Swearing on TV

I know this topic has popped up previously... but what are the actual rules for swearing?

I thought it was something along the lines of:

After 9PM: S*it
After 10PM: F*ck
After 11PM: Everything else

Now don't get me wrong, swearing doesn't actually offend me, but I have seen in the past couple of weeks, especially in films, these rules haven't been adhered to.

Something on ITV2 the other day at about 8PM had the word S*it in it. And i'm watching Speed on BBC Three now and they are repeatedly saying F*ck (at about 9:15PM)

What are the rules? And do TV companies just not care about censoring anymore?

On the Tsunami concert feed on ch. 701 the one of the members of Embrace swore on stage (I think he said it's f*cking great to be here or something like that) and one of the members of the Manic Street Preachers also swore too. They dipped the sound shortly after the second time.

Speaking of the Tsunami concert, is it me or did Liberty X look like they were miming on stage?

Was steam coming out of their mouths? That was the giveaway that Martine McCutcheon was miming at the Millennium concert - the fact that her nose was emitting steam but her mouth wasn't!!

Perhaps she was humming.

There may be rules for the watershed but they seem appallingly abused. I DO find swearing difficult, especially knowing that very young children are frequently watching programmes after 9pm. I just don't think the constant use of the word **** is necessary, especially in the context of reality shows which are often trailed in children's programmes as if they were family-based light entertainment. I think it's part of an inisidious environment of disrespect which inevitably forms attitudes in people, especially the young.

Live anywhere else in Europe, and there is no such thing as a watershed, swearing is commonplace on foreign telly as early as 11am.

Do they have a 'classification ratings' system in place though (U, G, PG, M etc), so in theory the responsibility lies with the parents and guardians as to what their kids are allowed to watch?

I don't think 'everything else' is ever allowed really. There is only one 'everything else' word, and with the exception of 'Curb Your Enthusiasm' (in which the word is used in an extremely sarcastic way), I don't recall ever hearing it on TV at ANY time. I think these days it depends much more on the context the language is used in.

There's no hard and fast rules about language, it all depends on the context in which it is used

If you're talking about the word I think you are then, it was actually used on the final episode of Sex and the City last year, and was said three times, also on last years Big brother, when an argument was going on, the word was said about five or six times, and they didn't censor it the first time, but did thereafter.

By the time Liberty X came on, the place was so hot that I don't think you'd have been able to tell. But yes, I'm pretty certain they were miming. Either that, or their voices are absolutely perfect .

There are classification systems put in place, but they all seem to differ country by country, in Italy they put up icons before the film starts, but you can easily view a violent movie in the afternoon on their regular movie channels, but here you can't until after 8pm on encrypted movie channels and 9pm on the rest.

I've heard a few sh*ts well before 9pm, usually in films and dramas - if they occur on live TV (most recently, someone in the BBLB audience used that word) the host will usually apologise.

From my experience of watching MTV2 last year at college, whenever the video to Eamon's Number 1 song was played, or featured in a ringtone ad three times a break, EVERY break, the f*** word was kept intact on all occasions.