Netflix has released some truly gripping real-life crime dramas in 2022, for fans of the genre to tuck into and binge watch at their leisure.
First came Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story in September, a drama which looked into the sick and twisted mind of one of America's most notorious serial killers as well as his unspeakable crimes.
With American Horror story favourite Evan Peters taking the lead role as Dahmer himself, the eight-parter highlighted the inner workings of the Milwaukee Cannibal Killer, and the stories of his 17 victims whose lives he claimed between 1978 and 1991.
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The series broke records in the first week of airing, racking up 196.2 million hours of viewing time on Netflix. And off the back of the success of the Dahmer drama, the popular streaming platform has just released a feature film The Good Nurse.
The movie, starring Eddie Redmayne as Charles Cullen - a New Jersey nurse who confessed to the murders of about 40 patients during his 16-year career. However, experts anticipate that this figure could in reality be as high as 400.
So what is the real life story of The Good Nurse? Here, Chronicle Live explains...
Who is Charles Cullen?
Cullen was born in New Jersey in 1960, the youngest of eight siblings. His father was a bus driver and his mother was a homemaker - both of whom died before Cullen reached adulthood.
Charles reportedly attempted to take his own life in his younger years due to a miserable and traumatic childhood, but eventually turned his mental health around and took to nursing school - graduating in 1987 before marrying his first wife. The marriage however didn't last long, and Cullen and his partner were separated in 1993 after having two daughters.
Elle reports that during this time he worked in several U.S. hospitals and nursing homes - with people in and around his life noticing odd and erratic behaviour. He even went on to leave a job after allegations of misconduct from an elderly lady.
The woman is said to have reported that Charles would continuously enter her room to give her injections, despite not being her designated nurse. Meanwhile, in another instance, he was sacked for hiding heart medication in a needle disposal vessel.
It is also thought that Charles committed his first murders while working at different care homes and hospitals.
He then went on to work via a mixture of agencies and full-time professions in the medical field, where he is said to have committed more murders using a drug known as Digoxin - a medicine used to treat those who have irregular heartbeats, lethal in large quantities.
It is thought that Cullen's crimes went on for 16 years or so before he was finally apprehended while working as a nurse at the Somerset Medical Centre in New Jersey.
How did Cullen get caught?
A co-worker of Cullen's at the Somerset Medical Centre called Amy Loughren was approached by detectives Tim Braun and Danny Baldwin, who were said to be investigating deaths of patients found to be exposed to toxic levels of Digoxin. Amy found combinations of heart drugs being consistently ordered by Cullen himself, out of line with his role in the Intensive Care Unit.
Loughren eventually wore a wire to a restaurant meetup with Cullen, with hopes of pulling a confession out of him. And although the serial killer didn't put it out in black and white, she obtained enough evidence for probable cause, leading to his swift apprehension and trial.
Following his arrest, Cullen admitted to officers that he wanted to put sick patients out of their misery, admitting to around 40 murders. However, experts estimate that Cullen the real number may be in the region of 400.
For his crimes, Cullen is currently serving 17 consecutive life sentences amounting to 397 without parole.
He is being held at the New Jersey State Prison in Trenton, following his initial sentencing on March 2, 2006.
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