In the United Kingdom, censorship has been applied to various forms of expression such as the media, cinema, entertainment venues, literature, theatre and criticism of the monarchy. There is no general right to the freedom of speech in the UK; however, since 1998, limited freedom of expression is guaranteed according to Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights, as applied in British law through the Human Rights Act 1998.

Current law allows for restrictions on threatening or abusive words or behaviour intending or likely to cause harassment, alarm or distress or cause a breach of the peace,Public Order Act 1986 sending another any article which is indecent or grossly offensive with an intent to cause distress or anxiety,Section 1 of the Malicious Communications Act 1988 incitement, incitement to racial hatred, incitement to religious hatred, incitement to terrorism including encouragement of terrorism and dissemination of terrorist publications,Terrorism Act 2006 glorifying terrorism, collection or possession of a document or record containing information likely to be of use to a terrorist,Possession of Inspire has been successfully prosecuted under Section 58 of the Terrorism Act 2000. treason,Treason Felony Act 1848 obscenity, indecency including corruption of public morals and outraging public decency, defamation, prior restraint, restrictions on court reporting (including names of victims and evidence and prejudicing or interfering with court proceedings, prohibition of post-trial interviews with jurors), time, manner, and place restrictions, harassment, privileged communications, trade secrets, classified material, copyright, patents, military conduct, and limitations on commercial speech such as advertising.

Ministry of Information The Ministry of Information was created during the First World War and then reformed for the Second World War for propaganda purposes. In the Second World War it was located at the Senate House of the University of London. During the Second World War it was infamous for having a staff of 999.

The Ministry was responsible for keeping much information out of the public domain during the war years, as it was thought that this would have been harmful to the national sentiment. It also censored many press reports that were not deemed to be sufficiently patriotic, or that listed military operations to a level of detail that could be used by the enemy.

The Ministry took over the General Post Office Film Unit, renaming it the Crown Film Unit. It produced documentaries such as Target for Tonight (1941), Western Approaches (1944) and London Can Take It! (1940). It also created a feature-length fictional film; 49th Parallel (1941). Following this it solely created documentaries, although it also laid down propaganda guidelines for commercial films.

The Ministry was disbanded following the end of the Second World War.

Issues due to be discussed in parliament: 14-day rule From 1944 to the end of 1956, it was forbidden to discuss an issue on British radio or television during the fortnight before it was debated in parliament, sometimes called the "14-day rule". In October 1955, Prime Minister Anthony Eden explained and supported the rule in parliament, saying:

He went on to further advise Members of Parliament "not to regard [look at] newspapers when they are discussing what they are going to say in this House."

The rule was started in 1944 by the BBC itself, then at the request of the BBC, which had wanted the rule changed to be at the BBC's discretion, it was imposed by the government, which had the support of the three main political party leaders, in July 1955 by a direction to the BBC under Clause 15(4) of their licence and to the Independent Television Authority under Section 9(2) of the Television Act 1954. The rule did not cover the simple reporting of Parliamentary proceedings. However the direction made clear the rule also covered the extended period from the introduction of legislation into parliament until it received the Royal Assent (or was dropped), which MP Jean Mann argued was an extension to the previous rule.

Following a report by the Select Committee on Anticipation of Parliamentary Debates, and after receiving assurances from the British Broadcasting Corporation, the Independent Television Authority and its programme companies that they would continue to support the primacy of Parliament as the forum for debating the affairs of the nation, in December 1956 Eden suspended the 14-day rule for an experimental period to the end of the parliamentary session (about six months). On 25 July 1957, the suspension was extended for an indefinite period. By then a hypothesis had formed that the reason for the rule was to support party discipline by reducing the ability of back-bench MPs and political activists to appeal directly to voters.

Laws on obscenity and sexual content Obscenity law in England and Wales is currently governed by the various Obscene Publications Acts, and Section 63 of the Criminal Justice and Immigration Act 2008 but obscenity laws go back much further into the English common law.

The conviction in 1727 of Edmund Curll for the publication of Venus in the Cloister or The Nun in her Smock under the common law offence of disturbing the King's peace was the first conviction for obscenity in Great Britain, and set a legal precedent for other convictions."The Obscenity of Censorship: A History of Indecent People and Lacivious Publications ", The Erotica Bibliophile. Retrieved 29 May 2006.

A defence against the charge of obscenity on the grounds of literary merit was introduced in the Obscene Publications Act 1959. The OPA was tested in the high-profile obscenity trial brought against Penguin Books for publishing Lady Chatterley's Lover (by D. H. Lawrence) in 1960. The book was found to have merit, and Penguin Books was found not guilty—a ruling which granted far more freedom to publish explicit material."1960: Lady Chatterley's Lover sold out ", BBC News. Retrieved 29 May 2006. This trial did not establish the 'merit' defence as an automatic right; several controversial books and publications were the subject of British court cases throughout the 1960s and into the 1970s. Last Exit to Brooklyn, a 1964 novel by the American author Hubert Selby Jr was subject of a private prosecution in 1966.

