Richard Osman has revealed the final lead character for the forthcoming big screen adaptation of The Thursday Murder Club.

Calender Girls actress Celia Imrie will play retired nurse Joyce Meadowcroft – one of four main characters from the book.

She will star alongside Helen Mirren, Pierce Brosnan and Ben Kingsley, who Osman announced as cast members last month on his podcast The Rest Is Entertainment.

They will play the roles of Elizabeth Best, Ron Ritchie and Ibrahim Arif respectively.

Speaking on that podcast, Osman had said: “Joyce, we’re still in negotiations but again the name is the one that people most shout at me in the street.”

Making the announcement on X on Tuesday, the Pointless host said he was “thrilled” to add Imrie to the cast.

Chris Columbus – the man behind Home Alone, Mrs Doubtfire and two Harry Potter movies – is set to write and direct the film, which is being produced by Steven Spielberg’s Amblin Entertainment.

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The movie is based on Osman’s debut novel of the same name which follows a group of friends in a retirement home who solve cold cases for fun, but become entangled in a real murder.

It is set in a retirement home Cooper’s Chase, in the fictitious village of Fairhaven in Kent.

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Osman said the production would take place from “the end of June to September” in the UK.

An adaptation of the novel was first confirmed in 2020 after Amblin Partners secured rights in a competitive auction.

Osman has since written three more books in the series since his fastest-selling adult crime debut, with a fifth due out next year.

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