‘Real world’ scenarios are the ones that cause the most distress

The job of the BBFC is to help families and young people chose films, videos and websites that are right for them. To ensure that children are protected from content that might harm them. At the cinema, on DVDS and on websites.

For us to do this job effectively, the public must continue to trust us. So how we classify content must be in line with what people expect.

Every four to five years we speak to around 10,000 people across the country. We ask them how they want us to classify issues such as violence, discrimination, self-harm, suicide and sex in films, videos and on websites.

Today, following our fifth such consultation, we are publishing new classification guidelines to reflect what the people told us.

Perhaps unsurprisingly given recent public debate on the issue, the primary concern today is sexual violence.

People told us what makes certain depictions of sexual violence more or less problematic for them and, for the first time, we have set out what these factors are in detail.

Our research also confirmed that people feel more anxious when seeing depictions of “real world” scenarios, in which audiences, especially young people, are likely to be concerned that it could happen to them. These include realistic, contemporary scenarios showing terrorism, self-harm, suicide and discrimination.

Our research also showed us that the public are much more comfortable with younger people seeing action or violence in the likes of Bond or Bourne films. Almost indestructible heroes displaying sublime fighting skills is not a cause for concern for most people.

And we’re not just focusing on films and video. Later this year, we will become the Age-verification Regulator under the Digital Economy Act, which is designed to protect children from exposure to online pornography. David Austin is the CEO of the British Board of Film Classification