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British Board of Film Classification

The British Board of Film Classification (BBFC),[1] previously the British Board of Film Censors, is a non-governmental organisation founded by the British film industry in 1912 and responsible for the national classification and censorship of films exhibited at cinemas and video works (such as television programmes, trailers, adverts, public information/campaigning films, menus, bonus content, etc.) released on physical media within the United Kingdom.[2][3] It has a statutory requirement to classify all video works released on VHS, DVD, Blu-ray (including 3D and 4K UHD formats), and, to a lesser extent, some video games under the Video Recordings Act 1984.[4] The BBFC was also the designated regulator for the UK age-verification scheme, which was abandoned before being implemented.[5][6]

"BBFC" redirects here. For other uses, see BBFC (disambiguation).

Formation

1912 (1912)

3 Soho Square, London, W1D 3HD, England

United Kingdom

David Austin

  • The Incorporated Association of Kinematograph Manufacturers, Limited (1911–1985)
  • The British Board of Film Classification (1985–2003)[1]

Depictions of cruelty and harassment based on race, gender, sexual orientation, or mental or physical disability, and/or

discrimination

Adult and situations that may be considered too distressing for younger or more sensitive viewers

themes

Offensive language (i.e. and use of racial and ethnic slurs)

profanity

in a sexual context

Nudity

(including scenes of sexual activity and spoken/visual references to sex)

Sexual content

Violence

Gore and injury detail

(particularly rape and forced disrobing)

Sexual violence

Dangerous actions that can easily be imitated by younger, more naive viewers (certain combat moves [ear-claps, headbutts, and neck-breaking] in particular)

All visual and verbal references to suicide, particularly if it involves hanging oneself or slashing one's wrists

Detailed criminal acts, such as breaking into a house using a credit card to jimmy the lock or hotwiring a car

Actions that result in injury or death in real life, but are almost always shown in the media (especially on shows aimed at younger audiences, such as cartoons) with no negative consequences, such as hiding in appliances that can trap and kill small children (i.e. tumble driers and old refrigerators), ingesting or misusing common household chemicals, or creating dangerous objects from common household items (such as a flamethrower from an aerosol can and a cigarette lighter)

Scenes of horror, threat, and danger and their intensity on audience members

Drug abuse being condoned or glamorised

The BBFC's current guidelines identify a number of specific areas considered when awarding certificates or requiring cuts:


The BBFC also continues to demand cuts of any material it believes breaches the provisions of the Obscene Publications Act or any other legislation (most notably the Cinematograph Films (Animals) Act 1937 [which forbids the depiction of animals being abused or in distress] and the Protection of Children Act 1978 [which, as amended, forbids the depiction of minors engaged in sex or in sexually suggestive poses or situations]). In 2009, 2% of cinema films had material cut, and 3.6% of videos. Most cuts actually occur in videos rated for 18 or R18, rather than videos intended for viewing by under-18s. In 2009, 16.8% of 18 videos, and 27.3% of R18 videos, had material cut.[59]


There is no theme or subject matter considered inherently unsuitable for classification at any level, although more controversial topics may drive a movie to be given a more restrictive rating. This is in keeping with current practice in most liberal democracies, but in sharp contrast to the early days of the BBFC in which such adult themes as prostitution, incest, and the relations of capital and labour were unacceptable regardless of the rating.


"'Adult" or "strong" language can earn a film a more restrictive certificate, though BBFC policy states that there are no constraints on language use in films awarded an 18 certificate. It is difficult to compare the BBFC's policies in this area with those in other countries as there are different taboos regarding profanity in other languages and indeed in other English-speaking countries. For example, the use of "strong" language has little effect on a film's classification in France. The BBFC's policy proved particularly controversial in the case of Ken Loach's Sweet Sixteen in 2002, which was passed uncut only at 18 certificate, even though its main characters were teenagers who frequently used profanities that the director argued were typical of the social group his film depicted. The film received similar certificates in Ireland (also an 18 certificate) and the United States. Shane Meadows' film This Is England was also passed uncut only at 18 due to its repeated use of racist terms, and the climactic scene where Combo becomes irate and pummels his friend Milky while insulting him. On the other hand, some films feature strong language but nevertheless do not carry particularly restrictive certificates. The King's Speech was passed for a 12A rating despite its repeated use of the word "fuck" in two scenes, which would normally raise the rating to a 15 certificate; the BBFC justified its decision, saying that the profanity was "in a speech therapy context". As of November 2021, the word "nigger" should not be classified lower than 12 unless in an educational or historical context.[67]


There are minimal restrictions of the depiction of non-sexual nudity, which is allowed in even U and PG certificate films (for example, The Simpsons Movie—which was given a PG-13 rating in the US – was given a PG certificate in the UK, leaving the sequence where Bart skateboards naked through town and his genitals are shown through an open space in a hedge unedited),[68] but scenes of (simulated) sexual activity are limited to more restricted certificates. With regard to material that is intended primarily as pornographic the Board's policy, as stated on its website is "Material which appears to be simulated is generally passed "18", while images of real sex are confined to the "R18" category." However, for some years depictions of real sex have been allowed in 18-certificate videos intended as educational and, relatively recently, a number of works such as Patrice Chéreau's Intimacy (2001) and Michael Winterbottom's 9 Songs (2004), which feature apparently unsimulated sex have been passed uncut for theatrical release.


