Dame Helen Mirren, Pierce Brosnan, Sir Ben Kingsley and Celia Imrie were among stars on the red carpet for the premiere of The Thursday Murder Club in Leicester Square on Thursday night.
The new film is based on Richard Osman’s bestseller about four unlikely friends in a retirement home who meet weekly to solve cold cases.
But when an unexplained death happens on their own doorstep, the fun and games become all too real.
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Dame Helen, 80, Brosnan, 72, Imrie, 73, and Gandhi star Sir Ben, 81, lead a stellar cast in the Steven Spielberg-produced whodunnit.
The movie is release in cinemas on Friday and on Netflix from next Thursday.
Calendar Girls actress Imrie plays Joyce Meadowcroft, a newcomer to retirement village Cooper's Chase, while Dame Helen is ex-MI5 spy Elizabeth West and former James Bond and Mamma Mia! actor Pierce plays Ron Ritchie.
Thursday Murder Club director Chris Columbus described the cast as the finest he has worked with since the Harry Potter franchise.
Author and television presenter Osman has said society is “obsessed” with young people and that older generations are “overlooked” despite being “incredibly wise”.
Speaking at the London premiere for The Thursday Murder Club, Osman emphasised the importance of spotlighting older characters in his books.
He said: “In our society, as you get older, you do become slightly more invisible, you do become slightly more underestimated, and yet you talk to anyone in that generation, and there’s these incredible stories and this incredible wisdom.
“I get the advantage of that in my book because I get these detectives who are incredibly wise but overlooked.
“In terms of our society, we’re obsessed with 25-year-old people on Instagram. That’s where all the money is, but the way the wisdom is and where the heart is, you know, that’s hopefully something that The Thursday Murder Club books show.”
Speaking about the two female protagonists in the series, Elizabeth, played by Dame Helen and Joyce, played by Imrie, Osman added: “I come from a family of very strong women.
“It didn’t occur to me for a second that I wouldn’t write women, and really the main character in the books is Joyce because she writes a diary.
“She’s the one whose brain is closest to mine. So it turns out I go around life with the brain of an 80-year-old woman, and who knew that would pay off?
“I just come from a family where strong, tough, fine, funny women are the norms and so that’s easy for me to write.”
Directed by American filmmaker Columbus, the film adaptation also sees Doctor Who star David Tennant and Sir Jonathan Pryce join the cast alongside Saltburn actor Richard E Grant, Miranda’s Tom Ellis and Mickey 17 actress Naomi Ackie.
Speaking about having his book translated for the screen, he said: “I’ve got my version of the story, and that’s the book, and that’s the one that’s from my heart. So honestly, this is like icing on a cake, slightly surreal.
“It’s like a true story coming to life with these people playing characters who I know very well. So it’s all I can ever think about … the next book and the next book and taking care of my characters.”
The characters have been appreciated by readers around the world, as well as actors including Grant, who said: “Luckily for my generation, Richard Osman wrote these books that are based on older people, so it means that there are jobs for people who are over 65.
“In most other professions you are retired off but actors keep going, so I am very grateful for that.”
Osman published the first book of the series with the same name in 2020. The fifth book, The Impossible Fortune, is due to hit shelves in September.
