I thought it would be interesting talking to someone from the British Board of Film Classification to find out what they stand for, and what exactly they do, so I asked Sarah Peacock, Compliance Manager at the BBFC about the organisation.
1) When was the BBFC founded, and why? What was the exact catalyst? Who were the original founders?
The origins of the BBFC lay in Health and Safety concerns: early film stock, and limelight which was used in projecting early films, were both fire hazards, and the Cinematograph Act 1909 requires local authorities to ensure safety in cinemas. From this, Local Authorities started also to impose their own, widely varying, censorship standards on films. In response to this, the film industry set up the BBFC (named originally the British Board of Film Censors) to give uniform film classification to all films in the UK. In 1984 we changed our name to the British Board of Film Classification, to reflect the greater emphasis on classification in our work.
2) What exactly does the BBFC do? The BBFC is independent and not-for-profit with over 100 years’ experience. We’re here to help everyone in the UK choose age-appropriate films, videos and websites, wherever and however they watch or use them. We have been classifying films and giving them age ratings since 1912. Since the mid-1980s, when Parliament passed the Video Recordings Act 1984 (VRA), we have classified every video released in the UK on physical formats (such as VHS, DVD and Blu-ray), with the exception of those videos that can be considered exempt from classification under the terms of the VRA.9 Since 2008, we have also been helping the home entertainment industry encourage the use of our age ratings for video on demand (VoD) services in the UK. There’s no obligation for VoD services or distributors making content available online to obtain and display ratings. But many choose to use them as they recognise our ability to rate content effectively and understand that the public trust our ratings. We support them in doing this to help ensure that families have the best possible advice when choosing what to watch. And the services we offer are continually evolving. For example, we provide age ratings for music videos online and helping mobile phone operators set parental controls at the right level. We continue to develop services to help give children protection online as well as offline, and continue to help everyone – children, families and adults – choose well.
3) I think I recall that you are a voluntary organisation. Does this mean that the certifications that you award for movies legally binding or viewer/retailer discretion? Statutory powers over film exhibition in cinemas rests with local authorities. We classify films for cinema release; local authorities can overrule any of the BBFC’s decisions on appeal, passing films we haven’t seen (such as with some film festivals), banning films we’ve passed, and even waiving cuts, making new ones, or altering the age ratings for films shown in their area, but generally, local authorities accept our decisions, and variations are rare. On video, it’s a legal requirement for distributors to submit their video content for classification, and they can only release it if we give it a video classification (except for exempt works, as mentioned above). Online, there’s no legislation requiring content providers or platforms to get their content classified with us, but we see that many choose to do so.
4) So a movie is sent to you and it needs to be classified. What is the process? Films for cinema release are booked in to be viewed on a date agreed between us and the distributor. We have an in-house viewing theatre – equipped with 4K digital projection – where almost all of the films we classify are shown. They are viewed usually by at least two of our Compliance Officers, who will recommend an age rating using the published BBFC Classification Guidelines. In most cases, their recommendation is approved by the Compliance Manager or the Head of Compliance. Compliance Officers may also recommend that a film be seen again by senior members of staff, including our Compliance Manager, Head of Compliance and/or Chief Executive. This may happen if a film is on the border of two categories, or if it raises important policy or legal issues. A film may even be referred to the President and Vice Presidents for them to view it before it can be classified. Occasionally, we may also call upon specialist advice before making a classification decision. DVDs and VoD content is typically viewed by one Compliance Officer. However, they can always refer content to the Compliance Manager or Head of Compliance if it raises challenging or borderline issues.
5) I have noticed some versions of movies released are classified as Unrated….but surely you have looked at these movies and actually rated them. How can they be Unrated? Everything that you see in the cinema and on DVD will be rated by the BBFC except in extremely rare circumstances. Under the Video Recordings Act 1984, we assign age ratings to all video works supplied in the United Kingdom unless they fall into one of the two exempt areas: works which, taken as a whole, are designed to inform, educate or instruct or works which, taken as a whole, are concerned with sport, religion or music.
6) Can a movie have multiple ratings? Our Compliance Officers use our guidelines when rating films and as such we only provides one age rating for a film. However, different versions of a film might be rated differently depending on the content, for example a ‘Director’s Cut.’
7) How do you become a Compliance Officier? Our Compliance Officers come from a wide variety of backgrounds. They tend to be graduates. No specific qualifications are required; however, experience in relevant areas such as media regulation, law or child development is important. Like most BBFC employees, they have a strong knowledge of contemporary and historical film and a passion for the film and video industries, as well as an ability to grasp age rating issues such as drugs, dangerous behaviour, and the portrayal of sex and violence. Recruitment is through advertisements in the national press, as well as the Work For Us page on our website.
8) Have there been movies that have had classifications withdrawn? Or ratings increased? As an organisation, we wouldn’t withdraw classifications once they have been issued but we might withhold a classification or reject a film entirely if it doesn’t comply to UK law; this, however, is these days very rare indeed. We can only reclassify a film if it has been re-submitted by a distributor: if a distributor resubmits older content or releases a new version of a film, the rating might change from the film’s original classification.It is quite common for older films to receive less restrictive ratings than those issued when the film was originally submitted. Occasionally, the opposite can happen, and an old film can be reclassified at a higher category. This is because public attitudes and expectations have changed over time. An example of this is Alien (1979). When the film was first submitted to us, we rated it X. However, when it was resubmitted to us in 2019 for it’s 40th anniversary releases, we rated it 15. We keep abreast of these attitudes and expectations changes by embarking on a large scale public consultation every 4-5 years, which shape our guidelines.
9) What is the worst film that has been rated (or not been able to be rated) to date if you are able to give details? There is a lot of interesting classification case studies on our website, about all different sorts of classification issues.
10) How many movies are rated a year on average? Last year we rated just over 1,000 cinema films but this is all dependent on the amount of submissions we receive. We classify several thousand videos and VoD works each year.
Sarah, thank you for taking time out and answering my questions, allowing me and my readers a brief insight into the BBFC and what they do.
If you want more detailed about the BBFC and the movies they have rated then go to https://bbfc.co.uk/