The Good Nurse: The true story of killer Charles Cullen and the colleague who brought him to justice
After the sudden deaths of two patients at a hospital in New Jersey, nobody could have guessed the crimes that were about to be uncovered.
And a key player in the investigation was Amy Loughren – the subject of the new Netflix film The Good Nurse – who would play a vital role in revealing the shocking truth about Charles Cullen, a colleague she called a friend.
Born in New Jersey in 1960, Cullen was the youngest of eight siblings.
His father was a bus driver who died before Cullen turned a year old, and his mother, a homemaker, died in a car accident when he was a teenager.
His first murders
After what has widely been reported as a miserable childhood, a brief stint in the Navy and numerous alleged suicide attempts, Cullen eventually became a nurse, graduating from nursing school in 1987 before getting married.
Cullen and his wife had two daughters before getting a divorce in 1993.
During that time, Cullen is believed to have killed his first victims.
Cullen would go on to work in several hospitals and nursing homes. Some jobs he quit after being investigated over allegations of misconduct – on one occasion because an elderly woman complained he kept coming into her room and giving her injections when he wasn’t the nurse assigned to her.
He was fired from one hospital for hiding heart medicine in a bin meant for disposing of needles.
He would bounce from different medical centres in New Jersey, and even worked for a time in Pennsylvania after getting a licence to practice there.
His weapon of choice: Digoxin
Between 1998 and 2002, he did some agency work and had some full-time jobs.
In this time, he is believed to have killed even more people.
His weapon of choice was a drug called digoxin – a medication routinely used to treat people with an irregular heartbeat or heart failure – but is lethal in large doses.
Cullen would also inject patients’ saline pouches with lethal doses of insulin and other drugs.
His crimes were committed over a period of 16 years – but it was in 2003 while he was working at Somerset Medical Centre in Somerville, New Jersey, that it would all finally unravel.
Florian Gall was a reverend being treated at the hospital.
After showing signs of improvement during his stay, Gall had a massive heart attack and died.
It was later determined that he had a lethal level of digoxin, and his death was caused by an unauthorised dose of the drug.
Cullen was finally arrested in December in 2003.
He told investigators that he administered the drug overdoses to put “very sick” patients out of their misery.
He admitted to 30-40 murders, but the true number is thought to be closer to 400 – which would make him the most prolific serial killer in US history.
The friendship that would ultimately bring him down
While working at what would become his last hospital, Cullen met a nurse – Loughren – and they formed a friendship.
She saw in him a kind man, someone she wanted to spend time with and be friends with.
But it was Loughren – described as “courageous” and “incredible” – who helped detectives build the case against him.
The single mother and cardiomyopathy sufferer was coping with night shifts in a New Jersey hospital in order to qualify for health insurance when the apparently highly-qualified Cullen was hired to help manage the workload.
The two quickly formed a close bond – Cullen even helping Loughren to cover up her illness and care for her two young daughters.
But following the sudden death of two patients, detectives became suspicious of Cullen.
When they gave her documents that showed the drugs Cullen was ordering, she “knew he was murdering people”, she previously said.
“There were so many withdrawals of lethal medications” that you wouldn’t order unless you wanted to kill someone,” she had told CBS at the time.
She began collecting evidence at the hospital and wore a wire at a meeting with him. She also admits to manipulating him to try to get him to confess.
In The Good Nurse, Loughren is played by Jessica Chastain, while Eddie Redmayne picks up the role of Cullen.
Read more:
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The former nurse has now spoken to Sky News.
She says she was “proud” to see the film come together, although it acted as a “trigger” for so much of the time she spent with Cullen.
Loughren said: “I was pretty terrified every day and I held that together.
“The things that they don’t show in the film was that I was actually much more sick – and I was truly terrified of leaving my two girls behind.
“Watching Jessica play me – I allowed myself to feel proud of myself.”
‘My guilt about missing my friendship – because he’s a monster’
“It was triggering watching Charlie (played by Redmayne) because Eddie truly embodies who my friend Charlie was.
