BBFC ratings: Brief history

The British Board of Film Classification gives ratings to all released home film and TV products. This is a recommendation that suggests the correct target audience that should watch the film, and provides a guideline so that unsuitable content can be avoided.

 U - Classified as being suitable for all ages and features content that is often child-oriented.
 PG - Mostly suitable for all ages, but with some potentially unsuitable content, such as frightening scenes or brief swearing. As its name suggests, this is up to the parent to decide who should watch the content.
 12 - This is the minimum age for watching this particular product, and often features greater violence or bad language than used in previous classes.
 15 - Another minimum age, this category usually features more violent, sexually oriented or explicit content.
 18 - The top age category, any item rated this or above usually features the highest level of explicitness and extreme violence.

We plan our film to be rated at a 15 level, due to its levels of violence and related content. However it is much more moderate and not at the level of an 18 rating as we don't have the budget or the time to create that sort of explicitness effectively. Another reason for avoiding high levels of such content would be that it stops half of our target audience from viewing the film. A 15 rating is low enough to enable it to be watched by most teenagers, but high enough to attract the attention of older age groups who may be interested in the genre and content we have to offer them.