X-Rated Roadshow

Andreas Whittam Smith, the president of the British Board of Film Censors, is taking a "beyond X-rated" video roadshow around Britain, showing audiences the parts of films which have been cut by the censors in the past. The show is presented by James Ferman, the outgoing director of the BBFC and audiences are invited to question their judgment. Viewers have been shown scenes involving anything from cruelty to animals in the early years of movie-making, to sex scenes cut from recent mainstream movies such as Showgirls. Whittam Smith said: "Some of the stuff is pretty strong; two women at the meeting last month in Liverpool became very upset at some difficult sexual material. I can sympathise with them, but we are showing it for a reason. We can learn how well or badly we are doing our work." The roadshow comes to London next week with a public screening at the Commonwealth Institute on June 2 and at the Institute of Child Health in Holborn on June 8.