Last month we attended an early red carpet for the BBC’s new adaptation of William Shakespeare’s King Lear.

The new adaptation stars Sir Anthony Hopkins, Florence Pugh, Emma Thompson, Emily Watson, Jim Broadbent, Andrew Scott and John Macmillan. It is directed by Richard Eyre, who previously directed the play on TV in 1998.

Blurb time: Set in the fictional present, King Lear sees Academy® Award winner Anthony Hopkins (The Dresser, Nixon, Silence of the Lambs) as the eponymous ruler, presiding over a totalitarian military dictatorship in England. Academy® Award and BAFTA® Award winner Emma Thompson (The Children Act, The Remains of the Day, Sense and Sensibility) stars as his oldest daughter Goneril.  Academy® Award nominee and BAFTA® Award winner Emily Watson (Theory of EverythingGenius) stars as his middle daughter Regan, and BAFTA® nominee Florence Pugh (Lady Macbeth, Marcella) as Cordelia, the youngest of Lear’s children.

Academy® Award and BAFTA® Award winner Jim Broadbent (Iris, Game of Thrones) is the Earl of Gloucester, with BAFTA® Award winner Andrew Scott (Sherlock, The Hollow Crown) as his loyal son Edgar and John Macmillan (Hanna, Chewing Gum) as his illegitimate son Edmund.

Emmy® Award nominated Jim Carter (Downton Abbey, Cranford) is the Earl of Kent, with Emmy® Award winner Christopher Eccleston (The Leftovers, Thor: The Dark World) as Oswald, and Golden Globe® nominee Tobias Menzies (Outlander, The Terror) as the Duke of Cornwall. Anthony Calf (New Tricks, Riviera) plays the Duke of Albany and Karl Johnson (Wittgenstein, Rome) is Lear’s loyal jester the Fool.

King Lear will air on BBC Two on the 28th of May. Scott Davis and Colin Hart were on the carpet, here’s how they got on.

BBC King Lear Premiere Interviews