The Thursday Murder Club viewers are already begging for a sequel after its highly-anticipated release today.

The Netflix film, which is based on the best selling novel by  TV’s Richard Osman, stars Dame Helen Mirren, Pierce Brosnan, Sir Ben Kinsley and Celia Imrie as ‘geriatric sleuths’ who solve murders from their retirement home.

The book sold 10 million copies worldwide, and released a further three novels after that.

The film dropped on the streaming platform on Wednesday and it has already garnered plenty of attention on social media, with critics claiming they love it.

Taking to X, now fans have shared their excitement over the movie and they are desperate for sequels to drop.

Many begged for more film adaptations in line with the novels, while also praising the ‘excellent cast’.

One person declared: ‘Just watched #ThursdayMurderClub on Netflix. Absolutely loved the film adaptation – excellent cast and followed the book well! Really hope the next books will continue to be made as well – loved it!’

Another commented: ‘Just finished the #thursdaymurderclub movie and it’s a masterpiece. Was as enjoyable as the books. Must be delighted. Roll on film number 2. I hope it’s always on (ode to Tuesdays podcast) #therestisentertainment.’

‘Just a few minutes into #ThursdayMurderClub and I already know that I want to live in a place like that, if I live until I’m old,’ a third joked.

Another said: ‘Is it too early to ask when the next #thursdaymurderclub is coming out. I only had doubts about Pierce Brosnan but thought the whole thing was exceptional.’

A fifth wrote: ‘Just watched your fabulous #ThursdayMurderClub on I’m so happy for you. It was an amazing thing to see come to life after reading your books. Cannot wait for more instalments.’

It comes after critics shared their reviews on the popular film, with The Independent’s Clarisse Loughrey claiming the script dumbed down the novel’s mystery and failed to make the most of it’s all star cast, giving the film two stars.

‘No matter how enticing the prospect may sound on paper, and even with the efforts of director Chris Columbus (of Mrs Doubtfire and fame), the whole affair is so flimsy you’ll lose nothing from watching it on an iPad while cooking dinner’.

‘Each clue is presented plainly, legibly, and without even a hint of enigma, at one point simply written out on a Post-it and then shown directly to the audience.

Taking to X, fans have shared their excitement over the movie and are now desperate for sequels to drop

She added: ‘The cast have been seemingly told to play their scenes so broadly and turned out towards the audience that you half-expect Kingsley to ask us to kindly move Colonel Mustard to the library’.

Meanwhile Radio Times’ David Brown was more complimentary in his three star review, but also pointed out that the film appeared to be better suited to TV than a movie.

‘For what we have here is a tale that, were it to be deprived of its stellar cast, would fit snugly in the weekend schedules alongside the murderous yet somehow comforting goings-on in the likes of St Mary Mead or Midsomer’.

He said the story had ‘touches of pathos’ which despite being streamlined for the big screen were ‘still affecting’.

‘These moments may be fleeting, but the odd rumination on belonging and mortality add some welcome emotional shades to what can, at times, be a broad take on the source material’.

‘Still, a couple of hours spent in the company of the key quartet is never less than comradely, and with a bookshelf full of subsequent cases just waiting to be dramatised, it’s unlikely that we’ve seen the last of our feisty famous four’.

Another reviewer to compare the film to a  TV drama was The Sun’s Dulcie Pearce, however they did not consider this a criticism in their glowing four star review.

‘Helen Mirren shines as feisty retired spy Elizabeth, Pierce Brosnan as ex-union man Ron, and Ben Kingsley as ex-psychiatrist Ibrahim, while Celia Imrie plays new resident Joyce, a retired nurse now at a loose end’.

‘The tone is whimsical, full of ITV Sunday night charm – and while sleepy in its rhythm, the film is peppered with sly humour. The cast’s charisma carries the quieter moments, though some may find their dynamic more gripping than the murder.’

However The Telegraph was less complimentary and gave the movie two stars ‘Steven Spielberg’s production company snapped up the film rights even before the first novel had been published.

Chris Columbus, of Home Alone and the first two Harry Potter films fame, is the director. Note, too, that it was financed by Netflix: no Scrooges in budgetary matters. So why, then, has the film been carried off with all the cinematic flair of a Sunday night ITV2 serial from 2006?’.

In another three star review The Guardian described the movie as ‘funny if slightly bland’ and while comparing the elderly characters to senior-citizen X-Men, said the film at times veered into being a kid’s TV show.

Peter Bradshaw wrote: ‘Now it has been adapted as a funny and likable, if slightly bland, comedy-drama for Netflix, which as one character amusingly and pre-emptively comments, feels just like a Sunday teatime TV crime drama’.

‘There’s a fair bit to enjoy here, with the club sometimes resembling a kind of senior-citizen X-Men group whose collective superpower is invisibility; old people can do things without people noticing them’.

‘When the plot has to accelerate to the point of pure daftness in its final act, the movie resembles not so much a Sunday night crime serial, but a weekday afternoon kids’ TV show. Nothing necessarily wrong with that of course’.