Es müssen nicht unbedingt Schimpfwörter sein; auch sexbezogene sind für Kinderohren aus Erwachsenensicht "offensive".

du kannst ja mal nach "watershed" und "Mary Whitehouse" googeln. Oder "frigging". Ernsthaft.

Gute Güte, Mary Whitehouse...! Davon hatte ich auch noch nicht gehört. Bei dem Hörspiel ging es übrigens um Mathematik(!): http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00dkvqt (nicht, dass Mathematiker keinen Sex hätten :-D)

Look out for Clue ( I’m Sorry I Haven’t A Clue) with the late Humph (Humphrey Lyttelton). I never had to confirm that I were at least 16 years of age, but some shows contain some of the best double entendres boradcast on the BBC.

Perhaps double entendres do not count. Keeping Tom Lehrer in mind it is probablt better so. He sang:
For filth, I'm glad to say,
Is in the mind of the beholder.
When correctly viewed,
Everything is lewd.
I could tell you things about Peter Pan
And the Wizard of Oz - there's a dirty old man!
http://members.aol.com/quentncree/lehrer/smut.htm

I listen to BBC podcasts and while they have never warned about offensive language, upsetting reports (about child prostitution or rape, for example) are always prefaced by a warning. It is useful for me at least, then I do not play that one outloud while my kids are in the room.

The BBC has got very concerned about being accused of letting children/people of a sensitive nature see or hear material that might be unsuitable. In Britain there is a so-called 'watershed' set at 9pm. Programmes shown before this time are not permitted to contain more than generally-acceptable sexual or violent content - in other words, you could sit down with the kids and grandma and watch it as a family. After the watershed such programmes are permitted, but I believe anything extreme also comes with a warning.

The main reason podcasts and programmes on BBC Prime always come with a warning if they are of an 'adult' nature is that they can be accessed at any time of day or night, or broadcast to countries during their daytime, or broadcasting to countries which have different ideas of obscenity. The warning is usually specified as referring to sex, swearing or violence. And it's frequently very disappointing. A warning about swearing comes and you expect the sequel to Trainspotting, and then after twenty minutes comes some mild expletive. I watched a harmless comedy recently, My Family, which was preceded by a swearing warning. That would not have been deemed necessary in Britain.

You don't get a warning when listening to or watching the BBC iPlayer. And people such as Russel Brand talk about sex all the time. Shouldn't BBC warn about that as well, if they warn about offensive language on the iPod?

AFAIK they do not warn against offensive language on the iPod, only upsetting content, such as eye witness accounts from rape victims. I'll have to listen to the warning more carefully next time, but it has always been followed by a report that makes me wince with compassion.

Gestern nachmittag auf Bayern 2 so oder ähnlich gehört: Achtung, der nächste Beitrag könnte die Gefühle von Freunden des Trabrennsports verletzen. Häh?? Da mich das Thema nicht sonderlich interessiert hat, habe ich mir die Sendung nicht angehört, um herauszufinden, was daran verletzend sein könnte. Aber gewundert hat mich die Warnung schon, so etwas habe ich im deutschen Radio noch nie gehört und kann es auch nicht ganz nachvollziehen. Man stelle sich vor, es käme jetzt vor jedem Bericht eine Warnung: Achtung, dieser Beitrag könnte die Gefühle von XY verletzen. Es gäbe wohl kaum einen Bericht mehr, den man dann ohne irgendeine Warnung ausstrahlen könnte.

The Word Nerds give their podcasts the American movie ratings and say "parents will want to listen to this episode with their younger children" or "suitable for all audiences" or stuff like that. They do have a "rude word of the week" section, though, so that warning does make sense in a way.
IIRC, the ruder podcasts usually get a red "explicit" tag on iTunes (I think The Onion Radio News sometimes has one), but the only BBC podcast I subscribed to is the WBC (World Book Club) and that tends to be tame enough language-wise.

@Selkie # 8: I think the BBC podcasts are a different version to the ones that get broadcast on radio. I subscribe to the Friday night comedy (Now Show/News Quiz), and every so often music gets played, and all we hear is a voice informing us that we can't hear the music because of copyright issues. Occasionally a piece of swearing is bleeped out. Maybe the iPlayer standards are a bit more relaxed because the iPlayer cannot be accessed outside the UK.

@Doris # 9: now that's just bizarre. I've seen really extreme documentaries on German TV that, as Selkie says, have you wincing with compassion for the victims, and they choose to be sensitive to the feelings of Trabrennen fans! Maybe the programme accused the horses of trotting in a silly manner. Maybe the slow horses get slaughtered and turned into sausages.

