Joyce will be quietly smug! Richard Osman confirms who's playing her in Thursday Murder Club

There is big news for fans of The Thursday Murder Club because author Richard Osman has announced the final star in the lineup for the forthcoming movie. 

Richard's smash-hit book The Thursday Murder Club is getting the big screen treatment thanks to Hollywood production company Amblin, and it was recently revealed that huge names like Dame Helen Mirren, Pierce Brosnan and Sir Ben Kingsley were part of the cast. 

While the cast announcement went down well with fans, everyone wondered who would play calm and kind Joyce Meadowcroft. However, the wait is over and we now know Calender Girls star Celia Imrie will take on the role. 

Richard announced the news today, Tuesday, May 21, on his social media with a caption that read: "So happy to announce that our Thursday Murder Club line-up is complete. Alongside Dame Helen Mirren, Pierce Brosnan and Sir Ben Kingsley, we now have our Joyce. The one and only Celia Imrie! So thrilled!"

Richard announced the first three roles on his podcast The Rest Is Entertainment with Marina Hyde last month, where he excitedly revealed the all-star cast taking on main roles in the movie adaptation.

There, he said: "Elizabeth Best is going to be played by the person who people most often shout at me in the street as them wanting them to play Elizabeth... Helen Mirren, which is very exciting."

He then revealed that two huge stars are playing Ron Ritchie and Ibrahim Arif, joking that Ron will be played by the 'most handsome man in the world'. Richard said: "Ibrahim is Sir Ben Kingsley. Ron is going to be played by – I'm going to say the most handsome man in the world, so he's going to have to dull himself down a bit... Pierce Brosnan."

While we don't have a confirmed release date for the movie yet we do know that filming is taking place "this summer from end of June to September" in England. 

There's a huge director confirmed too, with Home Alone and Harry Potter director Chris Columbus overseeing the project.

Fans of Richard's books will know that the movie will take us to Cooper's Chase, a peaceful retirement community where four unlikely friends (Ron, Elizabeth, Joyce, and Ron) meet up once a week and discuss unsolved murders... on Thursdays!

But when a shady property developer is found dead on their doorstep, they end up caught in the middle of their first live case and set about trying to catch the killer for real.