With Baby Reindeer still in the headlines having become one of the biggest TV shows so far this year, we’ve been waiting for the next bingeworthy psychological thriller to sink into- and Netflix, as always, looks like it has an answer.
Benedict Cumberbatch is leading their new miniseries Eric, which debuts next week on 30th May, following the story of a puppeteer living in New York who goes on a desperate search to find his missing son with the help of his puppet- and it certainly seems as odd as it sounds.
What is Eric about?
The Doctor Strange and Sherlock star plays Vincent, a dad who lives life in 1980s New York City, and created a highly successful kids’ TV show called Good Day Sunshine. He uses his skill at puppeteering to create magic for the legions of children who tune in, but falls into his own personal turmoil when his own son, Edgar (Ivan Howe), suddenly vanishes. An abduction is suspected, and while Vincent may be a hero for millions of kids with his puppetry, he quietly feels guilt for the fact that he hasn’t been a particularly good father to his son, nor his wife Cassie (Caby Hoffman). This volatile personality drives him to try to set out and find Edgar, but it seems he’s not entirely grounded in reality, beginning to hallucinate things and acting more and more erratically.
The show’s title comes from Eric, a seven-foot-tall puppet character that Edgar has drawn and Vincent creates in his mind. As he heads into the often dangerous and unpredictable streets of ’80s NYC accompanied by Eric, he’ll have to battle his inner demons to bring his son and himself home safely. Along the way, he meets Detective Michael Ledroit (McKinley Belcher III), a leading missing persons detective who must balance his duties with his values and opposition to how the NYPD operates. He also keeps his sexuality and relationship with William (Mark Gillis) under the surface, an element that comes into play during the story. Meanwhile, we also meet Vincent’s close friend Lennie (Dan Fogler), also a puppeteer, and has bonded with Edgar before his disappearance.
Wearing glasses and sporting a beard, Cumberbatch looks quite different from his usual roles, and given his assistant in the investigation is a massive blue puppet, Eric is likely quite different from your usual psychological mystery-thriller. All episodes of the miniseries will be dropping on Netflix on 30th May.
