Unhinged Vincent does what any puppeteer would – he brings the seven-foot monster to life to help him in his search. The puppet master’s volatile behaviour drives him further over the edge, and further away from his family and the detectives investigating the disappearance. Here are some of the reasons we think Netflix has a hit on their hands:

1. Cumberbatch goes back to type

These roles are all very well, but they’re not the kind of parts that first brought Cumberbatch to the public consciousness. Many of his early stand-out performances have a distinct common theme: they feature the actor playing a socially awkward genius, driven by a singular and all-encompassing purpose.

Cumberbatch had his big global breakthrough in 2010 in the BBC’s acclaimed hit Sherlock. His version of the fabled detective was almost devoid of any understanding of social norms or polite human behaviour, but possessed an off-the-scale ability to coldly analyse every clue or situation in single-minded pursuit of the solution to the puzzle at hand. He amassed an Emmy win and three other nominations, as well as three Bafta nods for best actor over four series in the role.

The Julian Assange biopic The Fifth Estate (2013) was less widely acclaimed, but the criticism was largely reserved for Bill Condon’s direction. Cumberbatch’s performance was almost universally praised, with Newsday’s Rafer Guzmán writing: “And the award for Best Actor in a Disappointing Movie goes to … Benedict Cumberbatch.” The character? A man utterly driven and convinced of his own messianic status as the sole arbiter of journalistic truth.

Then there’s 2014’s The Imitation Game. Cumberbatch won his first Oscar nomination for his portrayal of Alan Turing, the mathematical mastermind who, despite only living to the age of 41, contributed to the ending of the Second World War and built the prototype for the modern computer into his short life, all thanks to his obsessive devotion to numbers.

Predating all of these and less well known, but landing Cumberbatch his first Bafta nomination nonetheless, is 2004’s Hawking. This TV movie chronicled physicist Stephen Hawking’s relentless search for the beginning of time.

There’s a definite theme emerging here, and it doesn’t seem too fanciful to hope that his portrayal of a genius puppeteer, laser-focused on the quest to find his missing son with the help of his puppets, could reach the same heights as these previous portrayals of obsessively driven intellectual giants.

2. The self-aware puppets!

There simply aren’t enough movies and shows about puppets out there, at least not once you graduate preschool. Puppets do frequently appear on screen, but usually they’re part of the special effects department – whether they’re terrifying monsters or lovable aliens on the hunt for a payphone, we’re generally meant to believe that they are something else rather than puppets.

Puppets that actually admit to being puppets are rare on screen, but frequently very good. Team America: World Police, Being John Malkovich and The Muppets are all tales where there’s no pretending the puppets are anything but that – they’re puppets and proud. And they’re all fantastic. Even the much-maligned Happytime Murders successfully pulls off the tricky feat of landing squarely in “so bad it’s good” territory.

If Eric can stay true to this tradition of glorious tales featuring self-aware puppets, we should be in for a treat.

3. Cumberbatch’s voice work gets to shine

It’s exciting to learn that Cumberbatch will be voicing his puppet buddy in Eric – the actor has impressive form for entertaining when it comes to voice-over work.

His performance as Smaug the dragon in Peter Jackson’s Hobbit trilogy was a masterclass in thespian overindulgence. The actor insisted on being kitted out in full motion capture suit and slithering around on the floor to record his voice parts – even though the film’s dragon was being largely animated by hand. Still, if that’s what it takes to get into character …

Less overblown, but still pitch perfect, is his delivery for the Letters Live series: seek out Cumberbatch’s reading of a hotel apology note from a Canadian man who inadvertently filled his room with dozens of diarrhoea-stricken seagulls for a bizarre high point.

Even when the star gets it hopelessly wrong, there’s no denying that his work remains undeniably entertaining. His repeated mispronunciation of the word “penguins” on the BBC’s 2009 wildlife documentary South Pacific is still laughed about today – we’re introduced to “penwings”, “penlings”, “penglings”, almost anything except penguins. Unintentional? Yes. Hysterical? Also yes.

4. The show notes say it all

A quick scan through Eric’s production notes drops a further hint that we should be prepared for some quality TV. The show is created by Bafta and Emmy Award winner Abi Morgan, and Lucy Forbes (This Is Going To Hurt, The End of the F***ing World) directs.

Morgan said of her latest creation: “Eric is a deep dive into the 80s Big Apple, grappling with rising crime rates, internal corruption, endemic racism, a forgotten underclass, and the Aids epidemic, exposing the divisions rife between parents searching for their child, a detective battling with a system that is broken, and a lost boy who may never come home, and asks where the real monsters lie. With puppets … lots of puppets.”

5. Just one more thing. OK, two …

Watching the trailer, two other things struck us. Firstly, the Eric puppet bears a striking resemblance to The Gruffalo, and nobody ever said a bad word about The Gruffalo.

Secondly, the trailer is soundtracked by a menacing, indie-electro-tinged cover of Abba classic “SOS”. Of course, you can’t judge a film by its soundtrack, but the last time we heard a roughed-up cover of “SOS” on a soundtrack was when Portishead’s take on the song closed Ben Wheatley’s borderline-certifiable adaptation of J.G. Ballard’s High-Rise.

The bar is set high, and if Eric can even get close to it, Netflix will have a hit on its hands.