[James2001]

Though if anyone else can remember, the animated version was actually first shown in prime time.

Not that it lasted there long before it was shunted to CITV.

[tellyblues]

Would disagree with that considering I watched most it's run as a kid. Yes, there are bits in the show which as an adult may not seem suitable but like many shows and films, especially of that era, there are bits in their for the adults which would go over the kids heads.

Yes, but if a parent sees a U rating attached to something they expect it (reasonably so) to be suitable for kids, but some of Mr. Bean is not. It may seem tame compared to some stuff rated PG but that doesn't matter because it should be rated independently of and where it belongs. If need be, re-classify the unsuitable to be PG stuff in question as 12/12A.

[Neil Jones]

Yes, but if a parent sees a U rating attached to something they expect it (reasonably so) to be suitable for kids, but some of Mr. Bean is not. It may seem tame compared to some stuff rated PG but that doesn't matter because it should be rated independently of and where it belongs. If need be, re-classify the unsuitable to be PG stuff in question as 12/12A.

Ultimately it must be remembered that the classifications are aimed primarily at cinema showings where you have legal powers to tell little Johnny you're not 15, you're not coming in, please go away.

In a home environment you don't have that control, so the ratings things becomes of a guidance than anything else, and ultimately it becomes up to the parent to decide whether little Johnny can watch Watership Down.

And anyway as been alluded to elsewhere in the thread, Uc was a thing, but that was aimed at under 5's and isn't in use now anyway.

[tellyblues]

A parent COULD watch through something beforehand so they can decide whether it is suitable for their kids to watch but many won't bother as it is too time-consuming and will rely on the ratings system or, if not, the seemingly universal perception that has been created that, for example, Mr. Bean is harmless and contains nothing that is unsuitable for kids, both of which aren't necessarily their fault as they don't have a say in the ratings system and may not be familiar with some of the content in a show that first aired three decades ago.

Whether something was rated U, PG or whatever yonks ago is neither here nor there, the issue is how it fits in today's world where people still trust the ratings system to make a judgement if their kids or even they themselves should watch something or not. They shouldn't be expected to know the ins and outs of the BBFC, if something has recently been re-classified or not and/or have to read every bit of smallprint. Content should periodically be re-examined and the ratings system should be clear and free of confusion.

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[James2001]

And anyway as been alluded to elsewhere in the thread, Uc was a thing, but that was aimed at under 5's and isn't in use now anyway.

Though I've seen it on VHSs of Chucklevision and The Raccoons, which I wouldn't really say were aimed at under 5s! But yeah, Uc was retired in 2009 anyway.

Those Animals of Farthing Wood I have VHSs are U as well (only the final volume of series 2 was PG, though I never owned that one as I had off air recordings of those episodes), and that's easily as brutal as Watership Down... and that was shown during CBBC! It's fair to say even the worst excesses of Mr Bean aren't as bad as some of the things in that show.

That show had 2 different VHS releases- one as omnibus volumes (3 episodes per series) in 1994 & 95 which was the regular release, and another as individual, uncut episode (only one per tape, so very wasteful!) that came out as part of a magazine partwork in 1995 & 96. What's strange is that the final omnibus volume of series 2 has a PG rating (the only one of the 9 volumes that does), yet the 5 episodes that make up that omnibus all have U ratings as uncut, individual episodes- so why the same content was considered PG as part of an omnibus, but U on its own is beyond me. There's even 2 Uc episodes in series 1 which REALLY sticks out considering the nature of the show.

The DVD's rated PG, though I can't find any listings on the BBFC website that suggest there was a reclassification, but as all the indivudual episodes from the 1995/96 VHS releases are U rated (and the last 7 episodes of series 3 seemingly got released as part of the partwork, so aren't listed on the BBFC ratings), I can only assume there must have been.

[TIGHazard]

Though I've seen it on VHSs of Chucklevision and The Raccoons, which I wouldn't really say were aimed at under 5s! But yeah, Uc was retired in 2009 anyway.

Those Animals of Farthing Wood I have VHSs are U as well (only the final volume of series 2 was PG, though I never owned that one as I had off air recordings of those episodes), and that's easily as brutal as Watership Down... and that was shown during CBBC! It's fair to say even the worst excesses of Mr Bean aren't as bad as some of the things in that show.

That show had 2 different VHS releases- one as omnibus volumes (3 episodes per series) in 1994 & 95 which was the regular release, and another as individual, uncut episode (only one per tape, so very wasteful!) that came out as part of a magazine partwork in 1995 & 96. What's strange is that the final omnibus volume of series 2 has a PG rating (the only one of the 9 volumes that does), yet the 5 episodes that make up that omnibus all have U ratings as uncut, individual episodes- so why the same content was considered PG as part of an omnibus, but U on its own is beyond me. There's even 2 Uc episodes in series 1 which REALLY sticks out considering the nature of the show.

The DVD's rated PG, though I can't find any listings on the BBFC website that suggest there was a reclassification, but as all the indivudual episodes from the 1995/96 VHS releases are U rated (and the last 7 episodes of series 3 seemingly got released as part of the partwork, so aren't listed on the BBFC ratings), I can only assume there must have been.

A bunch of data got lost when BBFC updated their site a few years back.

[JAS84]

Is Wayback Machine any help there?

[James2001]

I don't think the search function works on that.

[Neil Jones]

Yet to see any website with a search function that actually works on the Wayback machine, as that sort of stuff is usually powered by the original website that the machine crawled.

It used to be the case websites had alternative methods for the spiders to index, so it didn't matter as much that the search didn't work you could still get the data, but that's something else that's gone out the window in recent years.

[JAS84]

If you know what the url should be you can input that directly.