Dudley's David makes the cut as Britain's chief film censor

Now David Austin, who was raised in Dudley, watches films for a living in his role as Britain's chief censor.

Earlier this month the 52-year-old took up post as the new director of the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC).

He makes the final decision on the rating for every film released in the UK, and when you go to the cinema it is his signature you will see beaming back off the screen shortly before the start of the movie.

His day-to-day work involves scrutinising every type of film imaginable, from rom-coms to horror flicks, from thrillers to pornography.

He is charged with running the rule over some of the most gruesome and bloody violence ever committed to tape, but Mr Austin says the sights he sees now are tame in comparison to what he witnessed first hand in his previous job.

The brother of Dudley North MP Ian Austin, he spent 16 years working in the Foreign Office's Diplomatic Service, with one of his tasks being to help end conflict in the former Yugoslavia.

The role – for which he received an OBE in 1999 – involved sitting around the table with notorious war criminal Slobodan Milosevic in an attempt to negotiate peace.

It was a job that persuaded him it was time for a change of scenery.

"I got shot at," he tells me, rather matter-of-factly.

"The final straw came in 1998 when I was away in Kosovo for a month. My daughter asked my wife if I had died. That's when I knew it was time for a change."

Mr Austin joined the BBFC in 2003, initially as an examiner. "It was a lot safer, although there are similarities with my diplomatic work," he said.

"I was still analysing and making recommendations."

In 2014 the BBFC classified 955 films released in UK cinemas – 400 more than in 2009 – but the organisation also runs the rule over content for multiple other platforms, including DVD, Blu-Ray, Netflix, Amazon Prime and online streaming sites such as YouTube and Vevo.

"Today we are classifying fewer DVDs, but we still looked at between 8,500 and 9,000 in 2014," said the father-of-two, who lives in West London.

"That's still pretty healthy. We are also now looking at a significant amount of content that will only be available online, which has certainly broadened our work."

The organisation has a staff of 42 and prides itself as being the public's trusted guide to what is suitable for each age category of film.

BBFC guidelines are drawn up with the input of the public, and every four years a consultation goes out to 10,000 people to update them.

"Our number one priority is the public," Mr Austin said. "The consultations give us a pretty good idea of what people expect from us and enable us to adjust our standards accordingly.

"I think we have such a high level of public trust as a result."

But he readily admits that classifying films is not always straightforward. The 12A rating, introduced in 2002, has been particularly divisive.

The BBFC came under fire over the 12A certificate given to The Dark Knight in 2008, with some viewers complaining that it deserved higher certification.

It garnered the BBFC's lowest approval rating ever for a rating, with 30 per cent of people saying the film should have been classed as a 15.

The organisation is left with a delicate balancing act. While the priority is upholding the expectations of the public, the BBFC also has a duty to help film makers make their product available.

"Film makers want to get their work out to as wider audience as possible," Mr Austin said.

"There is often an expectation that if a film gets a PG-13 rating in the USA it was be rated a 12A here. This can happen, such as with the last Harry Potter film.

"But for other films we may give a rating of 15. This tends to happen in films where violence and horror are key themes.

"Sometimes studios get frustrated and we will try and work with them to see if any parts of the film can be cut to bring down the rating."

Such was the case with The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 2, which was given a 12A rating after the BBFC had requested changes to the original film.

"We basically asked them to decrease the amount of blood and in particular the focus on bloody wounds. Most of the changes were done digitally, so it didn't reduce the film's running time but significantly changed the amount of violence."

Despite his day job, Mr Austin says his love of film that began when he was a small child remains undiminished.

He grew up on St James's Road and attended the Dudley School, now Castle High School, where his father Fred was headteacher.

His early experiences of film were at the Plaza and the Odeon, the town's two now long gone cinemas on Castle Hill.

"I had school friends whose mothers were cleaners at the Plaza, meaning we used to get free tickets," he recalls.

"I have fond memories of seeing Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. I also remember seeing the version of Scrooge with Albert Finney. I was terrified!

"That's probably when I realised the power of film. Even then I was interested in ratings as it can affect what you can and can't see as a child.

"I think being passionate about films is one of the prerequisites of the job I do now."