The short answer is no, it’s not.
While some publications have claimed the series was inspired by the case of Etan Patz, a six-year-old who went missing on his way to school in 1979 New York, the show’s creator Abi Morgan has explained that Eric was rather inspired by several missing person cases she came across in the UK and US.
“It wasn’t based on any one story,” Morgan told [USA Today](https://eu.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/tv/2024/05/31/eric-netflix-ending-explained/73877421007/#:~:text=Is ‘Eric’ based on a,gone deep into that story.”) “I think if I’d wanted to do that, I would have really gone deep into that story.”
In an interview with RadioTimes, Morgan also explained “Well, I mean, weirdly actually, I think growing up in the UK in the ’80s, I remember being haunted by those stories of children who had gone missing, and then when I went to New York, I looked after a young boy in New York in the mid-’80s. While I was out there, I saw the milk carton kids and the missing persons. So that has always been very haunting.”
Speaking to Tudum, Morgan also referenced her experience working as a nanny in 1980s New York as source of inspiration, with it being a time when the AIDS epidemic was unfolding and homophobia was prominent.
“When I first arrived, I stayed in this really run-down hostel and it was this strange place filled with international backpackers, low-income families, and drug addicts.”
While Eric might not be directly based on one particular case, the motifs of racism, homophobia and homelessness that it addresses are relevant even today.
Eric is available to watch on Netflix now.