How come Top Gear (UK) has swearing in season 22?

I've watched Top Gear (UK) for all its 21 seasons. Recently, season 22 started airing and I managed to catch the first episode. What surprised me is that it is rated as TV-MA and they have explicit language. I've always heard the F-word and the four letter S-word get bleeped in Top Gear in the past, when either the presenters or the guests said it, but this time there is no bleeping or blurring. While I am quite happy that there is no censorship, I am surprised that such language is allowed on UK TV. Why is that so?

And more generally, can TV shows in UK air profanity like that? I am only familiar with the television censorship in US and here on network TV, you can hardly swear. On cable TV you can swear some more, and say things like s**t etc. On premium cable like HBO, all bets are off. How about across the pond? What can you and can't you say on BBC?

censorship top-gear

Best Answer

In the UK there is something called "The Watershed" this rule applies to all broadcasters within the UK and is usually considered to be the hours between 9pm and 5:30am. This doesn't mean that straight after 9pm you can switch from family friendly to more adult material - the strongest material should be shown later in the evening.

Programs shown before 9pm are required to be safe for viewing by children. This includes disallowing the following:

Sexually explicit material
Violent material
Strong language
Content that is extremely graphic or may cause distress

Usually if content contains these elements and is broadcast before 9PM, the content will be edited to remove such content (or bleeping applied to hide language). Programs broadcast after 9PM do not get censored in this manner but will probably be introduced with a content warning ("This program may contain scenes that cause distress", "This program contains strong language", etc).

There are many documented instances of "unsuitable" content being broadcast before the watershed starts, and Top Gear is somewhat notorious for pushing the boundaries in this regard anyway - as you don't seem to be in the UK, you should be aware that Top Gear has contained swearing for quite some time and it's likely your own broadcasters that are no longer censoring it.