Danish public broadcaster DR published a critical piece on August 14, 2026, asking whether viewers serve a killer’s interests by watching HBO’s new Danish true crime series “Et monsters bekendelser.”
The series, built around the convicted and now deceased Dane Peter Frederiksen, is topping HBO’s chart in Denmark. According to DR, Soundvenue reviewer Mathies Sætre Rasmussen has grown doubtful about the genre, as he explained in the P1 program “K-Live.” In the documentary, Frederiksen recounts his own crimes to journalists Jørn Stjerneklar and Helle Maj.
Rasmussen told the program that the recordings can function as strong evidence and as an illustration of who Frederiksen was. He also said it appears the perpetrator wants the story told on his own terms. He described the long-running cultivation of society’s worst individuals as tending toward the unhealthy.
As stated by Warner Bros. Discovery Denmark, the four-part HBO Original premiered on HBO Max on August 7, 2026, and examines new leads and previously unknown details using diaries, police documents and new interviews. Avisen.dk reported on premiere day that all four episodes were released at once. The international title is “A Monster Uncovered.”
Soundvenue published Rasmussen’s written review on August 11, 2026, noting that the series went straight to number one on HBO Max in Denmark. The review criticizes the decision to let Frederiksen narrate almost the entire account of his crimes.
The case behind the series
DR reports that Frederiksen was sentenced in March 2018 by a court in South Africa to two life sentences plus more than 50 years in prison. He was found guilty of offenses including ordering the killing of his wife, rape and possession of child sexual abuse material. Se og Hør dates the sentencing to May 2018 and specifies 36 offenses and two life terms plus 51 years.
In the same “K-Live” segment, Marc Andersen, associate professor at Aarhus University, offered a research explanation for the genre’s pull. He studies emotions and recreational fear and points to the learning potential in frightening entertainment. Per Andersen, several tallies indicate that 80 to 90 percent of the true crime audience are women.
He said women in a sense have the most to learn from true crime, because women are most often the victims in these stories. According to Andersen, viewers use the material to predict how a person like Frederiksen might act.
Rasmussen said the criticism does not mean such cases should go untold. He pointed to the fiction series “Efterforskningen,” about the investigation into the killing of Kim Wall, where the perpetrator is never named. That choice, he said, allows other characters to move into the foreground.
DR reported in 2018 on the same case in the documentary series “Hvid Mands Dagbog,” based on Stjerneklar and Maj’s original interviews.
