They decide what we see. But how do they draw the line? Our writer encounters a cartoon food orgy, a potty-mouthed king and a horror film too vile to show, at the British Board of Film Classification

Down in the basement of the British Board of Film Classification’s headquarters, the experts are discussing Sausage Party. This heated debate about Seth Rogen’s naughty food animation perhaps best reflects the public’s changing attitudes towards film ratings. Yes, we are happy with consensual sex, and yes we adore nudity – but what we can’t stand is the gratuitously pornographic. Not even when it comes to randy anthropomorphised supermarket foods.

“There’s a particular sequence where different types of food have an orgy and there are a lot of pornographic references, visual and verbal,” explains Emily Fussell, the BBFC’s education officer. “It’s quite a prolonged scene. We showed it in our focus groups and the feedback was that they wouldn’t expect to see as many pornographic references in a film at 15.”

The film has not been reclassified, but the public’s sensibility has been noted. If Sausage Party is resubmitted by distributors – say, for a special anniversary edition – it would likely be upgraded to an 18.

The BBFC is based, appropriately enough, in London’s Soho, at the heart of the British film industry. It’s housed in a tall, skinny wedding cake of a building with Tardis-like properties. Once inside you find yourself walking endless twisting corridors galore – the kind of rabbit warren you might find in David Lynch’s Inland Empire. Wherever you stand there are plaques and posters marking the great causes célèbres of classification, from A Clockwork Orange (withdrawn by its director Stanley Kubrick amid claims of copycat violence) to Freaks (banned for 30 years in Britain because it featured actors with severe disabilities, now reclassified as a 12A) and In the Realm of the Senses, which the BBFC initially recommended should be shown under private cinema club conditions to avoid the need for heavy cuts (speaking of which, one of its most notorious scenes features a former sex worker lopping off her lover’s penis). In the Realm of the Senses was later reclassified and became one of the first films featuring explicit sex to be rated 18.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest ‘We are not censors, we are enablers’ … Sarah Peacock, BBFC compliance manager. Photograph: Alicia Canter/The Guardian

The BBFC was formed in 1912 and, until 1984, was called the British Board of Film Censors. Although as Sarah Peacock points out sternly: “We are not censors. We are enablers. We believe adults should be free to choose their own material. We will only intervene if material is in breach of UK legislation.”

Peacock, my guide for the day, is in charge of the compliance officers – the people who watch films and classify them as U, PG, 12, 12A (suitable for children younger than 12 if accompanied by an adult), 15, 18 and R18 (adult works for licensed premises only). They very occasionally refuse to classify them at all – the last time that happened was in 2012 for a horror movie called Hate Crime about a group of neo-Nazis breaking into a Jewish family’s home.

Cut! Is this the death of sex in cinema? Read more

The classifiers’ job has changed hugely over the years. Initially they simply rated films for theatrical release. Then came trailers, TV shows, videos, DVDs and streaming services. “Nowadays Netflix is our biggest customer,” says Peacock.

She takes me on a tour of the rabbit warren. We head towards the cinema where staff monitor films for theatrical release. It could pass for a bijou repertory cinema. The compliance officer is sitting at the back with his laptop and a translator, watching a south Asian family film. This movie isn’t going to cause him any problems. Astonishingly, the BBFC only has nine full-time compliance officers to oversee all the material it rates. Last year, with the help of Peacock and five freelancers, they classified 1,036 cinema films, 1,143 cinema trailers, 139 cinema advertisements, 4,266 video submissions, 4,630 online submissions, 52 music videos and 295 video trailers. Most of the BBFC’s staff are film buffs. Peacock has a degree in film studies.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Notorious … In the Realm of the Senses. Photograph: Photo 12/Alamy

On the floor above are a series of tiny offices where compliance staff watch material made for TV on their computers. “They are rather small,” says Peacock. “I lived in one of these for three and a bit years.” One officer is clearly obsessed with Julie Christie, while another has a poster of The Graduate on the wall, featuring a young Dustin Hoffman, the half-stockinged leg of Anne Bancroft and the speech bubble: “Mrs Robinson, you’re trying to seduce me … aren’t you?” When first released, the film was rated X (which meant 16 and over in the 1960s) because of its risque content – Hoffman’s young man has an affair with Bancroft’s middle-aged wife. In 2017 it was reclassified 12A.

