The Nurse tells the story of Pernille Kurzmann Larsen but who exactly is she and where is she now?
Netflix has an impressive track record when it comes to turning true crime stories into enthralling documentaries or drama series with highlights including Making A Murder or the recent Monster: The Jeffery Dahmer Story and now, the streamer has done it again with the arrival of The Nurse.
The Danish series tells the story of Pernille Kurzmann Larsen as she gets dragged into a chilling case but who exactly is she and where is she now after the events of The Nurse?
The Nurse release date and plot preview
The Nurse arrived on Netflix on Thursday, April 27, 2023.
Set at Nykøbing Falster Hospital in Denmark, the series tells the true story of Christina Aistrup Hansen, a nurse who in 2017 was convicted of four counts of attempted manslaughter after several patients died while in her care.
The series follows a newly qualified nurse who starts work at the hospital and befriends Christina, only to begin developing suspicions about her colleague after several dramatic close calls while working on night shifts together.
In March 2015, Danish police received a phone call from the nurse who revealed her fears that Christina had been deliberately killing patients and believed may do so again after several patients had suddenly died despite appearing to be in stable conditions.
What followed was a case unlike any other in Danish legal history as a number of Christina’s co-workers began to come forward to relay their own suspicions.
Who is Pernille Kurzmann Larsen?
Played in the series by Fanny Louise Bernth, Pernille Kurzmann Larsen is the central character in the Netflix series and was the nurse who contacted the police about her suspicions of Christina.
After recently qualifying, Pernille was starting her first nursing job when she began working at Nykøbing Falster Hospital in southern Denmark and was hoping to make a good first impression with her colleagues.
She quickly befriended Christina Aistrup Hansen who was regarded as one of the top nurses at the hospital.
But after several incidents occurred while working on shifts with Hansen, Pernille began to suspect her colleague of foul play and that she had been deliberately attempting to harm or even kill her patients by giving them fatal doses of morphine and diazepam.
Eventually, Pernille went to the police with her concerns and Christina was arrested on initial charges of murder and attempted manslaughter.
After a month-long trial, Christina was found guilty and in May 2017, she was sentenced to 12 years in prison for four counts of attempted murder.
Where is Pernille now?
Pernille is still working as a nurse at Nykøbing Falster Hospital as of May 2023.
Since the events shown in The Nurse, she has married Niels Lundén, a former colleague at the hospital, meaning she now goes by the name Pernille Kurzmann Lundén.
The pair settled down in the town of Maribo according to The Cinemaholic and have since had a son together, adding to their family after already having a child each from previous relationships.
Speaking to Netflix about bringing Pernille’s story to the screen, director of The Nurse Kasper Barfoed said: “So many people suspected something or saw something — and yet it’s the new nurse, the one who’s in her first job who not only senses something is wrong, but who actually does something about it and risks everything.
”[Making the series] became a lot about trying to be loyal to Pernille and the situation she was in. We wanted the audience to be able to feel how difficult this is. It’s not just pushing a button and then you’re a whistleblower.
“What really most of all interested me [was], ‘How could this take place over such a long time — when, after the whole thing was revealed, a lot of people seemed to have known about it or suspected it?’”
The Nurse is available to stream now on Netflix after releasing on Thursday, April 27, 2023.
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