Each week, Netflix drops a list of the top 10 films and TV shows dominating the platform, and for the week ending Aug. 31, the new crime caper The Thursday Murder Club was the No. 2 film on the platform. The film is a who's who of British talent, starring Helen Mirren, Pierce Brosnan, Ben Kingsley and Celia Imrie as a quartet of sleuths living together in a retirement home called Coopers Chase. Their pastime is researching cold murder cases, and when one of the owners of their (gorgeous, castle-like) living facility is murdered, they start to dig into the killing themselves. The film, based on Richard Osman's novel, is a classic cozy murder mystery -- a genre the Brits truly excel at. Just look at long-running shows like Midsomer Murders, Poirot and Inspector Morse -- examples of the dozens of detective shows produced in recent decades. The Thursday Murder Club works well as a standalone whodunnit, but what struck me were the references tucked into the film -- some clearly intentional, others maybe coincidental -- all fun to piece together as I watched. Here's your warning: If you haven't seen the movie yet, spoilers lie ahead. Netflix Let's start with Helen Mirren's character, Elizabeth. Though that was already her name in the novel, Mirren tips her hat -- or rather, her kerchief -- to Queen Elizabeth II in the film when she throws on a disguise, wrapping a scarf around her head before going to speak with police about the murder of Tony Curran (Geoff Bell), one of the retirement home's owners. Her on-screen husband, Jonathan Pryce, even remarks, "What on earth are you wearing? You look like the Queen!" It feels a little too on the nose not to be a nod to Mirren's acclaimed portrayal of Queen Elizabeth in 2006's The Queen. The fact that Pryce played Queen Elizabeth's husband, Phillip, on Netflix's The Crown, also feels like an added meta reference in this scene. Mirren's character is somewhat secretive about her professional past, eventually revealing that she worked for MI6, the British intelligence agency. Her character in Red also worked there, and you know who else works for MI6? James Bond. You know who played James Bond in four movies? Mirren's Thursday Murder Club co-star Pierce Brosnan. Are these facts technically Easter eggs? That's debatable, but if I had a giant bulletin board, I would be pinning strings all over it to illustrate just how many connections there are in this film. (This is also not the first time Mirren has played a detective, either; one of her most famous roles is Detective Chief Inspector Jane Tennison in Prime Suspect.) Another clever relationship uncovered in the film is between the characters Ian Ventham (David Tennant), one of the owners of Coopers Chase, and Jason Ritchie, the son of Brosnan's character, Ron Ritchie. Actors Tom Ellis and David Tennant in The Thursday Murder Club. Netflix Without spoiling too much, it turns out that both men are, at various points in the film, suspected of murder and have a complicated personal and professional relationship with one another, but actors Tennant and Ellis are linked in a devilish way, too. Tennant played the demon Crowley in Prime Video's Good Omens series, while Ellis's breakout role was as Lucifer Morningstar in the TV series Lucifer. Both shows were developed by Neil Gaiman, and their characters are both demons who arrive on Earth to wreak havoc but eventually change their minds. Another detail hiding in plain sight: Ben Kingsley's character, Ibrahim, mentions he's a former psychiatrist who specialized in helping war veterans with PTSD -- almost identical to the role he played as John Cawley, the lead psychiatrist in Shutter Island. (The two doctors also seem to dress exactly alike, bow ties and all.) Another fun connection: Ruth Sheen, who plays Coopers Chase resident and Tony Curran's Aunt Maud, starred in the 2018 limited series The Woman in White, based on the Victorian mystery novel of the same name, and that's the name of the cold case the TCM is investigating when the movie opens. And I'd be remiss not to mention that everything Celia Imrie's character Joyce bakes looks like it could be a showstopper straight off The Great British Baking Show. (That's not an Easter egg so much as a reminder that the Baking Show's new season premieres this Friday.) Actors Ruth Sheen and Geoff Bell in The Thursday Murder Club. Netflix The Thursday Murder Club isn't quite a comedy, but more of a lighthearted mystery that has fun playing with the genre. From the clever casting to the overlapping investigations and hidden connections, the film has plenty of layers -- if you know where to look. And with five books already in the series, there's a good chance this successful film could get a sequel packed with even more hidden gems.