“The way that he moves, the way that he speaks, the interactions that we have, are so real. That part of it was extremely triggering.
“And allowing myself to understand that I missed him for a while – and my guilt about actually missing my friendship, because he’s a monster.
“But I didn’t know the murderer. I only met the murderer a couple of times and he played this part of my friend.
“I missed that friendship, so it was very triggering. And then it was like, ‘let’s get him’.”
Amy Loughren, left, and Jessica Chastain at the Toronto International Film Festival. Pic: Evan Agostini/Invision/AP
Making a film ‘was laughable at first’
Film producers found the relationship between the single mother and Cullen as the most “compelling” part of the narrative.
Loughren, who retired 18 months ago, added: “It was laughable at first because I’m thinking how would anybody really want to see a film? And truly, (the investigation) was such a small part.
“Darren Aronofsky was the one who initially picked it up and decided to make it into a movie.
“He said the most compelling part of Charles Graeber’s absolutely brilliant book was the friendship and that it was compelling to him.
“Something that I had actually been embarrassed about and felt so much guilt about was all of a sudden going to be up on a big screen.
“I didn’t really know how to feel. I didn’t want anyone to know who I was 20 years ago.
Eddie Redmayne and Jessica Chastain in The Good Nurse. Pic: JoJo Whilden/Netflix
“I didn’t want anyone to be judging me from the 20 years ago that I was.
“It was scary. I didn’t want my name on it at first. Then I realised it’s going to happen with or without me – I might as well give myself a voice.”
Chastain, who met Loughren for the first time during a Zoom call, highlighted learning how complicated life was for the former nurse.
‘What she stumbles into is quite shocking’
Chastain told Sky News: “To be able to talk to Amy and understand what her life was like and what she had at stake, it really helped me to realise how courageous she was and what an incredible person she is.
“All the things that she was juggling at the time. Being a single mother, two girls, not having health insurance, working on a night shift so you’re not really getting proper sleep.
“And also, at the same time, needing a heart transplant. That’s what we walk in with at the beginning of this film.
“What she then stumbles into is quite shocking.”
Director Tobias Lindholm said what he “loved” about the story was how it focused on “a hardworking woman whose superpower was her humanity”.
He added: “I remember coming across the script a few years ago and it mirrored Charles Graeber’s book a bit more closely in that it focused on the killer, but it was Amy Loughren’s role in this story that I found to be most interesting.”
The Good Nurse is in UK cinemas and on Netflix.
Entertainment
Gary Lineker says ‘right time’ to leave Match Of The Day as he hints of changes to show’s format
Gary Lineker has said it is “the right time” to leave Match Of The Day and hinted the BBC could change the format of the Premier League highlights show.
The 63-year-old will step down as host at the end of the season and described his time on the show as an “absolute joy and privilege”.
Speaking on his podcast, The Rest Is Football, he said: “It has been an absolute joy and privilege to present such an iconic show for the BBC.
“But all things have to come to an end.”
Lineker went on to say the broadcaster enters a new three-year deal to host top-flight highlights, and that to stay on for another 12 months “would be a bit weird”.
“I think the next contract they’re looking to do Match Of The Day slightly differently, so I think it makes sense for someone else to take the helm.
“I bowed out in my football career when I felt it was the right time. I feel this is now the right time.”
Lineker refused to speculate who would be taking his place, as rumours grew around Mark Chapman, the regular Match Of The Day 2 presenter, Football Focus host Alex Scott, and BBC sports coverage presenter Gabby Logan.
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“Obviously I don’t know who it’ll be, and I would never tell publicly my preference, I don’t think that’d be the right thing to do – but whoever it is, I would say be yourself,” he said.
“I had to fill the ginormous shoes of certain Des Lynam.
“…I would say just be yourself and enjoy it, it’s a wonderful programme to be a part of. It was brilliant before I took over, and it will be brilliant after I leave.”
