Mini Doc Script (LUCY REESE)

The Human Centipede 2 had been denied a rating but has now been rated 18 after its distributor agreed to 32 cuts.

BBFC president Sir Quentin Thomas said many would find it "difficult" to watch but that the cut film could "properly be classified at the adult level".

Two minutes and 37 seconds have been removed ahead of its DVD release.

The BBFC said the cuts "address all the concerns raised when the board refused a classification" in June.

Those concerns, it went on, included those "relating to sexual violence, graphic gore and the possibility of breach of the law relating to obscenity".

One of the BBFC's vice-presidents, Gerard Lemos, felt the film remained unclassifiable and abstained from the board's collective decision

How the BBFC works
 

It is important that the BBFC’s classification standards are in line with what the public expects and that its decisions take account of what the public finds acceptable at each age category.

Therefore every 4-5 years, the BBFC carries out a major public consultation exercise to find out what the public thinks about the age rating of films and videos before they are released and whether the BBFC’s classification standards meet public concerns.

The BBFC adjusts its standards and criteria in response to any changes in public attitudes.

These standards are laid out in the BBFC’s Classification Guidelines which can be downloaded below. The Guidelines detail what is acceptable at each age category, from U to R18. They also set out the laws and principles which impact on the BBFC’s work.

There are two key principles which guide us when we apply the Guidelines:

§  First, films and videos should be allowed to reach the widest audience appropriate for their theme and treatment.

§  Second, adults should be free to choose what they see, provided it remains within the law and is not potentially harmful.

THE BAN RAISED

A sequel to 2009's The Human Centipede, it tells of a man who, inspired by the first film, attempts to replicate its bizarre people-grafting experiments.

Eureka Entertainment, the film's UK distributor, said they were "really pleased" that an agreement had been reached but felt "slight disappointment" that cuts had been required.

However, continued its sales director Ian Sadler: "We feel that the storyline has not been compromised and the level of horror has been sustained."

A total of 11 films have been banned in Britain since the BBFC - formerly the British Board of Film Censors - was set up in 1912.

Grotesque, a 2009 Japanese horror film, was the last film to be refused a classification in the UK.