A bit of a warning…
When you’re traveling to London, I hope that you don’t spend very much time in your hotel. There are so many things to see and do in the city that you should never get bored.
That said, at the end of a long day it can be a bit relaxing to chill out with some television before bed, particularly on holiday. However, for those of you traveling with small children, there are some things you need to be aware of with late-night television.
The UK has a “watershed” time of 9pm. Before that time, adult content of any sort cannot be shown. That means no nudity, no swearing, etc. However, after that watershed time, nearly anything goes.
If you’re flipping through the channels after 9pm, you may experience a very different experience with British TV than you would with American TV, for example. Swearing is commonplace after 9pm, particularly on some of the comedy shows. Nudity isn’t as common, but some channels have certainly found that “sex sells.” None of it is really pornography; most of these shows are just dealing with various sexual health topics. However, it is not unusual to see full nudity of both males and females and depictions of intimacy, and not just brief glimpses.
Why am I mentioning this? Well, for families with children I think it’s important that you understand some of the cultural differences before you travel. What’s permitted to be shown on UK normal broadcast television after 9pm is drastically different than what is allowed on US normal broadcast television. You can easily pick up a free newspaper around London in the morning or afternoon and check out the television listings to see if there’s anything specific that you don’t want your children to see.
I know I am still occasionally surprised as to what is completely legal to be shown on evening television here in London.
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