The Thursday Murder Club: Christmas at Coopers Chase (2025) is a sharp, funny, and deeply charming holiday mystery that reunites audiences with the world’s most lovable amateur sleuths — Elizabeth, Joyce, Ron, and Ibrahim — as they find themselves entangled in their most festive (and dangerous) case yet. Based on the bestselling Thursday Murder Club novels by Richard Osman, and directed by Chris Columbus (Home Alone, Mrs. Doubtfire), this Christmas special combines cozy British humor, heartfelt friendship, and a perfectly twisty whodunit — all wrapped up in twinkling lights, mince pies, and murder.
The story opens in the idyllic retirement community of Coopers Chase, blanketed in snow and bustling with excitement as residents prepare for their first-ever Christmas Gala and Charity Auction. Joyce (played by Dame Helen Mirren) is chairing the decorating committee with her usual mix of warmth and chaos, Ron (Jim Broadbent) is reluctantly playing Santa Claus, Ibrahim (Ben Kingsley) is organizing a lecture on forensic psychology and holiday stress, and Elizabeth (Emma Thompson) is, as always, keeping a keen eye on everyone — especially the suspiciously generous new resident, Lord Peter Walpole (Bill Nighy), a disgraced aristocrat who’s recently taken up residence in the penthouse suite.
When Lord Walpole is found dead in his study the night before Christmas Eve — apparently poisoned during a toast — the holiday cheer turns to intrigue. The police (and poor PC Donna De Freitas, still recovering from her last brush with the group) arrive to investigate, but as usual, The Thursday Murder Club are two steps ahead. Clues point to a missing Fabergé egg, a fake will, and a decades-old unsolved theft involving the British Museum. Soon, the pensioners are juggling Christmas dinner, carol rehearsals, and a case that stretches back to the Cold War — complete with MI5 cover-ups and an unexpected visitor from Elizabeth’s past.
At the same time, the film explores the group’s tender emotional dynamics. Joyce begins to doubt whether her blog — now accidentally viral — is exposing too much of their secret investigations. Ron reconnects with his estranged son Jason (guest star Stephen Graham), leading to both comedy and reconciliation, while Ibrahim faces a personal reckoning when an old patient from his psychiatrist days resurfaces — as one of the key suspects. Through it all, Elizabeth wrestles with the toll of keeping secrets — from her friends, her husband Stephen (now fading from dementia), and herself.
Director Chris Columbus infuses the film with warmth and wit, balancing classic British mystery tropes with the cozy magic of a holiday film. The tone sits somewhere between Knives Out and The Vicar of Dibley, with witty banter, a touch of melancholy, and genuine heart. The cinematography makes the English countryside look timeless — soft snow, crackling fires, misty mornings — while the score, composed by Alexandre Desplat, blends sleigh bells and string arrangements into a theme that feels equal parts festive and suspenseful.
The investigation takes increasingly absurd — and delightful — turns: a missing Christmas pudding that contains a key clue, a hidden passage behind a nativity set, and an interrogation conducted during a Christmas choir performance. Yet beneath the humor lies real poignancy. The murder, they discover, ties back to an act of betrayal during the 1980s, when Elizabeth was still a spy — and the victim’s death may not have been murder at all, but revenge disguised as mercy.
In the climactic Christmas Eve scene, the group gathers all the suspects in Coopers Chase’s grand hall, where Elizabeth delivers a masterful reveal worthy of Agatha Christie herself. “Murder,” she says, “is rarely about death. It’s about what someone refuses to let die.” The culprit — not a villain, but a tragic figure — confesses as the church bells toll midnight, and snow begins to fall outside.
The film closes on Christmas morning. The Thursday Murder Club share breakfast in Joyce’s cozy kitchen, exchanging small gifts — Ron gets novelty socks, Ibrahim receives a detective hat, and Elizabeth unwraps a framed photo of the four of them together. “A reminder,” Joyce says with a smile, “that the best mysteries are the ones we live through.” The camera pans out as they laugh, the snow still falling over Coopers Chase, the faint sound of “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” playing on the radio.
The Thursday Murder Club: Christmas at Coopers Chase (2025) is everything fans could hope for — witty, warm, and wonderfully British. With its mix of murder, laughter, and melancholy, it’s a film about aging, friendship, and the enduring spark of curiosity that keeps life exciting — even at 80. Clever, heartfelt, and overflowing with festive charm, it’s destined to become a modern holiday classic — a mystery with soul, and a Christmas story with brains.