As far as book adaptations go, Netflix’s The Thursday Murder Club was pretty true to author Richard Osman’s novel of the same name.
The movie — which dropped on Thursday, August 28 — had an impressively stacked cast with Helen Mirren (Elizabeth Best), Pierce Brosnan (Ron Ritchie), Ben Kingsley (Ibrahim Arif) and Celia Imrie (Joyce Meadowcroft) bringing the Thursday Murder Club to life onscreen.
Director Chris Columbus told Us Weekly ahead of the premiere that he manifested getting all of these A-listers together.
“When I did Harry Potter, I wrote a list of all of the actors I wanted to play the roles — and they all said yes. That hasn’t happened in 20 some years, and then it happened again with Thursday Murder Club,” the filmmaker said. “I wrote down Helen Mirren, Pierce Brosnan, Ben Kingsley, Celia Imrie and they all said yes — it was a match made in heaven.”
Spoilers for Netflix’s The Thursday Murder Club below.
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In the book, the Thursday Murder Club is working on solving a cold case from years past when two murders take place very close to home. The foursome hilariously force their way into the police’s investigation and uncover who murdered Tony Curran (Geoff Bell) and Ian Ventham (David Tennant).
Keep scrolling to undercover the book to movie differences:
Tony Curran’s Aunt Maud
Curran is the first murder in the book and the movie, but his involvement in the Coopers Chase retirement home is very different. The film has Curran as part-owner — alongside Ventham and Bobby Tanner (another book difference) — because his Aunt Maud lives there. Aunt Maud was not a factor in the book.
The Photo
A photo was left alongside Curran’s body in the book and movie. The film has Curran and drug dealer Bobby Tanner (Richard E. Grant) with a third person cut out. In the book, Ron’s son, Jason Ritchie (Tom Ellis), was the third person in the photograph.
The Bobby Tanner of it all is also a change because he works in a flower shop (which is rather terrifying) and has one of his lackeys stalking Elizabeth in the film.
Jason’s Alibi
Eventually the mystery man in the photo is revealed to be Jason, making him a suspect for Curran’s murder. This is the same as the book. However, Jason’s alibi is different. In the movie, Jason was having an affair with Ventham’s wife and a timestamped selfie of them in bed together took him off the suspect list.
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What Happened to Bernard?
Bernard was mentioned in the movie, but the character was barely shown onscreen. In the book, he has a minor side plot (and a mini love story with Joyce) before dying by suicide.
Father Mackie’s Side Plot
Again, Father Mackie was briefly mentioned but half of his story was cut out of the film. In the movie, Father Mackie is against construction on the Coopers Chase graveyard because his former lover (a nun, what a scandal) was buried onsite with their unborn son.
Bogdan’s Arrest
Bodgan (Henry Lloyd-Hughes) killed Curran in both the book and movie. In the book, he gets away with it but the movie ends with the character getting arrested.
