Richard Osman has spoken out in defence of Pierce Brosnan ahead of the release of the much-hyped film adaptation of The Thursday Murder Club. The former Pointless presenter’s best-selling novel has been turned into a movie for Netflix, which will premiere on the streaming platform next month. Among its impressive cast are the likes of Dame Helen Mirren, Celia Imrie and Sir Ben Kingsley, while the former James Bond star will play fan-favourite Ron. It’s perhaps worth noting that Pierce wouldn’t exactly have been most fans’ first pick when it came to casting the character of Ron, who is described as a bald-headed devout trade unionist with a prominent neck tattoo (one popular fan-casting site saw Ray Winstone among the top picks for the role, alongside Ted Lasso and Coronation Street star Bill Fellows). Explaining the changes to the character of Ron in the film, Richard told Empire: “You have to do something unusual and different and interesting.” “Here’s the key thing about Pierce Brosnan playing Ron: Pierce Brosnan is who Ron would choose to play Ron,” he insisted, before pointing out: “In the next book, I’ve got a scene with Ron and Ibrahim discussing who the best Bond is, and Ron is very much a Pierce Brosnan man. And Ibrahim is Timothy Dalton. For me, that’s the joy.” This isn’t the first time in recent history that Pierce’s casting in something has been called into question, though. Earlier this year, he made his debut in the crime drama MobLand (once again alongside Dame Helen Mirren), where his Irish accent became something of a point of contention. The Thursday Murder Club will debut on Netflix on Thursday 28 August, with the supporting cast set to include David Tennant, Jonathan Pryce, Richard E Grant, Naomie Ackie and Tom Ellis. Richard has previously spoken enthusiastically about the ensemble cast, hailing it as “the greatest British cast assembled since the [Harry Potter] movies”.