Lineker pictured with former MOTD host Des Lynam in 2009. Pic: PA
Lineker has hosted Match Of The Day since 1999 and will have presented the show for more than a quarter of a century when he leaves in May 2025.
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He will continue with the MOTD Top Ten podcast alongside his podcast, which also features BBC pundits Alan Shearer and Micah Richards.
The former England striker has been the BBC’s highest-paid on-air talent for seven consecutive years and was estimated to have earned £1.35m in the year 2023/24.
The BBC said future plans for Match Of The Day would be “announced in due course”.
Coach tickets to Glastonbury 2025 were sold out in half an hour, organisers have said, as they roll out a new booking system for festivalgoers.
They were the first group of tickets to be sold for the world-famous festival in Somerset, which is set to take place between 25 and 29 June.
This year, fans navigated a new system to buy the tickets as they were “randomly assigned a place in a queue” instead of having to refresh the holding page once they went live.
The organisers said in a post on X: “The Glastonbury 2025 tickets + coach travel which were on sale this evening have now all been sold.
“Our thanks to everyone who bought one.”
They added that National Express services would be available to bring festivalgoers from across the country to Glastonbury.
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Standard tickets will go on sale on Sunday at 9am. Last year they were sold out within an hour.
See Tickets said in a post on X that “confirmation emails are going out now to everyone who got @Glastonbury coach tickets this evening”.
Tickets for the annual event at Worthy Farm in Somerset cost £373.50 plus a £5 booking fee, and are sold exclusively through the See Tickets website, with no third-party sellers involved.
The new ticket system has changed the way people join the booking system.
Organisers previously warned hopefuls to log in “at least a few minutes” before the sale opened today and to avoid refreshing the page.
Keep up with all the latest news from the UK and around the world by following Sky News
Festivalgoers were also told not to attempt to game the system by using multiple devices.
The sale follows chaos earlier this year when tickets for the Oasis reunion went on sale, seeing a multitude of disappointed fans as well as those who felt cheated after being charged hundreds of pounds more for their tickets than was originally advertised.
Anyone wishing to buy tickets for Glastonbury must have registered by 11 November, a rule in place to avoid touting.
Entertainment
Christmas adverts – the 10 most-anticipated ads as the festive battle for customers commences
With just under six weeks to go to Christmas Day, the countdown has officially begun, with all the big brands rolling out their seasonal adverts.
Becoming something of an institution over recent years, many see the festive ads as the starting pistol for their Christmas preparation/panic, despite us only being halfway through November.
And with an estimated £10.5bn spent on this year’s Xmas ads, it’s not just about inducing a fuzzy warm feeling in viewers, but also about encouraging them to put their hand in their pocket.
As we brace ourselves for festive fun, we take a swift look at this year’s bevvy of commercial offerings, as the annual battle of the Christmas adverts begins.
John Lewis
A girl called Sally falls into a clothes rack reminiscent of CS Lewis’s The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe, but instead of finding Narnia, she ends up in John Lewis.
Pic: PA
Through family flashbacks we lean how much she loves her older sister, whose gift she has carelessly left it to the last minute to buy. Spoiler alert – as one would expect in an advert for a retailer, she finds a pressie.
With the retailer famous for its use of cover versions in their Christmas ads, this one is the origin story for a new cover, with a concurrent competition on TikTok to find an aspiring artist to rerecord a version, which will be featured on the Christmas Day airing and released by record label BMG too.
Waitrose
Marketed as a whodunnit – this big-budget production has a host of celebrity cameos, an intricate storyline and not one but two parts.
Pic: Waitrose
Comedian Joe Wilkinson, Fleabag star Sian Clifford and Succession’s Matthew Macfadyen all have a role in the ensemble, revolving around hunting down the thief of a “chilled desert”.
Being Christmas, when tensions are traditionally high, everyone has reason to have scoffed it. The culprit won’t be revealed until the second part of the ad is released, but in the meantime, activity at Kings Cross Station, in stores and on social media is set to keep the investigation very much alive.
