If you are a Netflix fan, or maybe even if you aren’t, you may have heard of the latest smash hit, The Thursday Murder Club.
The crime-comedy film, which was released on the streaming platform at the end of August, is based on the 2020 novel by Richard Osman.
South Essex’s Dame Helen Mirren stars alongside fellow big names such as Pierce Brosnan, Ben Kingsley, Celia Imrie and David Tennant.
It follows a group of elderly amateur sleuths who attempt to solve a murder and has received generally positive reviews from critics since its release.
Dame Helen plays Elizabeth, a retired MI6 agent.
It is the latest role in her impressive career that has spanned many decades, and she has hinted that she is not slowing down.
Who is Dame Helen Mirren?
Dame Helen Mirren has a career that has spanned more than six decades on both stage and screen.
Accolades include an Academy Award, five Emmy Awards, a Tony Award, a BAFTA Film Award, three BAFTA Television Awards, and a Laurence Olivier Award.
She is the only person to have achieved both the US and UK Triple Crowns of Acting, and has also received the BAFTA Fellowship, Honorary Golden Bear, and the Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award.
She was made a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) by Queen Elizabeth II in 2003.
Locally, she has many links to South Essex.
Dame Helen Mirren visiting St Bernard’s in Southend in 1997 (Image: Newsquest)Dame Helen was raised in the area, having attended Hamlet Court Primary School in Westcliff.
She later went to St Bernard’s High School for Girls in Southend.
Dame Helen’s early experiences on the stages of South Essex set her up for big success.
What is Helen Mirren’s net worth?
According to Celebrity Net Worth, Dame Helen Mirren has a net worth of $100 million (£75 million).
It is a combined net worth with her husband, director and producer Taylor Hackford.
Hackford has directed several highly regarded films, including An Officer and a Gentleman (1982), The Devil’s Advocate (1997) and Ray (2004).
Ray saw him nominated for an Academy Award for Best Director and an Academy Award for Best Picture.
Helen Mirren’s most recognisable movies and TV shows
Here are just some of the films and TV shows you may have seen (or heard) Dame Helen Mirren in, and what her role was:
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy – Deep Thought (voice)
The Queen – Queen Elizabeth II
Red and Red 2 – Victoria Winslow
Monsters University – Dean Hardscrabble
The Fast and Furious franchise – Magdalene “Queenie” Shaw
Shazam! Fury of the Gods – Hespera
Other films include Gosford Park (2001), Caligula (1979), The Door (2012) and State of Play (2009).
Helen Mirren on role in Netflix’s Thursday Murder Club
Speaking to Town and Country, Dame Helen has spoken about her role in the new Netflix hit, and that she is not slowing down due to her love for acting.
She said: “My job is incredible fun as well. I mean, sure, I hate it when the alarm goes off at five in the morning, but then I get to work and I’m loving being at work, so it’s great.”
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She admits she did not think about the novel when making the film.
Dame Helen said: “I find in general, when you are doing a film that’s from a book, it can be distracting to go back to the book. It can be very informative.
“But a film is such a different creature from a book.”
She continued: “It was not easy to transfer The Thursday Murder Club into a film because what’s on the page is so wonderfully successful.
“It’s not just the outlines of a story, it’s real character development. It’s very hard to transfer that onto the screen.
“So kudos to our writer and director, who I hope got the atmosphere of the book. That’s what you want, the atmosphere of the book.”
Dame Helen said she would love to return for a sequel and also spoke about why she thinks we still love murder mysteries.
Dame Helen Mirren in The Thursday Murder Club on Netflix (Image: Giles Keyte/Netflix/Tudum) “Well, there have been a lot of very good American murder mysteries, Knives Out, the series [with] Selena Gomez… I guess the genre started in Britain,” she said.
“I guess that’s how, with Conan Doyle closely followed by Agatha Christie, so there’s always been a sort of tradition of that.
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“There’s something about a beautiful English country house and the gorgeousness and the elegance of that, that sort of speaks to a murder mystery, [like] Gosford Park.
“I think the combination of the environment and the restraint of British life, combined with this brutal murder, there’s something very seductive about that.”
The Thursday Murder Club is now streaming on Netflix. Have you watched it? Let us know in the comments.
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source uk.news.yahoo.com ’
