Netflix Just Quietly Released The Best Murder Mystery Movie Of 2025

When you hear “British murder mystery with retiree detectives,” it’s easy to conjure what that looks like: a Miss Marple send-up, perhaps with a plot device revolving around a poisoned cup of tea, and a murder weapon that’s appropriately cozy, like… a knitting needle. The Thursday Murder Club, Netflix’s murder mystery movie from acclaimed director Chris Columbus, certainly looks like it fits that description, but it actually goes much further than you’d expect.

The result is a wide-ranging story that manages to solve three murders in a row without getting too cloying. Yes, there are some jokes about the titular detectives not being able to understand what a PDF is, but there’s also discussion of everything from shell companies to human trafficking. This is the next evolution of this subgenre, and could be Netflix’s next Knives Out.

The Thursday Murder Club is based on the bestselling novel by Richard Osman, who was a celebrity in the UK long before he was an author, co-hosting a trivia show on the BBC. For lack of a better comparison, it’s like Ken Jennings turned out to be the next Agatha Christie. His first book was such a smash success, it quickly became his most notable achievement, and he’s since written four more TMC books. Watching Netflix’s adaptation, it’s clear there’s room to adapt each of them.

The movie follows four residents at Coopers Chase, a retirement community in a grand estate that used to be a convent. The club consists of Elizabeth (Helen Mirren), the whip-smart leader who used to work a vague job in the diplomacy that required “a wide portfolio of skills,” Ibrahim (Ben Kingsley), the buttoned-up “confirmed bachelor” who is the closest thing to a tech whiz the group has, and Ron (Pierce Brosnan), a renowned union leader who’s often visited by his celebrity fighter son (Tom Ellis.) When a cold case they’re reviewing requires medical knowledge, they reach out to new resident Joyce (Celia Imrie), a retired trauma nurse who always comes with pie.

At first, the club is just focused on trying to solve cold cases for fun, but when a co-owner of Coopers Chase is found murdered, the four are determined to get down to the bottom of it, especially since the surviving owner, Ian Ventham (a teeth-gnashing David Tennant), has plans to close Coopers Chase forever.

Finally able to solve a recent case, they don disguises and work the “old people” angle to make allies with PC Donna DeFreitas (Naomi Ackie), a local cop, but everything gets a lot more complicated when someone else drops dead at a Coopers Chase protest, and this time, everyone’s a suspect.

There are plenty of “cozy mystery” elements in the plot, and Coopers Chase is an idyllic retirement community that handwaves how these characters are able to afford it (they have emotional support llamas), but that doesn’t mean they don’t have real problems. Helen is watching one old friend fade away in hospice care while her husband Stephen (Jonathan Pryce) is dealing with memory issues, and the whole group uncovers some uncomfortable truths along the way regarding the people they love. It all leads to a finale that’s far darker than any murder mystery I’ve seen in recent years, but thanks to Columbus’s deft direction, the tonal shifts aren’t too jarring.

The movie does cut some parts from the book, like another mystery from the building’s old days as a convent, but it makes up for it with extra jokes about everything from figure drawing to iPhones. This isn’t Only Murders in the Building, nor is it Knives Out. It’s classic, but it’s its own unique blend, and Netflix viewers are sure to crave another cuppa.

The Thursday Murder Club is now streaming on Netflix.