BBFC Research

BBFC stands for the independent company 'British Board of Film Classification'. This company was first set up in 1912 by the British film industry. They began giving videos ratings in 1984 due to the Video Recording Act, which meant they had the say in what audience is suitable for each film (U, PG, 12, 15, 18) at home. BBFC is a 'not for profit organisation' meaning they only accept fees to cover their costs. They get the money from the price of their services. As well as deciding the certificate of films, they also measure the running time for films.

They decided to rate the films appropriately, due to young children or under-aged teenagers watching films that may mentally effect them in a negative way. Before each film is released they carefully watch through the film, discuss it and come to a conclusion on what the rating should be, taking into account the features such as violence, sex, language, drug use etc.

The BBFC don't have any legal power and the films have to be seen and classified through the council who have the final say for the certificates. If the council thinks that the film is either too highly rated or too low, they have the power to change it.

Certificates: 

U - Stands for universal, and is suitable for children aged 4 and over. There should be no significant issues such as language, discrimination, drugs, sex, threats, violence or imitable behaviour.

PG - Stands for parental guidance, which is suitable for children if their parents think it is appropriate. It should not unsettle children 8 or older.

12 and 12A - 12 of course means that the film is suitable for people aged 12 and over, but 12A means that people aged under 12 can only watch a 12 at the cinema if they're accompanied by an adult. 12's are allowed a moderate amount of violence, sex, drug use etc, but only an amount appropriate for this age group.

15 - No one under the age of 15 can watch, buy or rent a 15 rated film. Unlike the ratings above, 15's are aloud stronger features such as strong violence and strong language, although the sex is moderate, and they can have strong drug use but not promote it in a possitive way.

18 - No one under the age of 18 can watch, buy or rent an 18 rated film. This is the highest rating, and can have extremely strong use of language, sex, violence, etc, although when a film is being moderated, if anything is in breach of the criminal law, risks harming individuals, or if there is explicit sex that can't be justified by the context, they will have to crop it out or not allow the film to be released.

R18 - a rating especially for explicit films including consenting sex or strong fetish material involving adults. The films in a licensed cinema can only be show to adults and if brought from a sex shop may only be brought by adults.


Coraline is a children's fantasy film released 2009. The BBFC state that PG can have some tense, scary and eerie moments. Coraline is a horror aimed at young children, as it has extremely little horrific scenes, is based on a children's book, and is stop motion. According to the BBFC PG's are allowed to show some elements of horror, as long as they're not too frightening and are going to have a mental impact on children. The film needs to have a positive outcome and a good ending for them to consider it to be a PG. Although it was rated like this, and has it's reasons for being a PG, the BBFC has had quite a few complaints from parents of children who have watched Coraline and found it traumatising, scary, and mentally scaring. Some of the parents and children even had to leave the cinema.