British Board of Film Classification

Logo of the BBFC, used since 2019

The British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) is an organisation that rates both films and home videos (it originally rated video games, until 2012, with the PEGI replacing it) in the United Kingdom. The rating system was introduced in 1912 and also rates videos. Because one county's view of a film is different from another county's view, county authorities are ultimately responsible for film ratings for cinema showings in their area.

History[]

See also: History of British film certificates

The BBFC was founded in 1912, and is one of the oldest rating systems to exist as of today. It was originally called the British Board of Film Censors until in the 1980s, where the name was changed to to the current name.

The BBFC first used 2 categories, U and A, from 1912. An H category was added in 1932, which was later changed to X in 1951. An AA category was added in 1970. The rating names were changed in the 1980s, except for U (Universal). A was PG, AA was 15, and X was 18. Uc (Universal children) was also added. In 1989, a 12 rating was added, but not added to home media until 1994. It's still in home media products, but the cinema 12 was changed to 12A in 2002. The Uc rating was discontinued in 2009. British film certificates last had their appearances changed in October 2019 by making them simpler in their looks (removing the BBFC logo pattern and the copyright notice) and made 12 to be the same colour as 12A. As of 5 October 2020, packaging of works must use the newest symbols.^[1]

Ratings[]

	Symbol	Name	Used until / What it means
		Universal	1912-Present Suitable for all ages. Equivalent to G for movies and TV-Y or TV-G for TV in the United States. Negligible in impact.
		Parental Guidance	1982-Present Parental guidance suggested. Suitable for ages 8 and above. Equivalent to PG for movies and TV-Y7(-FV) or TV-PG for TV in the United States. Mild in impact.
		12A	2002-Present People under 12 must be accompanied by an adult. Cinema only. Equivalent to PG-13 for movies in the United States. Moderate in impact.
		12	1989-2002 (cinema), 1994-Present (home video) Suitable only for persons of 12 years and over. Not to be supplied to any person below that age. Video and DVD/Blu-ray only. Equivalent to PG-13 for movies and soft TV-14 for TV in the United States. Moderate in impact.
		15	1982-Present Suitable only for persons of 15 years and over. Not to be supplied to any person below that age. Equivalent to R for movies and hard TV-14 or soft TV-MA for TV in the United States. Strong in impact.
		18	1982-Present Suitable only for persons of 18 years and over. Not to be supplied to any person below that age. Equivalent to NC-17 for movies and hard TV-MA for TV in the United States. Very strong in impact.
		R18	1982-Present No one under 18 is admitted. Restricted to licensed premises (adult cinemas or sex shops) because it contains explicit sexual content. May not be supplied by mail. No equivalent MPA and TVPG rating exists.

Rating info[]

Video works that are given 12, 15, 18, or R18 certificates are legally restricted, and it is against the law (enforced by every council in the UK, but not by the Board itself) for anybody under age to obtain such material.

Films may receive a different rating when released on DVD/video to that at the cinema, for example, a film rated 12A at the cinema may get a PG, 12, or a 15 on DVD, depending on what content is in the video, including bonus features. One additional factor can be the ability to rewind and repeat sections of a home release, in order to replicate an act, which isn't feasible in a cinema.

BBFC also has the right to refuse to rate a work, calling it unsuitable for classification or rejected. This means that a film would get banned from the United Kingdom, if it contains content potentially illegal under UK law. BBFC doesn't usually refuse to classify films. BBFC refused more films in the 20th century than the 21st century. Two video games submitted to the BBFC were rejected: Carmageddon and the first version of Manhunt 2.

As provided by the Video Recordings Act 1984, the BBFC has the authority to give classification certificates to video games as if it were a video work. However, because the Video Standards Council made PEGI ratings legally enforceable in the UK in 2012, BBFC certificates are no longer issued for video games except for sexually explicit material (Home video that contains a game may be also rated by a BBFC).

County councils sometimes ignore the BBFC-advised rating, and rate films with another BBFC certificate in their county only. Counties are also able to agree to screenings of films not yet rated by the BBFC, to facilitate events such as film festivals.

Videos deemed by their distributors to be exempt under the Video Recordings Act 1984 may bear the mark E (for exempt), though this is not a rating and the BBFC does not maintain a symbol.