What's up with the Big Blue Monster?

A review of Eric on Netflix

Regardless of what you might think of the quality of output from the big streamers over the last few years, it’s still where the big viewing figures are for drama. In a recent publication of the most watched new TV fiction (sorry, I can’t link because I can’t find the tweet - but it had a graphic, so it must have been legit), the BBC and ITV were nowhere to be seen. And Eric, the new Netflix thriller from the pen of Abi Morgan, flawed, overlong, silly, was very firmly in that top 10.

That may be obvious, but a few years ago when I interviewed Morgan about her brilliant non-fiction book, This Is Not A Pity Memoir, something she said stuck in my mind. I had pushed her on whether she had considered writing other books, maybe even a novel? She certainly displayed the skills of an excellent storyteller in her book (and of course it is her major strength as a screenwriter). She said, in all humility, that promoting her book had been an eye-opener. She said, (something along the lines of) her publisher was cock-a-hoop if she sold seventy books at a signing. Yet, she was used to millions of viewers.

A hit Netflix show is a step up even for Morgan, who has a reputation for supremely crafted boundary-pushing TV drama (as well as being a successful writer for film and stage). And with Eric, she is perhaps even the beneficiary of the famous creative freedom show creators are given. And that is perhaps where Eric comes in to Eric.