Photo: Netflix
The film adaptation of Richard Osman’s international best-selling novel The Thursday Murder Club has just been released on Netflix and is a visual feast of grand proportions. And while viewers will undoubtedly find themselves hooked by the engrossing plot and stacked cast list, the filming locations are every bit as enthralling as the mystery that unfolds.
Directed by Chris Columbus (Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone), and with a powerhouse cast that includes Helen Mirren, Pierce Brosnan, Ben Kingsley, Celia Imrie, David Tennant and Jonathan Pryce, the real life adaptation of Osman’s fictional world was always destined for spectacle. Over the course of two hours, we follow four unlikely sleuths – retirees turned amateur detectives – as they relive their glory days by investigating a sordid murder that takes place right on the doorstep of their idyllic abode.
Rising to the challenge, production designer James Merifield selected none other than the Elizabethan country manor, Englefield House in Berkshire, England, as the on-screen setting for the group’s imagined headquarters: Coopers Chase retirement village. Which, given its storied past – and Merifield’s reluctance to reduce the film’s setting to a soundstage – was a perfect pick for the narrative’s luxury locale.
Below, everything we know about all the filming locations seen throughout The Thursday Murder Club, including where you might have seen the bucolic backdrops before.
The Thursday Murder Club Filming Locations
Englefield House, Berkshire
Englefield House, a grand Elizabethan estate with roots stretching back to 871 AD, carries a history as storied as its architecture. Now owned by Lord Richard Benyon, a former member of the Conservative Party and current member of the House of Lords, the manor was once home to the Englefield family throughout the sixteenth century. That is, until they were implicated in the 1583 plot to assassinate Queen Elizabeth I, which prompted the Crown to seize the property and gift it to one of the Queen’s principal advisors, an ancestor of the present-day Benyon line.
From its storied past to its fictional reinvention, it seems Englefield House as the filming location of The Thursday Murder Club was always destined to attract mystery, murder plots, and scheming. So much so, that it was the first location that Merifield pictured when he began production on the film.
“I have a portfolio library of locations in my mind, and that’s what sprung to mind because of the geography of the house to the church, and the wonderful eclectic style of the building,” the production designer told Town & Country.
“There’s an Elizabethan wing, a Tudor wing, a Georgian wing, a Victorian wing, and it lent itself to – you might choose to put a retirement home [there] albeit a very extraordinary and very heightened home.”
“It seemed to tell the story and enable us to really heighten these wonderful characters by giving them a great backdrop,” he added.
As a grade one listed heritage building, Englefield House is a private residence and not open to the public. However, the formal gardens at Englefield are open to the public on Mondays, including Bank Holidays, throughout the year for the small entrance fee.
What Else Has Been Filmed At Englefield Estate?
With its exceptional interiors and manicured gardens, you could be forgiven for thinking the scene-stealing estate was just one of many stately homes scattered throughout the English countryside. But while it’s far from the only manor house to land itself on a location scout’s hit list, its historic grounds have played a starring role in some of Hollywood’s biggest films.
The property has featured as the setting for a range of blockbusters from X-Men: First Class and The King’s Speech, to Great Expectations and Disney’s Cruella, as well as myriad television series including The Crown, Black Mirror, and Agatha Christie’s Marple. And, for reality tragics old enough to remember the chaotic 2014 dating series I Wanna Marry Harry, in which a group of American women competed for the right to wed a Prince Harry look-alike, the facade of Englefield will feel more than familiar.
But while its visitor book reads like an award ceremony nominees list, it’s also seen various pop culture moments that extend beyond the silver screen. Namely the 2017 wedding of Princess Catherine’s sister, Pippa Middleton, attended by royal family alum including page boy Prince George.
The Red Lion Pub, Buckinghamshire
An essential part of any village is, of course, the local pub, and what better location or The Thursday Murder Club, than the production designer’s-own local watering hole, The Red Lion Public House.
Situated in Little Missenden, the quintessential establishment served as the perfect setting for characters Ian Ventham (played by David Tennant) and Bogdan Jankowski (played by Henry Lloyd-Hughes) to meet.
Where Is Fairhaven Set In The Thursday Murders Club Film?
Much of the story’s plot line takes place in (and around) the fictional town of Fairhaven, imagined by Osman in the novel as a quaint seaside town near Kent.
As an on-screen substitute, Merifield settled on the town of Aldbury in Hertfordshire to bring the cosy characteristics of the book’s distinct destination to life, opting to shoot multiple exterior scenes – including the police station – across the area.
The Thursday Murder Club is available to stream on Netflix now.
