Præsten fra helvede

What Is the Series About?

*Præsten fra helvede* — translated into English as The Priest From Hell — is a Danish true-crime documentary series streaming on Viaplay. Released on 21 March 2023, the series examines one of Denmark's most shocking recent murders: the 2020 killing of Maria From Jakobsen by her husband, former parish priest Thomas Gotthard, in Frederikssund, Denmark. The documentary traces the full arc of the case — from Maria's disappearance, through the police investigation, to Gotthard's eventual confession and conviction — and gives the victim's family a platform to tell her story on camera for the very first time.

The series was directed by Christina Ehrenskjöld, Mette Pedersen, and Camilla Marie Nielsen, with Kasper Bækgaard credited for adaptation. According to Viaplay's content distribution catalogue, the series runs as two episodes of approximately 42 minutes each, though Swedish Wikipedia and some other catalogues list three episodes — a discrepancy that has not been formally clarified by the platform.

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The Case

Maria From Jakobsen was 43 years old when she vanished in October 2020. She was the wife of Thomas Gotthard, at the time a respected parish priest serving in Frederikssund, a town roughly 40 kilometres north-west of Copenhagen. Her disappearance was reported to authorities, and investigators initially entertained the possibility that she had left of her own accord.

That theory quickly collapsed. As Danish police dug deeper, they uncovered a disturbing trail of digital evidence inside Gotthard's home: browser searches referencing deep water, oil drums, suicide, caustic soda, and hydrochloric acid. The chemical references proved grimly prophetic. Investigators eventually established that Gotthard had dismembered Maria's body, dissolved it in acid, and buried her remains in two separate locations — a level of post-crime concealment that shocked both the Danish public and law enforcement professionals familiar with the case.

Gotthard was taken into custody in early 2021. He maintained his silence for months before finally confessing in the summer of 2021, after approximately seven months in detention. In August 2021, a Danish court found him guilty of murder and sentenced him to 15 years in prison. He has since been defrocked and is currently serving his sentence. The case is widely regarded as one of the most disturbing crimes in recent Danish history — a designation that drives much of the documentary's cultural weight.

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Production

The documentary was produced for Viaplay and directed by the trio of Christina Ehrenskjöld, Mette Pedersen, and Camilla Marie Nielsen, filmmakers with backgrounds in Danish TV documentary production. A notable element of the production is the level of access secured from the victim's inner circle: according to entertainment coverage cited around the series' release, Maria From Jakobsen's parents, sisters, and close friends speak publicly on television for the first time, making the documentary a rare opportunity to hear the victim's life and character described by those who loved her most.

This witness-led structure gives Præsten fra helvede a distinct emotional register compared with more procedural true-crime formats. Rather than centring the perpetrator, the series uses intimate testimony to reconstruct who Maria was before the crime and how those closest to her experienced the investigation and trial. Apple TV's international listing places the runtime at 54 minutes per episode, while the Viaplay distribution sheet cites 2 × 42 minutes — likely reflecting different cuts or timing conventions across platforms.

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Reception

The series generated significant attention in Denmark both for its subject matter and for the controversy it provoked. The documentary carries an IMDb rating of 6.1/10 (IMDb title ID: tt27348712), reflecting a mixed but engaged audience response.

The most pointed criticism came from an unexpected direction. Danish broadcaster TV2 published a piece prompted by Gotthard's ex-wife, in which the documentary was described as "ren aftenunderholdning" — pure evening entertainment — a charge that raised ethical questions about whether a real murder case, involving a real family still processing grief, had been packaged primarily as consumer content rather than serious journalism or memorial storytelling.

Heaven of Horror described the series as a two-part true-crime documentary and emphasised that the relatives of Maria From Jakobsen play a central role in giving the victim a voice — framing this as a meaningful counterweight to the perpetrator-focused tendency of the genre. For many Danish viewers, the series represented a rare chance to hear directly from those who knew Maria, rather than reading about the case through court documents or tabloid summaries.

The broader public reaction was shaped by the case's notoriety: multiple Danish and Scandinavian outlets have described the Gotthard murder as one of the most shocking crimes in recent Danish memory, and the documentary's release in March 2023 reignited national discussion about the case nearly two years after the conviction.

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The Case Today

Thomas Gotthard is currently serving his 15-year prison sentence. He was stripped of his clerical status following his conviction and is no longer affiliated with the Danish church. No significant legal developments — such as appeals overturning the verdict — have been reported in the period since the documentary's release.

For Maria From Jakobsen's family, the documentary appears to have served a purpose beyond public information: it offered a formal, recorded space in which to remember her on their own terms and to ensure her life was not entirely eclipsed by the manner of her death. Whether that goal was fully achieved — or whether, as critics suggested, the format ultimately serves entertainment above remembrance — remains a question the series leaves open for its audience.