Set in the fictional present, King Lear presides over a totalitarian military dictatorship in England. When the aging king abdicates in favour of his two corrupt, toadying daughters, rejecting his loving, honest one, disaster looms. From the producer of BECOMING JANE, HOWARD'S END, HAMLET and MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING and the acclaimed director of IRIS and NOTES ON A SCANDAL comes BBC's event film of the year based on WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE's eternal and hard-hitting tragedy KING LEAR featuring Britain's heavyweight talent which includes 2 time Oscar Winner ANTHONY HOPKINS (The Father, The Silence of the Lambs), 2 time Oscar Winner EMMA THOMPSON (Love Actually, Sense & Sensibility), Academy Award nominee EMILY WATSON (Chernobyl, Breaking the Waves) and FLORENCE PUGH (Marvel's Black Widow, Midsommar).