Opening Lines - King Lear - Episode One
Download King Lear - Episode One
John Yorke looks at King Lear, the brutal tragedy that some claim is Shakespeare’s greatest achievement.
When Lear, the 80 year old king of ancient Britain, decides that the time has come to divide his kingdom among his three daughters, he unwittingly sets in motion a catastrophic chain of events that will tear apart both his family and his realm. In this first of two episodes, the focus is on the fractured relationship between Lear and his daughters – Goneril, Regan and Cordelia – and on the subplot that involves the breakdown of another family. This comprises the Duke of Gloucester and his two sons Edmund and Edgar. In both cases the fathers are incapable of seeing which child is deceiving them and which child is loyal and truly loves them.
John has worked in television and radio for 30 years, and shares his experience with Radio 4 listeners as he unpacks the themes and impact of the books, plays and stories that are being dramatized in BBC Radio 4’s Sunday Drama series. As former Head of Channel Four Drama and Controller of BBC Drama Production he has worked on some of the most popular shows in Britain - from EastEnders to The Archers, Life on Mars to Shameless. As creator of the BBC Writers Academy he's trained a generation of screenwriters - now with over 70 green lights and thousands of hours of television to their names. He is the author of Into the Woods, the bestselling book on narrative, and he writes, teaches and consults on all forms of narrative, including many podcasts for Radio 4.
Contributors:
Sir Richard Eyre, directed an award-winning production of King Lear, starring Ian Holm, at the National Theatre in 1997 and another production for BBC television, with Anthony Hopkins in the lead role, in 2018.
Dr Genevieve von Lob, clinical psychologist who specialises in family therapy.
Emma Smith, Professor of Shakespeare Studies and Tutorial Fellow at Hertford College, Oxford. She is the author of books including This Is Shakespeare: How to Read the World’s Greatest Playwright.
Excerpt taken from the BBC Radio 3/Renaissance Theatre Company production of King Lear, directed by Glyn Dearman and first broadcast on Radio 3 on 10th April 1994.
Sound: Sean Kerwin
Music: Torquil MacLeod
Researcher: Henry Tydeman
Production Coordinator: Nina Semple
Producer: Torquil MacLeod
Executive Producer: Sara Davies
A Pier production for BBC Radio 4
Published on Sunday, 8th June 2025.
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