Pulling STRINGS

BENEDICT CUMBERBATCH on starring with a life-size monster puppet in a New York-set chiller

- REBECCA MAHONEY

ERIC FROM THURSDAY 30 MAY, NETFLIX THRILLER

Benedict Cumberbatch has worked alongside some big stars in his time, but perhaps none quite so huge– or as fluffy! – as the towering monster puppet in new Netflix thriller Eric.

Written by Abi Morgan (The Hour, The Split), the six-part story is set in mid-1980s New York, and sees Sherlock star Benedict play Vincent Anderson, a revered puppeteer and host of a hugely popular kids’ TV show, Good Day Sunshine.

But Vincent’s superficially perfect life is shattered when his nine-year-old son, Edgar (newcomer Ivan Howe), goes missing on the way to school.

Consumed with guilt, the desperate dad grows increasingly volatile and alienates those around him, including his distraught wife, Cassie (Girls star Gaby Hoffmann), and the cop investigating Edgar’s disappearance, Detective Michael Ledroit (Ozark’s McKinley Belcher III).

Then, when Vincent discovers his son’s sketches of a big blue monster puppet called Eric, he fixates on a plan to get Eric on TV, hoping it will convince Edgar to come home.

Here, BAFTA-winning actor Benedict, 47, gives us his take on the project…

What initially attracted you to this unusual thriller?

The minute writer Abi Morgan started pitching it to me, I was hooked. She’s an incredible storyteller, and she enticed me into this complex, multifaceted and troubled character’s journey, as well as the central conceit of the psychological split whereby Vincent’s creation of an imagined puppet becomes a reality. It felt very original.