Andreas Whittam Smith: The man who's had his fill of pornography

The IoS interview: Andreas Whittam Smith, film censor

Andreas Whittam Smith likes pornographers. Well, perhaps that is putting it a bit strongly. Certainly he appreciates their honesty.

"When the sex film people sent a delegation to our offices, I said to them: 'This Office Tart movie – it's got no artistic merit whatsoever, has it?' They replied: 'No.' I said: 'It's not meant for anything other than sheer titillation, is it?' They said: 'No, that's right.'

"I immediately thought to myself: 'I can work with these people'. What I liked about them is that they had absolutely no cant," he explains. "That seemed so refreshing."

Over the past four-and-a-half years, encounters like the one he describes have become par for the course for Mr Whittam Smith, whose reign as president of the British Board of Film Classification ends this week.

Branded the "X-rated censor" by the self-appointed bastion of the moral highground, the Daily Mail, his tenure has been attended by countless controversies.

With his approval, the board belatedly approved the release of a slew of "video nasties", ranging from The Texas Chainsaw Massacre to the newly-certified Straw Dogs ("One of my weaknesses as a censor is that I can't take horror seriously").

Films containing full-frontal nudity and all manner of amorous activities now qualify for 15 certificates, while it has become commonplace for a certain kind of arthouse movie to include scenes featuring actual sex. At the same time, the board has signalled its intention to downgrade the 12 classification to "advisory-only", like PG, possibly as early as this autumn.

Yet it has been far from a free-for-all. For every relaxation, there has been a subtle tightening of rules around the margins. References to drug-taking have been all but eradicated from movies with anything less than an 18 certificate, while graphic sexual violence remains virtually taboo.

And, lest we forget, it was only after a fierce legal wrangle that the BBFC finally consented to approve the sale of uncut sex videos, even through licensed adult outlets.

Though his mischievous grin and just-off-the-collar silver locks lend him a faintly dandyish air, Mr Whittam Smith is hardly your typical subversive. The son of a Merseyside clergyman, he was for many years business editor of The Daily Telegraph.

Yet these impeccable establishment credentials are tempered by a rebellious streak, which manifested itself in the mid-Eighties when he quit the ultra-conservative broadsheet to become founding editor of The Independent. He carries this instinct with him to this day.

"There's one mystery I've never been able to fathom the whole time I've been in this job, which is why the British allow themselves to be the most regulated nation in the world," he muses. "Is it because we are more puritanical? No, that doesn't wash, because the United States is very puritanical in some ways, but far less heavily regulated.

"There's no clear answer, other than that we seem to have an ingrained paternalism, which must be some kind of inevitable consequence of our historical development.

"To me, the BBFC's primary job should simply be to enable parents to regulate their children's viewing." After a pause, he adds: "In my deepest heart, I object to the notion of paternalism."

Though it may seem odd for the nation's supreme arbiter of taste and decency to disapprove of censorship, Mr Whittam Smith is confident he speaks for the majority of the British public.

"My guess is that 80 to 90 per cent of the population is happy with censorship laws as they are, while 10 per cent are for heavier censorship and 10 per cent are libertarians," he says. "Those who want more censorship just happen to be disproportionately represented by one incredibly powerful newspaper, the Mail."

While he has clearly relished the challenges, not to say run-ins, that have characterised his time at the BBFC, there is one thing Mr Whittam Smith will certainly not miss: viewing bad films.

"I'm watching this unpleasant Japanese gangster film at the moment featuring sustained sadism, which is either going to have to be fantastically cut or refused a licence," he says, wincing. "It's like having your teeth pulled out."

His new job could hardly be more different, though it too entails supervising an extensive, frequently unruly, institution: the Church of England. His description of the moment he decided to apply for the post of First Church Estates Commissioner calls to mind St Paul's conversion on the road to Damascus.

"Although I still go to the 8am service every Sunday I don't generally read the Church Times, but I happened to be looking at it," he says. "I turned a page and saw the vacancy for commissioner advertised, and for some reason I instantly thought to myself, 'that job I must have'.

"I've now swapped the company of pornographers for the company of bishops. At the age of 65, that's probably not such a bad thing."

Biography

1937: Born in Cheshire, son of a clergyman. Moves to Merseyside aged three. Educated at Birkenhead School and Keble College, Oxford, plus a stint of national service.

1960: First job, as a clerk at NM Rothschild in London

1962: Starts in journalism on Stock Exchange Gazette

1966: Deputy City editor of Daily Telegraph

1969: Moves to Guardian as City editor

1977: Re-joins Telegraph as City editor

1986: Shakes Fleet Street establishment by becoming founding editor of The Independent

1991: Becomes editor-in-chief of The Independent on Sunday

1998: President of BBFC

2002: First Church Estates Commissioner; post he has occupied in parallel with BBFC duties since March