I think it's either simple laziness by the BBFC - or a marketing ploy by the distributors. The modern viewer would be expecting lashings of gore, sex, and profanity. S/he'll be disappointed. Since these programmes were deliberately made with the American market in view, they're coy even by British standards in the Seventies. Married couples sleeping in separate beds, for instance! Off the top of my head, I'd rank maybe the majority of the episodes at PG, quite a few at 12, and perhaps only a couple at 15. There's nothing 'deserving' (if that's the right word) an 18. We tend to forget how far we have gone (I'd hardly say 'progressed') in 40 odd years. I just watched 'The Loved Ones,' which would certainly have been cut 15 (or maybe only 10) years ago. 20 or 25 years ago, it would not have been certified at all. Watching a few editions of supposedly 18-rated 'Thriller' after that was light relief.
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