Less sex, please, we're skittish: film rankings reflect 'ever-evolving world'

Stricter guidelines for sex scenes and nudity in 12 and 12A films have been introduced amid growing public concern about explicit content - but rules on trailers have been relaxed and they can now include the F word.

- Lanre Bakare 

In the first major audience research by the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) for five years, sexual violence remained the biggest area of concern. After surveying 12,000 people, the BBFC found public opinion had shifted on sex, nudity, violence and drug use on screen, with respondents calling for a more cautious approach to sex scenes that could feature in 12/12A films.

The survey showed viewers 28 trailers, 151 clips and 33 films - including the James Bond film Goldfinger - to gauge "public sensitivity".

The BBFC's president, Natasha Kaplinsky, said there had been no "seismic shift" since the last research in 2019, though there were some significant changes.

While depictions of sex and nudity caused concern, respondents took a more liberal view of the use of some drugs such as cannabis "so long as it is not detailed, glamorised or frequent".