizabeth’s chess-aficionado husband Stephen (Jonathan Pryce) is in the early stages of dementia and her best friend, former cop Penny Gray, lies comatose in the hospice wing.
Although the local detectives aren’t much help, club members have a staunch ally in Donna De Freitas (Naomi Ackle), an underestimated policewoman.
“This is ever so exciting,” chirps Joyce. “I feel like we’re in one of those Sunday night dramas about two bright-eyed, feisty old ladies outsmarting the police at every turn.” “Never use the words ‘bright-eyed, feisty old ladies’ in my presence again,” says Elizabeth.
Among the suspects, there’s Bogdan Jankowski (Henry Lloyd-Hughes), a Polish immigrant handyman, and Ron’s son Jason (Tom Ellis), a former champion boxer-turned-celebrity reality show participant.
Adapted by Katy Brand and Suzanne Heathcote from erudite Richard Osman’s bestsellers, it’s cleverly cast and deftly directed by Chris Columbus (“Mrs. Doubtfire,” “Home Alone,” and the first two “Harry Potter” pictures).
Hopefully, the caper will become a miniseries.
On the Granger Gauge of 1 to 10, “The Thursday Murder Club” is a slick, sleuthing 7, streaming on Netflix.
Susan Granger is a product of Hollywood. Her natural father, S. Sylvan Simon, was a director and producer at M.G.M. and Columbia Pictures. Her adoptive father, Armand Deutsch, produced movies at M.G.M.
As a child, Susan appeared in movies with Abbott & Costello, Red Skelton, Lucille Ball, Margaret O’Brien, and Lassie. She attended Mills College in California, studying journalism with Pierre Salinger, and graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with highest honors in journalism.