Your Daily Film!

WWE is a US wrestling organisation that is known for outrageous but entertaining hype. In addition to the wrestling it shows feature theatrical beatings and the like that are not shy of showing a little blood.

Netflix recently took to screening WWE programming and agreed censorship rules with WWE to censor (or no doubt to get some ideas not to get written into the script in the first place).

Nethertheless the censorship rules are being noticed by wrestling fans seeing some diminished fun in the proceedings. An example is Netflix's recent censorship of Monday Night Raw .

WWE made the decision to tape this week's Monday Night Raw which opened with angle of hype that saw Royce Keys and OTM attack The Usos in the parking lot, leaving them a bloody mess.

Unfortunately for the angle, and WWE for that matter, Netflix made the call to censor the segment heavily. Not only did it negate the angle's impact, but it also drew heavy criticism from the WWE Universe online. Shortly after Raw went off the air on Monday, Triple H took to social media to post the segment in its entirety, uncensored.

See a video of that uncensored segment in an article from si.com

BBFC Chief Censor David Austin will step down in July 2027. He can look back at a underwhelming career of guiding the BBFC into a more secretive organisation with reduced transparency towards public scrutiny.

During Austin's tenure we have seen:

• A 25 year rule imposed where the BBFC will not detail nor enter into conversation about any censorship or classification decisions in the last 25 years
• The removal of the facility for anyone to monitor recent rating and censorship decisions
• The removal of detailed cuts from the BBFC public facing database to be replaced by saying nothing or else adding a few vague and unspecific comments.

But on the positive side Austin has at least maintained policies of previous BBFC directors in making minimal cuts to 18 rated films. It's a bit hard to confirm whether the same is true of R18 films because there is no feasible method of monitoring such decisions.

The BBFC has found plenty to laud about though:

The British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) today announced that David Austin OBE will retire as Chief Executive following 23 years with the organisation, including the last 10 years as CEO.

David will step down from his executive responsibilities in July 2027 and will continue to support the BBFC as a member of its Board, ensuring continuity and providing strategic guidance as the organisation enters its next chapter.

David joined the BBFC in 2003 as an Examiner, now known as Compliance Officers, following a career in the Diplomatic Service, with postings in South Asia, Central Africa and the former Yugoslavia. He became Assistant Director, Policy and Public Affairs at the BBFC in 2011, before taking up the Chief Executive role in March 2016.

During his tenure, David has overseen a period of significant transformation for the BBFC, leading the organisation through major changes in the way audiences access and consume content.

Under his leadership, the BBFC continued to expand beyond traditional cinema classification, establishing self-rating partnerships with major streaming platforms including Netflix, Prime Video and HBO Max. He also drove the organisation's engagement with emerging technology, including the use of artificial intelligence to support classification work, culminating in a first-of-its-kind agreement with HBO Max to develop and deploy a bespoke AI tool to support BBFC Compliance Officers in the classification of the streaming service's entire content library.

These developments have strengthened the BBFC's ability to support audiences in navigating an increasingly complex digital media landscape, while remaining firmly focused on its core mission of protecting children and helping audiences make informed viewing choices.

The BBFC Board will begin a recruitment process for a new Chief Executive immediately, with the successful candidate expected to be in post by July 2027. David Austin will continue to serve as Chief Executive until that time to ensure a smooth and orderly transition and will take up a Board position in July 2027. In his Board capacity, David will continue to be one of the BBFC's four Statutory Classifiers.

David Austin OBE, Chief Executive of the BBFC, said:

Leading the BBFC has been the privilege of my career. I am incredibly proud of everything we have achieved together over the past 23 years, including my last 10 as Chief Executive, and I am deeply grateful to the many people who have supported our work and to the UK audiences who place their trust in the BBFC every day.

What began as a curious fascination with film and classification, born out of my love of horror, has grown into a deep love for the BBFC. There is no other organisation quite like it, and I could not have imagined dedicating so much of my career to anything else. What has made my time here so special is not only the importance of our mission to protect children and help audiences make informed viewing choices, but also the exceptional people I have had the pleasure of working alongside.

I know the BBFC is in a strong position for the future. It is a dynamic and innovative organisation with a clear purpose, talented people and a strong foundation on which to build. As the content landscape continues to evolve, there remains important work to do, and I am confident the BBFC will continue to play a vital role in supporting UK audiences.

