Oscar nominee Benedict Cumberbatch work in the upcoming Netflix series Eric opposite a big blue monster puppet got him particularly emotional though, the star shared in London.

My Oscar book:

“We had this fantastic operator Olly and his team creating this incredible life-size — for a monster — thing,” he said in surprise appearance on stage at the Next on Netflix showcase in central London.

“It was fantastic. Those guys really know what they’re doing. And there was so much humor in what he was doing, which totally might not work through the whole piece, but at times, it’s going to be great. And he was very inventive.”

Cumberbatch’s takeaway: “It’s a miraculous skill. So we formed a very close bond.”

Set in 1980s New York, Netflix describes Eric, which co-stars Gaby Hoffman and Ivan Howe, as an “emotional thriller” from Abi Morgan.

It follows “the desperate search of a father (Vincent, played by Cumberbatch) when his son Edgar, age 9, disappears one morning on the way to school.”

Vincent is “one of New York’s leading puppeteers and creator of the hugely popular children’s television show, ‘Good Day Sunshine,’” and he “struggles to cope with the loss of his son.”

Vincent becomes increasingly distressed and volatile, according to the show description. “Full of self-loathing and guilt around Edgar’s disappearance, he clings to his son’s drawings of a blue monster puppet, Eric, convinced that if he can get Eric on TV, then Edgar will come home.

As Vincent’s progressively destructive behavior alienates his family, his work colleagues and the detectives trying to help him, it’s Eric, a delusion of necessity, who becomes his only ally in the pursuit to bring his son home.”