Back in Peacock’s office, she tells me about a recent survey in which 10,000 people were asked about what they found offensive – a study that resulted in new guidelines being implemented earlier this year.

Teens are supportive of us being more restrictive on sexual violence. The idea that they don’t care is a myth

“The public are generally more accepting of the use of the F-word and occasional uses of the C-word.” Is she normally so reserved when it comes to her Fs and Cs? She smiles. “No. We say the actual words. I’m being polite for you.”

There are, of course, still spats about language. In 2012 director Ken Loach and scriptwriter Paul Laverty were appalled that they had to restrict themselves to seven uses of the word “cunt” in order for The Angels’ Share to get a 15 rating. Laverty argued: “‘You wee cunt’ is often a term of endearment … There are many films they have given a 15 certificate that I think are full of pornographic violence or racism or cruelty that is not fit for 15-year-olds. I think there is tremendous hypocrisy.”

The more liberal attitude towards sex is not just a recent thing. It’s 19 years since the occult thriller Don’t Look Now was downgraded to 15. But when the film was released in 1973, there was much debate about whether its stars Julie Christie and Donald Sutherland were really having sex in one erotic and desperately moving scene. That’s a far cry from today, when an erection is not necessarily a no-no in non-adult cinema.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Downgraded … Don’t Look Now. Photograph: Cinetext Bildarchiv/Allstar/CASEY PRODUCTIONS/STUDIOCANAL

“There are examples where we’ve passed erections at 15,” Peacock says. Genuine erections? “I would imagine they were prosthetic. The Melissa McCarthy film Spy features a scene in which an erection is briefly seen on a smartphone screen. We consulted on that issue and the public told us that if they are brief and they occur in a comic context, and its not intended to arouse or titillate, then there might be leniency for that at 15.” But classification is not an exact science – one viewer’s amusement may be another’s arousal. As for nudity in general, the BBFC has no restrictions so long as it is in a “natural context”.

So what have we become less tolerant of? Sexual violence and discrimination, Peacock says. “Teenagers are particularly supportive of [us] being more restrictive on sexual violence. The idea that they don’t care about what they’re watching is a myth.” In the BBFC’s consultation, young people felt the scenes of sexual violence and suicide in the Netflix series 13 Reasons Why were correctly placed at 18. (This week, Netflix cut the suicide scene altogether.)

Sexual violence is a broad category – covering harassment, assault and rape – and this year the BBFC has made it a distinct category for the first time. “Sexual violence was previously in with violence, now we’ve separated it out,” says Peacock. Horror is also an increasingly delicate area. “We are more sensitive to the idea of psychological threat and the impact this has on the viewer. We tend to be a bit more restrictive than our American counterpart when it comes to horror. A lot of films here get a 15 here whereas in the States they might get a PG-13.”

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Refused classification … a poster for Hate Crime.

As for discrimination, the BBFC is now reclassifying some old classics in light of changing attitudes. The Dam Busters, for instance, was recently upgraded from a U to PG. “One of the contributing factors that took it up to PG was the name of their dog – it’s called the N-word. We have a case study on our website explaining why the rating changed. The public explicitly told us to be more restrictive on depictions of discrimination.”

It’s time to head off to another hidden annex of the BBFC. Peacock is showing me the fun side of the job – the BBFC’s monthly(ish) podcast she regularly participates in along with other staff members. Today they are discussing the romcom. “It Happened One Night is one of my favourite screwball comedies,” she tells listeners. “Claudette Colbert plays a pampered socialite who falls in love with the roguish reporter played by Clark Gable. It was originally classified A [more suitable for adults] and when it was resubmitted in 1986 it went down to a U.”

On my way out, I ask if it’s true that there are frequency limits for expletives in different classifications. It’s not quite that simple. “For example, The King’s Speech has a lot of strong language,” says Pekcock. “More than would normally be in a 12A – but we made that decision because of the context in which that language is occurring.”

That’s outrageous, I say – one rule for the royals and another for the plebs.

“No!” she says, appalled. “It’s because it’s in a health context. A speech-therapy context. There are very narrative-driven justifications for the decision to give that film a 12A. The king finds that he doesn’t stammer when he swears, so it’s a technique he uses to get over his stammer before he goes on the radio to do his speech.”

What word does King George VI uses to stop himself stammering? “Oh, he says the word fuck.” Peacock flushes and comes to an abrupt stop. She looks disappointed in herself. “Oh well, I’ve said it now. You’ve finally got it out of me.”