Oder es war doch ein Witz, Doris? Du hättest den Bericht doch hören sollen... :-))

Die BBC ist da sehr strikt geworden, aber andere britische Sender sind noch strenger - da werden dann Münder "verpixelt" damit man nicht sehen kann das jemand gerade ein böses Wort in den Mund genommen hat - zusätzlich zum Biep natürlich, und egal ob vor oder nach 9 Uhr.
Was mich immer wieder erstaunt ist, dass "crap" völlig in Ordnung ist, "shit" aber oft ausgepiept wird.

Yackydar's comment reminded me of the latest Stephen Fry Podgram - not directly related, but similar. He does a wonderful rant on how silly it is that a spy-drama (I think he is referring to the series "Spooks") can show people being shot in the face, but it is forbidden to depict the goodies to ride in a car without a seatbelt, or speak on a mobile or somesuch.... :-) I highly recommend to listen to it:
http://stephenfry.com/podcasts/index.html

Thanks for the tip with the Stephen Fry podgram, Vero. I have it subscribed, but there hasn't been one in months and I hadn't noticed the new edition lurking on my Ipod. The first one (where he was out of it on painkillers) was hilarious.

The BBC has also been known to voice over undesired swearing for BBC Prime (for the international audience) rather than beeping, but you can still tell (there will always be a lip-sync problem).

According to Practical English Usage by Michael Swan, 'crap' is a three-star taboo word and 'shit is a four-star swear word. No, seriously. Maybe the BBC has set the boundaries at three stars (damn, for instance is a one-star, and there is only one five-star word which has been discussed on a number of occasions so I won't mention it)

*lol* Och nööö, yackydar, mach's nicht so spannend... hat es wenigstens vier Buchstaben?

Hah, ich habe die kostenlosen Stephen Fry Podcasts auch schon entdeckt!
Ich liebe ihn (und sein schönes Englisch!). :-)

Bei Monty Python's Flying Circus (frühe 70er) freute mich immer der reiche Wortschatz an
Schmipfwörtern - insgesamt vielleicht eher harmlos.
Das f-Wort hatten sie sich aber für ihren Auftritt in der Hollywood-Bowl aufbewahrt -
das kommt in der TV-Fassung nicht vor, da sagen sie stattdessen "bloody"...

Bei der Serie "Blackadder" gab es schon mal deftigeres Vokabular - kenne ich aber auch nicht gepiept!
(Von den Gags ganz zu schweigen.) :-)
Hier Wegzupiepen fände ich auch besonders albern,
weil man so etwas bei Britischer Comedy eh erwartet...

Wenn das eine neue Entwicklung ist:
Seit wann ist das so? Warum so übervorsichtig?

@tigger # 15: all the best ones do have four letters. The f word and the s word are both four-star entries; I'm referring to that dreadful one beginning with c (not crap!).

Ah, danke an alle. Das mit der Zeit, bzw. dem Fakt, dass man die Webseite der BBC ja zu jeder Tageszeit aufrufen kann, hatte ich irgendwie nicht berücksichtigt. Das Verschieben in die Abendstunden wird mit gewalttätigen Filmen ja auch in D gemacht. Als Deutsche ist man die schmutzigen Wörter ja gewöhnt (siehe mein Schimanski-Beispiel --und das ist 25 Jahre her!).
Aber "Auspiepen" und Verpixeln?

Den gnadenlosesten Kommentar zu solchen Maßnahmen hat wohl der Film "Oceans 12" gebracht. Die Piepser im folgenden Dialog wurden von den Filmemachern eingefügt...
(Dialog zwischen Basher Tarr und seinem Toningenieur in einem Londoner Musikstudio:)
"-This don't bother you?
-Of course it *bleep* bothers me, mate.
-What the *bleep* do you want me to do?
-Well, it's *bleep* up. You can't hear none of the lyrics. You can't get with the beat
with all them *bleep* beeps in it.
-You want a *bleep* single on the *bleep* radio, it's what you have to *bleep* do.
-Well, it's *bleep*, isn't it?
-Totally *bleep* !
-*bleep* right, it's *bleep* .
-What the *bleep* is that?
-Somebody must be in here.
-Oh, *bleep* !"

ROFL!

Night on Earth broadcast on TV in North Carolina was even more wonderful. All the f-words from the New York scene were bleeped out, but the subtitles running listed them all. It added another comic level to the film.

Ha, yackydar, dann war meine Vermutung sogar richtig. LEO bildet! *grins*

Just by coincidence there is an article on the subject of swearing on TV (and a blog) in today's Guardian:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/tvandradiob...

Note that Caprice (?!) got away with using the c-word on TV, apparently because it was in connection with The Vagina Monologues!