Cheltenham care home residents star in own mystery movie

A group of care home residents have written and starred in a mystery movie after being inspired by a bestselling book series.

Judith Green wrote the script for Monkscroft Thursday Club and appeared in the 20-minute film along with four other residents of Monkscroft Care Centre in Cheltenham.

Ms Green said she adapted the script after the first rehearsal as the lines “were a problem because some of us are living with dementia”.

Doreen Paisley, home manager, said: “Individuals in care homes, like the residents of Monkscroft, have so much talent, so many skills and there’s so much they want to share with everyone.”

After it was decided a murder-focused movie was “not appropriate” for a care home, Ms Green decided on the mystery genre, inspired by Richard Osman’s Thursday Murder Club series.

The movie follows a group of friends in a care home looking to do something exciting, who are swept into solving a mystery involving a missing diamond ring.

Ms Green said the script went through “multiple rewrites” to make lines shorter.

Sarah Jones, who played Agatha Crispie, called out lines for other cast members to repeat if they could not remember, which was then edited out during post-production.

The production process took five months and a red-carpet premiere was held at the care home for the film’s screening, which family members were invited to.

“I was really worried that I’d let them all down by writing a script that wasn’t funny and, even when we did the red-carpet premiere day, I was shaking,” Ms Green said.

“I was so relieved when they laughed.”

The movie, starring a cast aged between 72 and 88, was filmed and edited on an iPhone.

Other cast members included Fred McKnight as Hercules Barrow, Peter James as Harry Holmes, and Patricia Jeal as Miss Marbles.

Ms Jeal said: “It was great fun, meeting people I hadn’t met in the home, like Peter, who is in a different unit downstairs. We’ve all got on very well.”