Netflix viewers left sobbing after binge-watching new psychological thriller that is a parent’s ‘worst nightmare’

Netflix viewers have admitted to being left in tears after watching a new psychological thriller series set in 1980s New York.

Each day, parents across the globe send the kids off to school with little doubt that they'll see them again in just a few hours.

But what happens if they never come back?

This a question explored in Netflix's new series starring Benedict Cumberbatch, who plays a puppeteer and the creator of a popular children’s TV programme whose son goes missing.

Cumberbatch's character slowly loses his grip on reality as he desperately tries to figure out what happened to his son - a situation which the actor described himself as every parent's 'worst nightmare' in an interview with the Metro.

It's a situation so terrifying that the actors themselves even had to find ways to try and cope with it, with Gaby Hoffmann, who plays the mom in the series, explaining how returning home at the end of the day helped her make it through the shoot.

"The very simple thing is going home at the end of the day and meeting your own children who demand that you just be there with them in that moment," she said.

Benedict Cumberbatch plays the father in the series. (Netflix)

"So that made easy work of letting it go. Anticipating it, I guess I sort of looked at it as a deep dive into the shared experience, a collective conscious experience of grief, fear, loss, more so than a specific event in the losing or potential losing of one’s child.

"And in that, I find it kind of less frightening and less potentially dangerous."

Cumberbatch agreed, saying: "Obviously, as a parent, it is your worst nightmare. I share a lot of Gabby’s thoughts about the deep dive, that’s kind of the meat and drink of what we do as storytellers.

"You carry that as work rather than a reality, and going home is obviously the real thing. So that does help."

The father loses his grip on reality after his son disappears. (Netflix)

Though the actors were able to pull themselves away from the story at the end of the day, the series, titled Eric, has succeeded in captivating viewers for hours on end as Netflix users have admitted to watching it all in one go.

"Binged it, brilliant," one person wrote on LADbible's Netflix Bangers Facebook page.

"I thought it was very powerful," added a second, while a third person wrote: "Fantastic!! Just finished it in one day."

The praise continued on X, where one fan commented: "That show Eric on Netflix is so good im crying my eyes out rn [sic]"

With the whole weekend ahead of us, Eric seems like the perfect show to pass the time. Just make sure you've got some tissues on hand.