BBFC British Board of Film Classification

Universal • Stands for suitable for all• Anyone over the age of 4 and over• Children’s and Family movies• Mild language is acceptable such as

‘’hell’’ and ‘’damn’’ • Examples: ‘Help! I’m a fish’, ‘Up’

and ‘ A bug’s life’

PG• PG stand for parental guidance• Not necessarily made for

children.• Should not upset children at the

age of 8 and over• Will not contain themes that are

inappropriate for children• May be mild language such as

‘’shit’’ and ‘’son of a bitch’’

12A and 12• Contains images not suitable for children under

12 years old.• 12A means the children under 12 years old have

to be accompanied by an adult and is enforced be cinemas otherwise cinemas may lose licence for those movies. 12 is mainly used on DVDs, Blu-Ray, etc. because those same rules cannot be enforced at home. • When it comes to horror films some pass 12A

and 12 with moderate physical and psychological threat.

15• No one under the age of 15 is allowed to

watch or rent 15 rated movies.• There are no restrictions to themes as long

as they are portrayed appropriately for people age 15.• Some aspects of 15 rated films are: strong

violence, frequent strong language, portrayals of sexual activities, discriminatory language or behaviour and drug talk.• 15 rated horror films can have strong threat

and horror as long as there are no sustained focus on sadistic or sexual threat.

18• 18 rated films are for adults only and

cannot be watched in the cinema or be rented by anyone under the age of 18.• No themes are prohibited as long as the

material is not illegal or harmful to the viewer.• 18 rated film include: very strong

language, strong portrayals of sexual activity, scenes of sexual violence, strong horror, strong blood and gore and discriminatory language or behaviour. • 18 rated horror films may contain strong

horror, gore and sustained threat.