The Thursday Murder Club: Resetting the narrative on retirement living

For fans of  The Thursday Murder Club, Cooper’s Chase retirement village carries as much familiarity as the light-hearted murder mystery novel’s main characters Elizabeth, Joyce, Ron and Ibrahim.

Netflix subscribers and cinema-goers will, too, become immersed in the luxurious and peaceful surroundings now the film adaptation of Richard Osman’s best-selling series has landed.

It’s not often that a residential community for older people provides the backdrop for such a high-profile Hollywood film with an A-list cast, presenting a golden opportunity for the later living sector.

While the housing pipeline for accommodating our ageing population continues to evolve and diversify, for a number of reasons many older people are choosing to remain in their existing home. 

This can be for many reasons, such as availability, financial, community ties, familiarity or proximity to family home – or it could just be that the idea of ‘rightsizing’ is just not yet part of the British psyche. 

Tackling this cultural challenge deserves as much attention from government – working in collaboration with developers, funders and property agents – as untangling the various legal, financial and practical obstacles to expanding the range of age-appropriate housing.  

What is rightsizing?

The ‘rightsizing’ concept refers to people choosing a home that fits their current individual needs and lifestyle. It’s distinct from downsizing for financial reasons.

It can bring significant health and independence advantages, as highlighted by a landmark study by ExtraCare Charitable Trust, in collaboration with Aston University and Lancaster University, between 2012 and 2018. 

The research revealed that living in age-appropriate housing led to continuous improvements in physical activity, memory recall and perceived health, while anxiety, loneliness and risk of falls decreased. 

In addition, there was a 38% cost reduction to the NHS due to reduced hospital stays, and fewer unplanned and routine GP visits.

Beyond these benefits lies positives for society, too. Rightsizing by retirees can help alleviate property ladder bottlenecks by freeing up larger family homes for the market. New occupants may be more likely to invest in energy efficiency improvements to older housing stock, creating a positive domino effect. 

Workforce challenges in social care can also be eased by pooling resources in later living housing complexes, some of which can also provide GP services to release pressures on community surgeries.

Research by Barclays in October 2024 found that an estimated 3.8 million households could be motivated to rightsize. However, emotional attachments to their homes were a barrier to doing so for six in 10 (61%) and the cost of moving deterred 45%. On the flip side, having a home that required less maintenance (39%) and was cheaper to run (26%) were top motivating factors.

Thursday Murder Club shines a light on integrated retirement communities

Housing choice will, of course, depend on personal preference and circumstances, but there are an increasingly wide range of options – from independent retirement housing, which perhaps represents what many people think of when it comes to housing for older people – through to care homes for people who can no longer live independently. 

Lying somewhere in between the two is the integrated retirement community (IRC), which is typically a large-scale development housing several hundred residents offering lifestyle facilities and, in some cases, a full range of accommodation types providing increasing levels of care and support, all within one location.

An IRC will often include restaurants, bars, fitness centres, swimming pools, libraries, shops and entertainment venues, but also on-site healthcare facilities and wellness programmes. Not to mention access to a community. 

Which brings us back to The Thursday Murder Club and Cooper’s Chase. Set across 12 acres in Kent, the former convent is home to 300 people, who spend their time exercising, eating and playing board games together – or, in the case of the protagonists, solving murders in the Jigsaw Room.

This type of active lifestyle – while obviously a touch far-fetched, given it is a work of fiction after all – flies in the face of commonly-held perceptions of the average retiree sharing a roof with their peers.

Each of our main characters are in their 70s, but have embraced their environment to challenge conventions, contribute to society and, ultimately, thrive.

This reflects the reality of longer, more active and better-quality lives for many people. 

Shifting perceptions among future retirees

More than 10 million people have bought copies of The Thursday Murder Club’s four-book series to date. 

Many more are due to walk into Osman’s world via Netflix, whose primary demographic is the 18 to 40 age group but is increasingly signing up over-55s, when the film adaptation arrives on the platform on 28 August, six days after its cinema release.

The significance of this captive audience for a film franchise likely to stretch over several years shouldn’t be underestimated. 

Putting retirement living front and centre of such a prominent piece of British culture could help to make it aspirational for future generations who will one day be planning for old age. 

It could also assist with normalising the rightsizing practice that is more common in countries like the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, which offer a wider range of independent and assisted living options.

For instance, 6.5% of over-65s in the US reside in IRCs, compared to just 1% in the UK. There are almost 20,000 retirement community providers in the US, where the later living market is forecast to grow from $113 billion in 2024 to $150 billion by 2029.

In Britain, the Older People’s Housing Taskforce last year published a report examining how to increase the availability of later living accommodation. 

Recommendations included dedicating 10% of affordable housing to later living, favouring senior housing in planning policies, adopting flexible design and construction methods, and introducing financial incentives like a capped stamp duty for rightsizing.

While these innovative solutions will address the supply side, demand for these types of living spaces depends on winning hearts and minds. 

Cooper’s Chase may be a good place to start.