Eric

Context & Trivia

Within the history of television puppetry, Eric holds a specific technical place: a seven-foot character built by the Stitches and Glue team — Paul Vincett and Becky Johnson — over roughly ten weeks between November 2022 and January 2023. Three full suits were made: two versions of the imaginary Eric who inhabits Vincent's mind, and a third representing the puppet Vincent builds for the fictional show Good Day Sunshine. The design passed through radically different phases — including a high-end silicone animatronic with multiple eyes, teeth, and horns — before settling on the classic full-body puppet aesthetic seen on screen, shaped by director Lucy Forbes and illustrator Poppy Kay.

Eric's seven-inch fur was custom-made and hand-dyed to evoke the colour palette of 1980s New York. A global shortage of the required stretch fabric forced the team to blend different textures and real sheepskin to fill the gaps. Operating the suit was a technically demanding collective effort: Olly Taylor handled the body, face, and left arm from inside, without direct sight lines — guided by goggles displaying feeds from cameras placed around the set and the main camera — while Phil remotely controlled the animatronic eyes and mouth, and Lawrence operated the ears. Benedict Cumberbatch, beyond playing Vincent on screen, also voiced Eric — deep, with a New York accent — and rehearsed alongside Taylor to synchronise the movements of both characters.

Vincett and Johnson received the Royal Television Society Craft Award for Effects – SFX and the C21 Media Drama Craft Award for their work on the series, establishing Eric as a contemporary technical landmark in the construction and performance of large-scale suit puppetry for television drama.