Filmed in 1998, this adroit BBC/WGBH-Boston production of William Shakespeare’s King Lear is of particular note for preserving Ian Holm’s celebrated stage performance in the title role. Stellar interpreters of Lear haven’t always been so fortunate. Laurence Olivier was frail and in ill health by the time he was brought before the cameras for a 1984 television adaptation. Paul Scofield was in prime form for the 1971 film version, but his powerful acting was undermined by Peter Brook’s dreary stylized direction. Orson Welles fell victim to television’s infancy in 1953 when he played Lear in an absurdly truncated 73-minute teleplay—complete with boom-mike shadows and wobbly cardboard sets—coincidentally directed by a much younger Peter Brook. When asked about the severely chopped-down script, Welles replied at the time: “The central story will still be there.