Sumith Prasad
In Netflix’s crime drama series ‘Eric,’ Edgar Anderson is a student of St. Edith’s Elementary School. The nine-year-old disappears without a trace on his way to the same school. When Edgar goes missing, his parents, Vincent and Cassandra Anderson, address the press at the institution as well. St. Edith’s is a significant NYC landmark as far as the narrative of the show is concerned. Michael Ledroit, who investigates the disappearance, also finds a significant clue concerning the possible kidnapper after visiting the establishment. However, if one traces the educational institution’s origin, the school will not be found on the real streets of New York City!
The Fictional St. Edith’s
St. Edith’s is a fictional elementary school that exists only in ‘Eric.’ In reality, there are several educational institutions with similar names. The one that resembles the establishment in the crime drama series the most is St. Edith Catholic School. However, the institution is located in Livonia, a city in Michigan, located around six hundred miles away from New York City. As far as the schools in the Big Apple are concerned, there is an elementary school named The Edith K. Bergtraum School in Queens.
The school in Queens is not connected to St. Edith’s since the former is named after a prominent figure in the city’s educational system who was a part of the New York City Board of Education rather than a saint. Abi Morgan, who created the series, must have conceived the school upon learning about children who went missing on their way to school. The screenwriter’s prominent inspiration behind the crime drama was her experiences as an NYC resident during the 1980s. “While I was out there [New York City], I saw the milk carton kids and the missing persons. So that has always been very haunting,” Morgan told Radio Times.
Etan Patz was one of the first children to be featured in a milk carton, as Morgan remembers. Like Edgar, Etan also disappeared on his way to his school in SoHo, Manhattan, in 1979. He was studying at The John Melser Charrette School in Greenwich Village, Manhattan, at the time. Throughout the 1980s, Etan remained in the spotlight, and it is possible Morgan must have encountered the particular life story during her stay in the same city during the same period. Other than this similarity, St. Edith’s doesn’t have any connection to reality or New York City.
Even though the show is set in New York City, the interior scenes in ‘Eric’ were mainly shot in Korda Studios and Astra Film Studio, two production facilities located in Budapest, Hungary. Therefore, it is safe to conclude that the press conference scenes set in St. Edith’s were also most likely shot in one of these studios rather than in New York City.
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