WILLIAMS, Bernard
Report of the Committee on Obscenity and Film Censorship
GREAT BRITAIN HOME OFFICE COMMITTEE ON OBSCENITY AND FILM CENSORSHIP.
HMSO, 1979. - 279p. tables. bibliog. appendices
This report is the basis of modern film censorship in Britain. Appointed in July 1977 by the Labour government to investigate obscenity and film censorship, the Wiliams Committee recommended the end of local authority censorship and the creation of a statutory body which would take over the role played by both local authorities and the BBFC. It also throws doubts on the ability of films to "deprave and corrupt". Although the report was shelved after the change of government, it raised a huge controversy between liberals and moralists by introducing a "modern" way of seeing film censorship. The report itself is a very clear document divided into three main sections - background, principles and proposals - which
also offers a few useful appendices, such as a comparison with film censorship in other countries [See also Simpson, Pornography and Politics]

Pornography & Politics, The Williams Committee in Retrospect, by Prof
A W B Simpson, one of the comittee members.

It's even more liberal than the report itself & gives a lot of background. Most
useful probably is the Foreword by Samuel Silkin, the Attorney-General
at the time, which is a pretty glowing testimonial for the report, including:

"But those who read the report objectively could hardly fail to be
persuaded that, if anything, the Committee was over-cautious in its
conclusion that a link between pornography and sexual or violent crime
could not be either established or refuted. The evidence seemed to
point strongly to a lack of connection and to establish that the
problem is one of taste rather than one of moral welfare."

On the other hand, this book makes it clear that the government that
commissioned the report found it too liberal for their tastes and it
didn't at the time result in any changes in the law.