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Censors and sensibility... the films we weren't allowed to see
When it comes to television, a little controversy goes a long way.
A run-of-the-mill drama can suddenly become front page news if it contains a sex scene deemed a little too explicit, a storyline which goes beyond the bounds of normal taste and decency or the kind of language to make even the most liberal viewer blush.
While films have always seemed to lead the way when it comes to shock and horror, TV has never been that far behind and the National Media Museum in Bradford is about to celebrate the work of the censors pen in an event simply entitled Banned!
"We thought it would be a nice idea to bring together some of the BBC dramas that were banned and explain what made them so controversial and the reception they had when they were eventually screened," says Kate Dunn, curatorial assistant at TV Heaven. "The idea is to give people more insight into the background story behind them."
The event will look at a number of banned television dramas, including Peter Watkins's The War Game a dramatised documentary about events leading up and the aftermath of a nuclear war was never aired because, in 1965, the BBC thought it was "too horrifying for the medium of broadcasting" and Dennis Potter's Brimstone and Treacle, which included a rape scene described as "nauseating" back in 1976.
Perhaps most controversially, the event will screen in full Scum, the drama which depicted life inside a Bristol borstal and featured scenes of male rape, suicide, violence and strong racist language.
"Scum is fascinating," says Dunn. "The TV version was made in 1977 then remade as a film in 1978 featuring more-or-less the same cast and the same production, but it was only in 1991 that the original got shown. For some reason TV plays get a more heavy hand with censorship than films do. You've got more open access, you have to be a certain age to go and see films in the cinema, so they can control the audience better.
"I think a television audience is perfectly capable of being able to see the reasons why these things are being shown in the way they are. Scum's a fantastic example of that. It was trying to make a very serious point about life in borstals. If you're going to make a serious point you have to show it realistically. It's difficult for television dramas to walk that line. Some people think that documentaries can show the truth about something, whereas dramas are just being shocking for the sake of it."
While many of those programmes which found themselves on the cutting floor would easily get passed today's censors, the 21st century public is not as liberal as it may like to think.
"There is something still shocking about programmes like Brimstone and Treacle," says Dunn. "The imagery in all of the programmes we will be looking at is quite brutal.
"Obviously society these days is much more lenient when it comes to these kinds of things. There's an awful lot more exposure to violence, but people writing now are much more sensitive about how their work is going to be received. There seems to be a lot more self-censorship. It's a double-handed thing. There's a lot more freedom, but there's also a lot more awareness and sensitivity about actually offending people as well."
Banned! will probably not be for the easily offended or the weak-hearted. Just because these dramas were made over 20 years ago, doesn't mean that their impact will be lessened now.
Banned!, National Media Museum, April 10. 0870 70 10 200.
FILMS THAT FAILED THE SCREEN TEST
The films, documentaries and dramas the censors didn't want us to see.
A Fool There Was (1915): One of the first banned films, this silent movie featured a man being wooed away from his wife and children by a "temptress". One of it's more risqu title cards said: "Kiss me, my fool!"
The War Game (1965): A dramatised documentary for the BBC, which the corporation branded "too horrifying for the medium". It dealt with the build-up and aftermath of a nuclear war and featured burning of mass graves and riots.
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974): Its star Leatherface was one of cinema's first monstrous killers and it was the start of the slasher genre. The film was legally unavailable uncut until 1999.
Scum (1977): Another banned BBC play, Scum depicted life in a Bristol borstal and featured scenes of male rape, suicide, violence and strong racist language. It was made as a film in 1978 and was not censored.
The Evil Dead (1981): A horrific zombie moving featuring graphic and sexual violence. It became one of the first "video nasties" and it wasn't shown in full in the UK until 2001.
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