Englefield Estate

Where was ‘Thursday Murder Club’ Filmed? | Condé Nast Traveler

"Standing in the village of Englefield a few miles west of Reading in Berkshire, this Elizabethan pile is used onscreen to represent Coopers Chase and was James Merifield’s first choice for its logistics, geography, elegance and scale. I learned the house once belonged to the Englefield family before being seized by Elizabeth I and passed to Sir Francis Walsingham; his descendants still own it. Although the house isn’t open to the public, its gardens can be visited on Mondays and the estate is available for weddings, parties and summer pop concerts. Englefield has popped up in many films and TV shows (it doubled as Sandringham in The Crown, Buckingham Palace in The King’s Speech, Hellman Hall in Cruella and the Xavier Academy in X‑Men: First Class, and even featured in Netflix’s Too Much), and for The Thursday Murder Club the production rebuilt an Orangery to house the Jigsaw Room so the characters could sit and look out at the llamas, the croquet and the mobility scooters zooming past. Inside, the main spine of the building—corridors, entrance and staircase—was used to lead to character rooms, while detailed sets conveyed status and personality: Elizabeth’s ‘Gold Package’ room with high ceilings and objets d’art, Ibrahim’s Gentleman’s Club room with half panelling and a Chesterfield, Joyce’s floral, ‘Lemon Drizzle Cake’ Laura Ashley type room, and Ron’s lad’s attic with a punchball, flatscreen and beer pump." - James Medd