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BBC Radio 4 Extra - The Naughty Pictures Committees

Laurie Taylor seeks out the local censors who privately vetted controversial films

Laurie Taylor investigates how local councils used to ban films passed by the BBFC yet permit others it had banned. From 2012.

The British Board of Film Censors [BBFC] was set up in 1912, yet few people know that it has always been local authorities that had - and still have - the final say over what films are shown in their areas.  

From the late ‘40s through to the 1970s, many councils such as Manchester and London used these powers to push back the boundaries of what was considered acceptable to public 'taste and decency'.  They passed many films the BBFC had banned, causing the Board to slowly relax its views on nudity and sex in particular. 

Other councils, like Sale in Cheshire, tried desperately to hold back the tide of X-rated films, insisting they could not be shown in their town without the express permission of the council - which was often denied.

In a programme made to mark the BBFC’s centenary, Laurie Taylor explores this peculiarly British system of film censorship, where the local councils have the power, whilst the BBFC has expertise but no legal powers and its certificates are only guidance. 

Laurie describes how the BBFC has got much more involved with audiences and so almost eliminated the conflict with local councils that at one time threatened its very existence.

He also looks at such classics as ‘The Birth of a Baby’, the naturism film ‘Garden of Eden’, the gory ‘Joker is Wild’, the notorious ‘Ulysses’ and more.

Producer: Mike Hally

A Square Dog Radio production for BBC Radio 4, first broadcast in November 2012.

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