Richard Osman has discussed being the man who “made retirement villages cool again” with his book series Thursday Murder Club, which has sold 500,000 copies in Australia alone.

He says he thought of the location for the book based on his mother’s retirement home.

“It’s such a beautiful place … proper, traditional English countryside, the sort of green fields … and I thought – as any British person does – ‘This would be an amazing place for a murder,'” he told Gary Adshead.

Press PLAY to hear how the book series came to be + his experience as a writer

He also discussed when the movie adaptation, with Steven Spielberg on board as director, could begin filming.

Image:Getty Images/Joe Maher.