Ron will be happy! Richard Osman confirms Thursday Murder Club cast

Richard Osman on Brighton Beach
Richard Osman's Thursday Murder Club has a brilliant cast! (Image credit: BBC/Wall To Wall Media Ltd/Stephen Perry)

The Thursday Murder Club cast has been revealed and we're sure that Ron Ritchie will be delighted to find out James Bond legend Pierce Brosnan is bringing him to life on screen! 

Former Pointless host and author Richard Osman penned the smash-hit book The Thursday Murder Club and now it's getting the big screen treatment thanks to Hollywood production company Amblin .

Now there's exciting news, as the first three roles have been announced with Richard speaking on his podcast The Rest Is Entertainment with Marina Hyde, where he excitedly revealed the all-star cast who are taking on main roles in the movie adaptation.

There, he said that Elizabeth Best will be played by Helen Mirren, adding she was the number one choice for fans of the book series, so they will no doubt be delighted by the result!

Richard said: "I'm now allowed to officially announce three of the four members of the Thursday Murder Club."

"Elizabeth is going to be played by the person who people most often shout at me in the street as them wanting them to play Elizabeth... Helen Mirren, which is very exciting."

What's more, two huge stars are playing Ron Ritchie and Ibrahim Arif, with Richard joking that Ron will be played by the "most handsome man in the world". Good news for Ron, then!

He added: "Ibrahim is Sir Ben Kingsley. Ron is going to be played by – I'm going to say the most handsome man in the world, so he's going to have to dull himself down a bit... Pierce Brosnan."

Piers Brosnan at an event

(Image credit: Getty Images)

We also know that filming on the Thursday Murder Club is taking place "this summer from end of June to September", with Richard saying it's all happening in England. There's a huge director confirmed too, with Home Alone and Harry Potter director Chris Columbus overseeing the project.

While we don't have a confirmed release date yet, it's set to be a star-studded project with plenty to look forward to. 

If you're unfamiliar with the plot of Richard's book, it introduces us to Cooper's Chase, a peaceful retirement community where four unlikely friends (Ron, Elizabeth, Joyce, and Ron) meet up once a week and discuss unsolved murders... on Thursdays!

But when a shady property developer is found dead on their doorstep, they end up caught in the middle of their first live case, and set about trying to catch the killer for real.

Lucy Buglass
Senior Staff Writer

Lucy joined the WhatToWatch.com team in 2021, where she writes series guides for must-watch programmes, reviews and the latest TV news. Originally from Northumberland, she graduated from Oxford Brookes University with a degree in Film Studies and moved to London to begin a career writing about entertainment.

She is a Rotten Tomatoes approved film critic and has a huge passion for cinema. She especially loves horror, thriller and anything crime-related. Her favourite TV programmes include Inside No 9, American Horror Story, Stranger Things and Black Mirror but she is also partial to a quiz show or a bit of Say Yes to the Dress