In April 1965 Eon Productions sent a shooting script of Thunderball to the BBFC for advice on how the finished film might be considered for classification. The letter published here [pdf] details the BBFC’s lengthy response to the script. Mindful that an X certificate would not be consistent with the previous three Bond films, the letter specifies over thirty aspects of the script that could be problematic for an A certificate.
John Trevelyan sums up the general concern of the BBFC when he explains:
I get the impression that this screenplay has been deliberately hotted up with a view to its including more sex, sadism and violence than the previous Bond pictures, and… it seems less light-hearted in tone.
In the end only one cut was required – the sight of Bond stroking the back of a partially nude girl with a mink glove.
