On-Screen Sex And Violence To Receive Higher Age Ratings From BBFC

deadline.com:

The British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) will hand higher age ratings to films that depict violence and on-screen sex and nudity in line with its latest Classification Guidelines following a new survey of the British public.

The BBFC has said it spoke with 12,000 people across the UK throughout 2023 while compiling its latest guidelines “to explore what matters most to audiences when it comes to classification.”  Regarding sex scenes, the body said audiences were “concerned” by the level of sexual detail, nudity, and the duration of the sex scenes rated 12A/12 under their previous 2019 guidelines.

Audiences now want “a more cautious approach to classifying sex scenes at the border of 12A/12 and 15,” BBFC said. As a result, “similar content is now more likely to be rated 15.”  However, the research also indicated that audiences are “happy” for classification to be more lenient towards some sex references at the 15/18 borderline, “especially in comic contexts.”  Following the 2019 guidelines, the BBFC said audiences are also now more concerned about depictions of violence on screen in “content across all age ratings.” While the body said the findings demonstrated “broad support” for how the BBFC currently classifies violence, audiences expressed concerns about how distressing or disturbing some forms of violence can be.

In turn, the body said a “higher rating may be required for violence across all age-rating categories, especially when particularly intense or impactful scenes occur.”  Sexual violence remains the biggest area of concern for UK audiences, according to the BBFC.