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The X Certificate
 

The first age-restrictive BBFC certificate, denoting adults-only films

Main image of The X Certificate

The X certificate was introduced by the British Board of Film Censors in 1951, following the recommendations of the Wheare Committee report. It replaced and extended the remit of the H certificate, which largely covered horror films.

The wording on the actual certificate was as follows:

This film has been passed for exhibition to persons over the age of sixteen.

It was widely seen as a necessary development to reflect the fact that many film-makers were tackling more adult-oriented themes in ways that made it difficult or impossible to cut their work to make it suitable for the A certificate.

BBFC Secretary John Trevelyan later admitted that two mistakes had been made in defining the X certificate - the minimum age for admission should have been eighteen, and it should have had a different name, as the 'X' tag was too suggestive, not least because it rhymed with "sex".

The first of these perceived errors was corrected on 1 July 1970, when the old X certificate was effectively split into two: the X certificate age limit was raised to eighteen, and a new AA certificate was created, aimed specifically at teenagers of fourteen and upwards.

Trevelyan believed that raising the X certificate age limit would give him much more freedom to pass the vast majority of films without requesting cuts - indeed, he said that he would personally prefer not to cut X certificate films at all, unless they specifically contravened the criminal law. However, this coincided with a widespread increase in the number of films featuring strong sexual and violent material that the BBFC considered unsuitable even for adults, so although fewer films were banned outright, a significant number were still cut.

The X certificate was abolished on 1 November 1982, the BBFC finally answering Trevelyan's second criticism by replacing it with the much more neutrally-named 18 certificate.

Michael Brooke

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Thumbnail image of The AA CertificateThe AA Certificate

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Thumbnail image of The H CertificateThe H Certificate

Short-lived classification designed to deal with horror films

Thumbnail image of Wheare Report, The (1950)Wheare Report, The (1950)

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Thumbnail image of Trevelyan, John (1903-1986)Trevelyan, John (1903-1986)

Censor