The new six-part series follows Cumberbatch\u2019s Vincent<\/a> on a roller coaster ride of emotion as he struggles to cope with the loss of his son Edgar after he goes missing one day on his way to school.<\/p>\n But the series not only hones in on the story of Edgar, it also uses it to highlight issues relating to poverty, racism<\/a>, corruption and more.<\/p>\n Taking place in \u201980s New York<\/a>, there\u2019s certainly a realistic feel to the series as it draws stark parallels to real-life events. But is the new series based on a true story?<\/p>\n Read on to find out.<\/p>\n In short \u2013 no, Eric is not based on a true story.<\/strong><\/p>\n However, the inspiration for the series as a whole comes from creator Abi Morgan\u2019s own experiences of working in New York, encountering cases of missing children both in the UK and US and wanting to bring that to life on the screen.<\/p>\n Chatting exclusively to RadioTimes.com<\/a> about whether or not the series is based on real-life events, Morgan said: \u201cWell, I mean, weirdly actually, I think growing up in the UK in the \u201980s, I remember being haunted by those stories of children who had gone missing, and then when I went to New York, I looked after a young boy in New York in the mid-\u201980s.<\/p>\n \u201cWhile I was out there, I saw the milk carton kids and the missing persons. So that has always been very haunting.\u201d<\/p>\n The detailed nature of not only Edgar\u2019s case but also Marlon Rochelle\u2019s plays out in a chilling way the further we get into the series, so were either of their cases based on a real-life case?<\/p>\n Morgan explained:\u00a0\u201cI don\u2019t think it was ever based on one specific case, but I think in choosing to go back to that time, I wanted to go back to that very vivid period in history where, obviously, there were those cases.<\/p>\n \u201cBut in many ways, it was more a kind of shout-out to those cities where kids can go missing. At the heart of the show is Vincent\u2019s belief that \u2018I want to live in a world where a child goes out into the world and can come home safe\u2019.<\/p>\n \u201cI guess that\u2019s the kind of callout at the centre of the show, is that we all want to live in that world \u2013 but unfortunately, there are monsters in the most surprising places.<\/p>\n \u201cI guess that\u2019s what\u2019s at the heart of Eric, this quest for a father to find his son, but also a man who\u2019s then having to explore the monsters in himself and the city he\u2019s grown up in.\u201d<\/p> In the Netflix production notes for the series, Morgan also told the streamer about the research she did around the time period of the \u201980s, but also the research conducted around things such as AIDS, homelessness and institutional racism.<\/p>\n Morgan said: \u201cIt was an extraordinary period. At that time, [American businessman] William Koch was in some ways quite a radical who believed in New York. He did a lot of good but also it was a time where there was a lot of fear and anger within New York itself.<\/p>\n \u201cA lot of the systems were breaking down, and there were a lot of strikes, particularly around garbage collection. There were also examples of corruption within City Hall and within the NYPD system. What I\u2019m asking is, 40 years on, has anything really changed? You can find parallels within the Met Police in the UK, in many ways.<\/p>\n \u201cI displaced it to another time, to another city, but I think it\u2019s endemic to any city anywhere. There was a lot of research, and the thing about a show like this is, I do a level of it and I love doing that, so hopefully it becomes the blueprint and point of inspiration, but it\u2019s a massive collaboration.\u201d<\/p>\n Morgan also spoke of some other cinematic inspirations for the series, saying: \u201cI\u2019m hugely admiring of the kind of films of the \u201870s and \u201880s, everything from Taxi Driver to Kramer vs Kramer, that are set in New York and are homage to those cities with brilliant characters at the heart. I was very inspired by that.\u201d<\/p>\n Ledroit\u2019s character in particular is one of the focal points of the series, and we follow the detective as he is faced with Edgar\u2019s case but is also battling his own suspicions around what is happening at The Lux.<\/p>\n We eventually come to see that his suspicions are correct and he uncovers the tragic truth about what happened to Marlon, but in wanting to speak up, there was also an unspeakable risk of increased attention around his own identity as a gay officer in the NYPD.<\/p>\n Speaking about the truth behind the role, actor McKinley Belcher III told RadioTimes.com<\/strong>: \u201cI think he\u2019s very much living in that world where he is othered in so many ways, and that comes with a kind of weight, this sort of managing of how much of yourself can you reveal at any one moment.<\/p>\n \u201cI think to have found the love that he has in that apartment and to feel so safe in that regard, to step out into a world that feels far more hostile and which you\u2019re constantly being measured and having to sort of bump up against all these ideas of what it is to be queer, the ways in which that\u2019s been weaponised in the \u201980s because of the AIDS epidemic and people\u2019s fear.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s all delicious as an actor to unpack and hold the mirror up, as we say, and say, \u2018This is the truth of who we were at that time.\u2019 A lot of those things are still at play now. So, I think it\u2019s important to reflect that and unpack what that would feel like, and what it means for the ways in which our world has been layered with all of this stigma.\u201d<\/p>\n Of course, another highlight of the show is the titular blue seven-foot tall character of Eric, the puppet that follows Vincent around like an extension of his psyche. While we know the puppet isn\u2019t based on one thing in particular, it is emblematic of the children\u2019s TV shows of the \u201980s.<\/p>\n Filmmaker, theatrical director, designer and puppeteer Raymond Carr served as puppet captain on Eric and said: \u201cFor American audiences who grew up with this children\u2019s television, Eric is going to have a familiarity that is going to be exciting and fun.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s not a carbon copy of anything that you\u2019ve seen before. It\u2019s not a historical recreation, but at the same time, it feels inspired by all that this era is.\u201d<\/p>\n Eric is available to stream on Netflix<\/a> now. Sign up for Netflix from \u00a34.99 a month<\/a>. Netflix is also available on\u00a0Sky Glass<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Virgin Media Stream<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n Check out more of our\u00a0Drama<\/a>\u00a0coverage or visit our\u00a0TV Guide<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Streaming Guide<\/a>\u00a0to find out what\u2019s on.\u00a0<\/strong>For more from the biggest stars in TV, listen to\u00a0The Radio Times Podcast<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p> <\/body><\/html>\n The new Netflix series follows two cases of missing children, but is it based on real-life events? <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":52356,"template":"","categories":[1,5],"acf":[],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2024\/05\/is-eric-based-on-a-true-story-creator-unpacks-vivid-history-that-inspired-series.jpg",2048,1366,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2024\/05\/is-eric-based-on-a-true-story-creator-unpacks-vivid-history-that-inspired-series-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2024\/05\/is-eric-based-on-a-true-story-creator-unpacks-vivid-history-that-inspired-series-300x200.jpg",300,200,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2024\/05\/is-eric-based-on-a-true-story-creator-unpacks-vivid-history-that-inspired-series-768x512.jpg",768,512,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2024\/05\/is-eric-based-on-a-true-story-creator-unpacks-vivid-history-that-inspired-series-1024x683.jpg",800,534,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2024\/05\/is-eric-based-on-a-true-story-creator-unpacks-vivid-history-that-inspired-series-1536x1025.jpg",1536,1025,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2024\/05\/is-eric-based-on-a-true-story-creator-unpacks-vivid-history-that-inspired-series.jpg",2048,1366,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"The new Netflix series follows two cases of missing children, but is it based on real-life events?","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/52355"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/52356"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=52355"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=52355"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Is Eric based on a true story?<\/strong><\/h2>\n
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