The BBFC History: 1980s

The decade started in dramatic fashion for the BBFC with the submission of Tinto Brass' Caligula.  The film has respectable antecedents, being based on The Lives of the Twelve  Caesars by Suetonius, and a screenplay by Gore Vidal.  Original producer Franco Rossellini approached Penthouse mogul Bob Guccione for financial support.  Tinto Brass was hired as director.  The stars were familiar and respected names - Sir John Guilgud, Peter O'Toole, Helen Mirren.  Problems occured after shooting, with Brass being fired and Vidal protesting that his screen play bore little relationship to what was on screen.  He dissociated himself from the film and attempted to have his name removed from the credits.  Guccione then added some material of his own, some of it hard-core pornography.

The film achieved notoreity in the USA and arrived in the UK with the reputation of being 'the most controversial film of the eighties'. It was seized by Customs and Excise officials when it came into the UK and then seen by the BBFC together with lawyers and Customs officials so that any footage that was in danger of breaching UK laws could be removed.  At this stage all sexually explicit material was removed in order to conform with Customs regulations (specifically the Customs Act 1876), and further cuts made to material which was potentially actionable under the Obscene Publications Act - the later including sexually violent material.

The cut film was then viewed again by the Board, who had already indicated that further cuts to sex and violence would be necessary in order to secure a nation-wide release under BBFC 'X' category standards.  Some innocuous material was added to restore some dialogue which had been lost when the cuts were made.

After six months the film was finally released in the UK with an 'X' certificate, and while the majority of local authorities were content with the certificate, it was banned in some areas. Inevitably, there was some orchestrated protest from concerned citizens who had not seen the film, but because the Board had taken every precaution to ensure that the classification was within the law, the fuss died down. The video was classified '18' when it was submitted in 1990 in a greatly reduced version, having been cut by a further 50 minutes by its distributors in addition to the cuts made for cinema release. In 2008, three versions of the work were submitted for classification, including the original version. All were passed '18' uncut after lengthy consideration.

Throughout the decade there were a number of films involving gangland characters.  1981 saw the release of Tom Clegg's McVicar, a criminal biopic passed 'X'; and John Mackenzie's The Long Good Friday, the story of a criminal determined to preserve his manor against incursions by the IRA, also passed 'X'.  This has remained '18' on video since 1987, with the most recent classification in 2008. Neil Jordan's Mona Lisa, was passed '18' in 1986, with Bob Hoskins playing the role of chauffeur to a prostitute.  David Green's Buster, passed '15' in 1988, told the story of Great Train Robber 'Buster' Edwards on the run from the law.  The decade concluded with Peter Medak's tale of infamous twin gangland figures, The Krays, passed '18', after cuts to an horrific mutilation scene.

 Another film based on real-life was Michael Caton-Jones' Scandal, an account of the Profumo affair, a political scandal of the 1960s.  Although for some the events were considered too recent for comfort, the problem for the BBFC was of a different kind.  An orgy scene revealed the presence of an erect penis in the backgound of the shot.  The image was obscured by soft-focus lighting and the film released with an '18' certificate.

The first of the Rambo series, First Blood (Ted Kotcheff), was passed '15' uncut in 1982, and the second, George Pan Cosmatos' Rambo - First Blood Part II was passed '15' uncut in 1985.  However, Rambo III was cut in 1988 to obtain an '18' certificate.  In addition to a horse-fall removed under the terms of the Cinematograph Films (Animals) Act 1937, the violence was reduced by the excision of spatter shots, and cuts were made to counteract the glamorisation of weapons which constituted a significant classification issue. 

Paul Verhoeven's film Robocop was passed '18' without cuts in 1987, and the same on video a year later.  The 2001 video version was submitted with additional material that had been removed by the MPAA before the film was submitted in the UK. 

However, the Conan films did not have the same easy passage.  John Milius' Conan The Barbarian required cuts to a sex scene between Conan and a serpent-woman, and to remove horse-falls, for an 'AA' category in 1982.  The second Conan film, Richard Fleischer's Conan The Destroyer also required horse-fall and animal cruelty cuts in 1984.

The decade also saw the establishment of the 'stalk and slash' genre with the Friday 13th series of films, with parts I and II passed 'X' uncut on film in 1980 and 1981 respectively. Part III was also passed 'X' uncut on film in 1982, but with two cuts to violence/horror to obtain an '18' on video in 1987.

1981 saw the second in the Halloween series passed 'X' uncut on film, but a scene where a woman was scalded to death in a jacuzzi was reduced for an '18' video release in 1990.  The cuts have since been restored. 

1982 - Review of the category system

In 1982 'A' was changed to 'PG', 'AA' was changed to '15' and 'X' became '18'. A new category 'R18' was introduced which permitted more explicit sex films to be shown in members-only  clubs.  Previously, such clubs had shown material unclassified by the BBFC, but a change in the law closed this loophole.  Since the mid 1980s most 'R18' material is released on video, only available from a limited number of sex shops which must be specially licensed by local authorities.  

Further changes to the category system in the 80s

In 1985, at the request of the industry, the 'Uc' was introduced for video only, to identify works specifically suitable for very young children to watch alone.

In 1989 the BBFC introduced the '12' certificate on film, to bridge the huge gap between 'PG' and '15'. This was extended to video in 1994. The first film to be given a '12' rating was Batman.