Film certificates.

1. CERTIFICATES ON FILMS IN UK
Laura Monument

2. HISTORY OF CERTIFICATES
In the UK the film age rating are decided by the ‘British Board of Film
Classification and this system has been around since 1912. Before 1912
there were no restrictions on what age you had to be to watch the films.
In 1912 there were only 2 certificates.
In 1932 another restriction was added.
In 1951 H was replaced with X.

3. HISTORY OF CERTIFICATES
On 1 July 1970 the A certificate was split into two: the A certificate now
allowed those aged five and older to be admitted, but warned parents that
they may not wish children under 14 to watch the film, while the new AA
allowed only those aged 14 or over to be admitted.

4. HISTORY OF CERTIFICATES
In 1982 the A certificate was replaced by PG, which was now
completely advisory. The age of AA was raised a year and the
certificate was renamed 15.

5. HISTORY OF CERTIFICATES
In 1985 the age ratings were once again updated.

6. HISTORY OF CERTIFICATES
Due to the large gap between PG and 15 and industry pressure
regarding Batman, a 12 certificate was introduced on 1 August 1989.

7. HISTORY OF CERTIFICATES
The 12 certificate was also introduced for videos on 1 July 1994

8. HISTORY OF CERTIFICATES
1994 till present day nothing else has been changed about age restrictions on
Films.

9. HOW DOES AGE RESTRICTIONS EFFECT
SOCIETY?
 Nowadays film producers have to be careful on the
age restriction they give to the film, they have
produced. If a film has a rating of 18, they are
excluding the people younger, which means they
would not gain as much profit if they were to put the
film as a 15.
 Films have to make sure that the age restriction
they give to the film is appropriate and would not
upset anyone if the age rating is too low.
 If a film was labelled a U many people over the age
of 12 wouldn’t want to see this film meaning a loss
of money again.

10. CERTIFICATES VARY OVER DIFFERENT
COUNTRIES.
In India the film certificates are different to UK.
In singapore the film certificates are different to UK.

11. FILM THAT HAVE CAUSED PROBLEMS DUE TO
THE AGE RESTRICTION.
Among the films that have been given a 15 certificate
on DVD, instead of the 18 or X classification they
received for their cinema release, are The Last
Temptation of Christ, The Wicker Man and Don’t look
now.
Batman was a film that caused an uproar about the age
restriction it was given, this was because when people
viewed the film a lot of complaints were made that the
12A restriction was to low and should have been put to
a 15.