Unsuitable Film and Video Audiences: Underage Viewing Memories and Practices in 1980s United Kingdom

By Peter Turner

Film classification and censorship in the UK has been extensively researched by scholars. What requires further analysis is audiences' experiences of watching films that had been subject to BBFC interventions. The classification system attempted to ensure that only viewers of or above specific ages (15 or 18) would be able to watch certain films. However, significant numbers of child viewers saw films deemed inappropriate for their age group, whether at the cinema or more commonly by watching videos.

This book investigates how these audiences managed to see age-inappropriate films, exploring the memories of over 300 questionnaire and 30 interview respondents. The responses detail what the children of the 1980s remember watching, viewer memories of the how, when and where they were watched, how genre affected the experience and what the post-viewing experience was like for these viewers, including the effects of these viewings on social dynamics, identity formation and later cinephilia.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1399533592
• ISBN13: 9781399533591
• Release Date: February 2026
• Publisher: Edinburgh University Press
• Length: 246 Pages