Violence remains one of the most problematic areas for censorship in the UK, especially when it is in conjunction with sex or likely to sway more impressionable viewers into thinking the violence depicted is "glamorous" or "fun" and "risk-free." However, the Board takes into account issues of context and whether it considers scenes of sexual violence to "eroticise" or "endorse" sexual assault. In 2002, the board passed Gaspar Noé's Irréversible uncut, but less than a month later cut Takashi Miike's Ichi the Killer by three and a quarter minutes to remove scenes of sexual violence. A Serbian Film (2010) suffered forty-nine individual cuts by the BBFC, which totalled four minutes and eleven seconds of cuts. The cuts were made to remove "portrayals of children in a sexualised or abusive context and images of sexual and sexualised violence which have a tendency to eroticise or endorse the behaviour" as the Board's website states.


Criminal and dangerous acts that can be easily imitated, as well as scenes condoning, glamorising, or showing clear instruction of how to abuse drugs have also been the subject of UK editing. The issue of depicting dangerous acts that can easily be imitated in real life is one that does not seem to figure especially highly in the censorship systems of most other countries (though the US has done this on occasion, often as the result of public backlash, as seen on the MTV shows Beavis and Butt-head and Jackass). In the UK, numerous minor cuts have been made, primarily to films whose distributors want a PG or 12A certificate, to scenes of characters performing acts that would be considered dangerous, criminal, or harmful if done in real life. For example, in 2006, issues involving suicide by hanging became problematic; The Ren & Stimpy Show Series 1 DVD set (classified PG) was edited to remove the song "The Lord Loves a Hangin'" because the song implied that hanging is "comedic, fun, and risk-free".[69] Paranoia Agent Volume 3 DVD set (classified 18) was also cut to remove the depiction of a child nearly hanging herself for the same reason.[70]


The requirement to have films classified and censored can cost film producers up to thousands of pounds. The North West New Wave, a blanket term recently used by both film makers and local press to describe independent filmmakers in the Northwest of England, is currently campaigning for the introduction of a voluntary 'Unrated 18' classification in the UK.[71]


On 6 June 2011, the BBFC refused a classification for the horror film The Human Centipede II. The previous film in the series was passed uncut at 18, but due to a shift in context and focus, the BBFC judged that the sequel could fall foul of the Obscene Publications Act.[72] The film was eventually passed 18 after cuts were made.[73]

(1 January 1913 – 12 November 1916)

George A. Redford

(11 December 1916 – 18 November 1929) (died in office)

T. P. O'Connor

(21 November 1929 – 10 November 1935)

Edward Shortt

(25 November 1935 – 22 March 1948)

William Tyrrell, 1st Baron Tyrrell

(31 March 1948 – June 1960)

Sir Sidney Harris

(June 1960 – 6 March 1965)

Herbert Morrison, Baron Morrison of Lambeth

(21 July 1965 – 26 January 1985) (died in office)

David Ormsby-Gore, 5th Baron Harlech

(June 1985 – 18 December 1997)

George Lascelles, 7th Earl of Harewood

(18 December 1997 – 1 August 2002)

Andreas Whittam Smith

(1 August 2002 – 17 October 2012)

Sir Quentin Thomas

(17 October 2012 – 17 October 2022)[74]

Patrick Swaffer

(17 October 2022 – present)[75]

Natasha Kaplinsky

Censorship in the United Kingdom

Film censorship in the United Kingdom

History of British film certificates

List of films banned in the United Kingdom

Motion Picture Association film rating system

Press Complaints Commission

Proposed UK Internet age verification system

Aldgate, Anthony (1995). . Clarendon Press. ISBN 9780198112419.

Censorship and the Permissive Society: British Cinema and Theatre, 1955-1965

Baron, Saskia (writer and director) Empire of the Censors – two-part TV documentary, pc. Barraclough Carey, prod. Paul Kerr, BBC2, tx. 28 & 29 May 1995

Knowles, Dorothy (1934). The Censor, the Drama and the Film. London: George Allen & Unwin.

Hunnings, Neville March (1967). Film Censors and the Law. London: Allen & Unwin.

Lamberti, Edward, ed. (2012). Behind the Scenes at the BBFC: Film Classification from the Silver Screen to the Digital Age. London: British Film Institute/Palgrave Macmillan.

Mathews, Tom Dewe (1994). Censored. London: Chatto & Windus.

Petrie, Duncan J. (1991). . Palgrave MacMillan. ISBN 978-1-349-21473-0.

Creativity And Constraint In The British Film Industry

Richards, Jeffrey (1981). "The British Board of Film Censors and Content Control in the 1930s". Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television. 1 (2): 95–116. :10.1080/01439688100260101.

doi

Richards, Jeffrey (1982). "The British Board of Film Censors and Content Control in the 1930s". Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television. 2 (1): 39–48. :10.1080/01439688200260031.

doi

Robertson, James Crighton (1982). "British Film Censorship Goes to War". Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television. 2 (1): 49–64. :10.1080/01439688200260041.

doi

Robertson, James Crighton (1985). The British Board of Film Censors: Film Censorship in Britain, 1896–1950. London: Croom Helm.

Robertson, James Crighton (1993). The Hidden Cinema: British Film Censorship in Action 1913–72. London: Routledge.  978-0-415-09034-6.

ISBN

Wood, Leslie (1947). . London: Burke Publishing Co.

The Miracle of the Movies

BBFC homepage

: Article by Nigel Watson about film censorship issues accompanied by classroom activities for students

Talking Pictures website