While the credits may be rolling on my time as Chief Executive, this is far from my final scene at the BBFC. I will continue to support the organisation as a member of the Board, and look forward to seeing it continue to evolve and thrive in the years ahead.

Natasha Kaplinsky OBE, President of the BBFC, said:

David has made an outstanding contribution to the BBFC and to audiences across the UK. His leadership, vision and commitment have helped ensure the BBFC remains one of the most trusted and respected classification bodies in the world. On behalf of the Board, I would like to thank David for his exceptional service and dedication over the past 23 years. We are delighted that he will continue to contribute to the organisation as a member of the Board.

Ali G: Who Iz I? is a 2026 UK/US comedy by Sacha Baron Cohen
Starring Sacha Baron Cohen, Morgana Robinson and Stewart Rodeheaver

Hip-hop journalist Ali G returns after 20 years to make a documentary with real people. Cameras follow him for over a year as he takes classes, walks the streets, and appears on shows, often with his pregnant girlfriend.

It's been a while since anybody has called for a movie to be banned in UK cinemas but an obscure group is campaigning against Ali G: Who iz I? claiming that it is enforcing racist stereotypes.

The Amazon MGM film is due for release in cinemas on October 23.

Baron Cohen released the first trailer for Ali G: Who Iz I? last week, marking his return to the satirical character after a 20-year absence. The actor, in his directorial debut, filmed the movie secretly over the course of a year with the mockumentary following his character's life since the world went to crap, alongside his pregnant girlfriend, played by Morgana Robinson.

A day after the trailer's release, NewsCord, a UK news comparison and media monitoring platform, started a campaign urging cinemas around the world to refuse to screen the film. The campaign group have said they have emailed 15 major chains globally. As of Sunday, the campaigners claim they have been instructed to send 41,000 emails on behalf of its website readers. The campaign group said:

Ali G is a cover to laugh at Jamaican culture. The character enforces harmful stereotypes of how a Jamaican man behaves in society.

Ali G smokes weed, is a misogynist, and does nothing meaningful in life. He does this because he thinks this is what a Jamaican does.

The world laughs at Ali G. But the real butt of the joke are Black people and specifically Jamaicans, they added. This is evident in a number of Baron Cohen's films, where a race or religion is the victim of the "joke".

Phil Clapp, head of the UK Cinema Association, told Variety in response to the campaign:

Cinemas are there to engage and entertain the widest possible audience. They are not there to act as censors or arbiters of public taste.

So where a film has been given a certificate by the BBFC, they will decide whether or not to play it solely with the likely response of their audience in mind.

A defiant Baron Cohen himself also addressed the growing backlash, writing on X:

In an age where a comedian's career can be ended by a single un-PC joke, I thought I'd play it safe and bring this guy back.

 

Comment: The Ali G haters are the dumbest people alive

1st September 2026. See article from spiked-online.com by Brendan O'Neill

 

The Human Centipede II (Full Sequence) is a 2011 Netherlands/UK horror by Tom Six.
With Laurence R Harvey and Ashlynn Yennie.      

Famously banned in the UK for 2011 DVD but later passed 18 after heavy cuts.

Also temporarily banned in Australia before later being passed R18+ with cuts. An uncut version was again banned in 2026.

In June 2026, Umbrella Entertainment announced an uncensored 4K UHD Collector's Edition of THE HUMAN CENTIPEDE TRILOGY would be released on 22 October.

In July, the uncut version was awarded an R18+ (High impact themes, blood and gore, violence, sexual violence, nudity and sex scenes) as an Accredited Classifier Decision.

The Classification Board are able to revoke and overturn a decision made by a classification tool or accredited classifier if it believed it would have determined a different rating or the consumer advice was misleading, incorrect or grossly inadequate. This is what has now occurred, with the R18+ being replaced by an RC on 21 August. It is the first time a film has been banned in such a way since the March 2024 introduction of Accredited Classifier system.

A cut version was released in the US Unrated by the MPAA. Later it was released in the uncut version which is now cheekily tagged as the Director's Cut, still MPAA Unrated. The film was also banned in New Zealand.

Summary Review: Sick Fantasy

Inspired by the fictional Dr. Heiter, disturbed loner Martin dreams of creating a 12-person centipede and sets out to realize his sick fantasy.

This is the type of movie you will either like or hate, I doubt there will be much in between. The film is quite shocking, but not the most outrageous of the genre.

Actor Laurence R Harvey is masterful as Martin yet doesn't utter a single word of dialogue.