I like it when he says fuck News Posted by John Hoare on 31st January 2006, 23:57 Ha ha, fuck! (Back From The Dead, Blue chapter.) I keep reading of instances pretty much everywhere where something is bleeped out or has the sound dipped, and the subtitles reveal the true version. Either people are very careless, or they just like sneaking swearing in wherever possible…
This won’t be carelessness. I think you can get away with ‘fucked’ in subtitles on a 12. The word ‘fuck’ can be spoken in a 12 certificate film, but only once or twice (I remember it being in Bruce Almighty and Terminator 3, both 12A) and if it isn’t referring to sexual activity, e.g. ‘You’re fucking me and it feels so great…oh yeah…you’re in my ass…fuck me…oh god yeah etc. etc.’.
Somebody wrote somewhere (possibly on notbbc) that they’d seen one of the new Michael Palin travel programmes, and for some reason had the subtitles on at the same time. At one moment Michael Palin was getting on a train and someone asked him the time. He said “I don’t have a clue,” but the subtitles said “I don’t have a fucking clue.” The thread had an apology from a member of BBC staff who said they were investigating the matter, so it definitely happened.
Well it didn’t take long! Marvellously, the wiki page now says the following about Back from the Dead (and I think you’ll agree it forms a definitive account of the documentary. Actually the description gets the gist across so well I think it’d do well in the Radio Times): Back from the Dead 90 minute documentary about Series VII, with each episode looked at in detail, with key cast and crew interviewed. An extra on the Series VII DVD. The subtitles include the word “fuck” a couple of times, most notably during discussion of the episode Blue.
