The British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) is a non-governmental organisation, founded by the film industry in 1912 and is responsible for the national classification and censorship of films within the United Kingdom. The BBFC highlights two main goals for their work: to protect children and vulnerable adults from potentially harmful content and to allow parents to make "Informed viewing decisions" (source: http://www.bbfc.co.uk/what-classification/guidelines).

 

The BBFC update their guidelines roughly every four or five years. The most updated version of these guidelines provide these age ratings that the BBFC classify every film with before its release, with the following break down of each rating:

 

 

• U - Universal, suitable for all audiences 
• PG - Parental Guidance, generally suitable for viewing but some scenes maybe unsuitable for smaller children
• 12 - Suitable for children ages 12 and over (Home)
• 12 A - Suitable for children ages 12 and over with an accompanying adult (Cinema)

(12A is normally reserved as a guideline for cinemas and retailers for children to be accompanied by an adult when purchasing or viewing a film with this rating. 12 is normally left on the box of the DVD/Blu-ray release as home supervision cannot be monitored)

 

• 15 - Suitable for children over the ages of 15
• 18 - Suitable for adults only
• R18 - Suitable only for viewing by adults on licensed premises