Your Daily Film

Dead Kids (aka Strange Behavior) is a 1981 Australia/USA/New Zealand Sci-Fi horror mystery by Michael Laughlin.
With Michael Murphy, Louise Fletcher and Dan Shor.

Released uncut on pre-cert VHS and was seized by the police during the Video Nasties Panic but did not make the Video Nasties list. Then released uncut on 1986 VHS. Cut by the BBFC for DVD. Uncut in the US

Powerhouse have lined up a release of Michael Laughlin's Strange Behaviour for March.

It hasn't gone through the BBFC just yet. They cut it for vertical wrist slicing in 1993, 2004 and 2008 after having passed it intact on video in 1986.

The BBFC seem to have had a rethink on that policy since the controversy when they cut Soulmate (2013) for similar reasons, and they passed a similar but much stronger scene in Lords of Chaos in 2019. So should be uncut this time. 

I just mention it because it would be quite notable and worth keeping an eye on. Not many films go from being passed intact to cut to uncut again.

The Long Goodbye is a 1973 USA crime mystery thriller by Robert Altman.
With Elliott Gould, Nina van Pallandt and Sterling Hayden.  

Cut by the BBFC for an X rated 1973 cinema release but uncut on home video. Uncut and R rated in the US.

Promotional Material

When private eye Philip Marlowe (Elliott Gould) is visited by an old friend, this sets in train a series of events in which he s hired to search for a missing novelist (Sterling Hayden) and finds himself on the wrong side of vicious gangsters.

So far so faithful to Raymond Chandler, but Robert Altman s inspired adaptation of the writer s most personal novel takes his legendary detective and relocates him to the selfish, hedonistic culture of 1970s Hollywood, where he finds that his old-fashioned notions of honour and loyalty carry little weight, and even his smoking (universal in film noir) is now frowned upon.

Widely misunderstood at the time, The Long Goodbye is now regarded as one of Altman s best films and one of the outstanding American films of its era, with Gould s shambling, cat-obsessed Marlowe ranking alongside more outwardly faithful interpretations by Humphrey Bogart and Robert Mitchum.

Versions

uncut run: 111:42s pal: 107:14s		UK: Passed 18 uncut for strong language and violence for: 2013 Arrow Academy RB Blu-ray at UK Amazon 2004 MGM R2 DVD at UK Amazon 1999 Warner VHS 1998 Warner VHS US: Uncut and MPAA R rated for: 2014 Kino Lorber (RA) Blu-ray at US Amazon 2014 Kino Lorber R1 DVD at US Amazon
cut cut:   run: 112m pal: 108m		UK: Passed X (18) after BBFC cuts for: 1973 cinema release Thanks to Pete who obtained the BBFC cuts list: Reel 3 In the scene in which Marty smashes a bottle and mutilates a girl's face, etc.., cut from the flash of the bottle being smashed to the point, after she has been covered with a towel to the point where she moves left and is masked by the backs of the gangsters in mid foreground.

Ofcom has issued new censorship rules to broadcasters about politicians presenting news

The guidance, which comes into force immediately, reflects the modern news landscape and sets guardrails for broadcasters who use politicians as presenters in programmes that include news.

Specifically, our revised guidance explains the interaction between our due accuracy and due impartiality in news rule (5.1 under the Broadcasting Code), and the rule which prevents politicians from presenting news programmes (5.3). It also updates the definition of politician to provide greater clarity.

Access to duly accurate and duly impartial news on television and radio is fundamental to a democratic society. As such, broadcast news is afforded a higher level of protection under UK law compared to non-news content.

The news landscape has evolved in recent years. The distinction between news and current affairs content has become more blurred for audiences [3] , and while politicians presenting current affairs programmes isnt new, it has become a more established editorial practice.

Responses to our consultation were polarised, reflecting the broad range of views overall, and there was a high level of consensus amongst broadcasters in favour of retaining the wording of Rule 5.3. Many respondents were concerned that amending Rule 5.3 would introduce significant practical challenges and operational uncertainty for broadcasters, and that it would inadvertently result in a de facto ban on politicians presenting any kind of programmes.

Our decision in detail

The wording of Rule 5.3 will remain unchanged. Instead, we have decided that there is sufficient protection for audiences through the existing combination of Rules 5.1 and 5.3, but we have issued amended Guidance to make the relationship between them clearer, and more relevant to the modern news landscape. Specifically, we have decided to:

update our Guidance to Rule 5.1, which states that news, in whatever form, must be reported with due accuracy and presented with due impartiality.

Our amendments make explicit that if an MP presented news in a non-news programme, then their status as an MP would likely be a relevant factor in considering whether that news was presented with due impartiality. We explain that we would also take into account all other relevant factors -- including, for example, the nature and subject of the news in question and the MPs political position on that issue. The new guidance also signposts that where politicians present news in news programmes, Rule 5.3 applies.

update our Guidance to Rule 5.3 , which states that no politician may be used as a newsreader, interviewer or reporter in any news programmes unless, exceptionally, it is editorially justified . In that case, the political allegiance of that person must be made clear to the audience.

Our amended guidance offers further clarification on the meaning of exceptional circumstances -- defined as those which cannot be controlled or foreseen by the broadcaster. We also make clear that we would expect such situations to be rare, and for licensees who use politicians as presenters to put appropriate contingency arrangements in place to avoid these situations.

update the definition of politician in our Guidance

The new definition now includes a reference to members of the House of Lords and representatives of political parties, while the reference to activists has been removed.

These changes to the Guidance come into force from today. Politicians as presenters in non-news programmes, including current affairs programmes

There is no Ofcom rule that prevents a politician from presenting or appearing on a TV or radio programme -- providing they arent standing in an election taking place, or about to take place, and that the programme otherwise complies with the Broadcasting Code