The distinction between legal erotic literature and illegal pornography was traditionally made in the English-speaking courts on the basis of perceived literary merit. No prosecutions of purely textual pornography took place following the Inside Linda Lovelace trial of 1976 until October 2008, when a man was charged (but later cleared) under the Obscene Publications Act after allegedly posting fictional written material to the Internet describing the kidnap, rape and murder of the pop group Girls Aloud (the R v Walker trial). In late August 2005 the government announced that it planned to criminalise possession of extreme pornographic material, rather than just publication, and the law came into force as Section 63 of the Criminal Justice and Immigration Act 2008.

Under Section 69 of the Serious Crime Act 2015, not only creation but also possession of manuals giving advice how to groom or abuse children is also outlawed.

Almost all adult stores in the UK are forbidden from having their goods in open display under the Indecent Displays Act 1981, which means the shop fronts are often boarded up or covered in posters. A warning sign must be clearly shown at the entrance to the store, and no items can be visible from the street. No customer can be under eighteen years old. The Video Recordings Act 1984 introduced the R18-rated classification for videos that are only available in licensed sex shops, but hardcore pornographic magazines are available in newsagents in some places. The Ann Summers chain of lingerie and sex shops won the right to advertise for workers in job centres, which was originally banned under restrictions on what advertising could be carried out by the sex industry."Sex toys chain wins legal fight ", BBC News, 18 June 2003. Retrieved 31 May 2006."Jobcentre go-ahead for Ann Summers ", BBC News, 18 July 2003. Retrieved 31 May 2006.

In February 2026, Labour Lord Baroness Levitt introduced Amendment 278 to criminalize the creation and sharing of semen tributes without explicit consent.

Consensual pornography

In 2025 and 2026, the 59th Parliament of the United Kingdom introduced several amendments to criminalize pornography categories, including pornography of consenting adults.

Lord Baroness Levitt introduced Amendment 294 in February 2026 to criminalize distribution or possession of pornographic depictions of strangulation portrayed "in an explicit and realistic way". The amendment would criminalize the erotic asphyxiation category of pornography with penalties of up to 5 years in prison.

Amendment 297 was also introduced by Lord Baroness Levitt to criminalize distribution or possession of pornographic depictions of incest if a reasonable person would find the participants "were related, or pretending to be related". The amendment would criminalize the incest pornography category of pornography with penalties of up to 5 years in prison.

In March 2026, Conservative Lord Baroness Bertin introduced Amendment 300A to criminalize distribution or possession of pornographic depictions of "a person who appears to be or is implied to be a child" including consenting adults. The amendment would criminalize the ageplay category of pornography, with Lord Bertin stating it would be "extending the offence of making an indecent photograph of a child to pornographic material that depicts a child when that role is being played by an adult" and "this is a deliberate choice, with settings in children’s bedrooms, actors in children’s clothes and braces, toys, pigtails and other markers of childhood".

Mull of Kintyre test

According to an urban legend, the Mull of Kintyre test or Mull of Kintyre rule was an unofficial guideline used by the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) to decide whether an image of a penis could be shown. According to the myth, the BBFC would not permit the general release of a film or video if it depicted a penis erect to the point that the angle it made from the vertical was higher than that of the peninsula of Kintyre in Argyll and Bute on maps of Scotland. This test has often been called "the angle of the dangle".

The Mull of Kintyre test was said to have first been used for the release of the controversial erotic historical drama film Caligula in 1979.

Stage licensing

Historically, stage plays were under considerable censorship in England. Under the reigns of Henry VIII, Edward VI, Elizabeth and James, restrictions were imposed on what stage plays could portray. Censorship of stage plays was exercised by the Master of the Revels in England by about 1600 until the English Civil War in 1642.Eccles, Mark (1933). "Sir George Buc, Master of the Revels", in Sisson, Charles Jasper. Thomas Lodge and Other Elizabethans, Cambridge: Harvard University Press, pp. 418–419

In 1737, partly as a result of political attacks by Henry Fielding against Robert Walpole, Parliament enacted a law that established "the Examiner of the Stage" (an official in the Lord Chamberlain's office) to censor plays on the basis of both politics and morals (i.e. sexual impropriety, blasphemy, and foul language). Plays had to be licensed by the Lord Chamberlain. In 1737, through the influence of the Duke of Grafton, the Shakespearian commentator Edward Capell was appointed with an annual salary of £200 as deputy-examiner of plays. This censorship by licensing requirement was finally abolished by the Theatres Act 1968.

According to Rufus Osgood Mason (who gives an example of a written licence from 1814):