Sainsbury’s
Sainsbury’s goes big for its advert, calling on a beloved Roald Dahl character – the BFG, or Big Friendly Giant – to travel the country with a supermarket worker called Sophie (who pleasingly is a real store employee) in the search for the perfect festive treats.
Pic: Sainsbury’s
A CGI BFG procures salmon, sprouts and cheese before a bit of magic helps him whip it all up into a feast, which he then gifts to an unsuspecting family through the window.
The first ones to release their ad earlier this month, the dulcet tones of national treasure Stephen Fry wrap the action, with a call to arms to stock up in readiness for Christmas.
M&S
Another national treasure – Dawn French – is back for this one, playing both herself and a festive fairy, who gives both French and her home a make-over ready for a Christmas soiree.
Pic: PA
French, whose multi-Christmas-dinner eating antics on The Vicar Of Dibley put her into the Xmas annals, is transformed into “the quintessential hostess” with a bit of help from her little friend.
Banking on the idea that you can never have enough of a good thing, there are six instalments of the advert running between now and the New Year. Who doesn’t like a second – or sixth – helping.
Lidl
This one pulls on the heartstrings, with a little girl inspired to give a gift to a boy who appears not to have any, after an old lady gives her some magic bells.
Pic: Lidl
Directed by Oscar-winning filmmaker Tom Hooper (he directed The King’s Speech), a CGI racoon and giant gingerbread man add a little action to events around the dinner table.
But the take home message is to think about giving as well as receiving, with the return of the retailer’s toy banks scheme set up at supermarkets with the aim of donating over 100,000 toys, to ensure no child experiences a giftless Christmas.
Aldi
Kevin the Carrot is back for a ninth year running, this time trying to save the Christmas spirit from a bunch of hard-boiled humbug villains.
Pic: Aldi
With the ad narrated by actor Jim Broadbent, our plucky hero braves an oven, a Mission Impossible-inspired ventilation system and Bond-esque snow jet-ski dash across the mountains, all to save Christmas.
Helped by his wife Katie, he of course pulls it off. A fan favourite, soft toys of the root vegetable are sold in stores, and this year cuddly humbugs are on sale too.
Morrisons
It’s a song and dance number from Morrisons, courtesy of their singing oven gloves performing Bugsy Malone’s You Give A Little Love.
Pic: Morrisons
A choir of 26 Morrisons employees gave voice to the gloves, recording their rendition of the song at the iconic Abbey Road Studios in London.
Like Lidl, the retailer pulled out the directing big guns, hiring The Greatest Showman director Michael Gracey to oversee proceedings.
Asda
Bagging the prize for the most gnome puns in one advert, Asda sees a flash mob of gnomes preparing the store for Christmas.
Pic: Asda
The resulting advert isn’t as irritating as it sounds on paper, thanks to nice performances by the two human characters in the ad – Maggie and Bill.
And as we know, Christmas is all about the merchandise, so the supermarkets are of course selling special Xmas versions of their garden gnomes to accompany their already 50-strong gnome range. Who knew?
Tesco
Tesco reminds us of those members of the family who are no longer here to join us on the big day, with a man carrying on his late grandmother’s festive tradition of baking gingerbread.
Pic: Tesco
He becomes obsessed with the spicy treat, as it infiltrates every part of his day from his haircut to a trip to see the Christmas lights.
He eventually gets together with his grandad to bake a gingerbread house, revealing it to the family at lunch, thus keeping the tradition alive.
Greggs
And in the most unlikely festive cameo of the year, Greggs has enlisted Nigella Lawson to star in its first Christmas ad.
Pic: PA
Rapturously endorsing their festive bakes, Lawson has her hands full of pasties, and her table full of take-away coffees, as she promotes the bakery’s festive-themed fare.
Whether or not you believe the 64-year-old TV chef really tucks into their sausage rolls in real life – the attention-grabbing collaboration looks like a wise move for the chain, whose sales have jumped in recent weeks as it continues its UK expansion.
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