New crime thriller based on shocking true story just landed on Netflix

Published 13:08 27 Oct 2022 BST

Charlie Herbert

New crime thriller based on shocking true story just landed on Netflix

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A brand-new crime thriller based on the real-life tale of a serial killer responsible for dozens of deaths has been released on Netflix. The Good Nurse dropped on the streaming platform on Wednesday and centres on a nurse Amy Loughren who notices a series of suspicious deaths at the hospital she works at. The thriller tells the shocking story of Charles Cullen, a nurse who worked in hospitals around New Jersey and Pennsylvania over a 16-year career that ended when he was arrested in 2003 and admitted to killing 29 people. His common method was by administering fatal drug overdoses.

An official synopsis from Netflix reads: “An overburdened ICU nurse leans on her selfless new colleague at work and at home — until a patient's unexpected death casts him in a suspicious light.”

Eddie Redmayne plays the titular ‘good nurse’ Cullen whilst Jessica Chastain plays Amy Loughren, a former co-worker who was ultimately instrumental in helping the authorities bring Cullen to justice. https://twitter.com/netflix/status/1582023645995577344 The whole story is also based on the 2013 book about Cullen’s crimes by journalist Charles Graeber, entitled 'The Good Nurse: A True Story of Medicine, Madness, and Murder.'

Cullen was known to have had a ‘miserable’ childhood, with both his parents dying before he left senior school. Then, after joining the US Navy his behaviour became troublesome and he became known as a loner. He was medically discharged after a suicide attempt in 1984, after which he made a career U-turn and trained to become a nurse. For years, Cullen flitted around different hospitals, often working on cardiac and intensive care units where people can sometimes die suddenly and unexpectedly. It’s believed he started killing in 1988, when John W Yengo Sr. died of what was at the time described as a ‘rare allergic reaction’. By the end of his spree, Cullen had killed up to 40 patients over his 16-year career at several hospitals. But it is believed that he may have actually killed hundreds.

He was eventually caught in 2003 and is now serving life in prison in New Jersey.

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