THE MOST UNDERRATED ANGLOSPHERIC NOVEL:

"That's part of nature - nature is very tough," explains Martin Rosen, Watership Down's director, speaking as the film marks its 40th anniversary this weekend. "Richard [Adams] was very strong on that element. I felt it was absolutely critical. I did not make this picture for kids at all. I insisted that the one-sheet [the film poster] indicate how strong a picture it was by having Bigwig the rabbit in a snare. I reckoned a mother with a sensitive child would see that - a rabbit in a snare with blood coming out its mouth - and reckon, 'well maybe this isn't for Charlie - it's a little too tough'." [...]

There was no PG rating in the UK in 1978 - so it was either U (universal) or 15. It was felt the former was more fitting. The film's suitability became an unlikely source of debate two years ago when Channel 5 aired it at 2.25pm on Easter Sunday. Families across Britain sat down to what they presumed would be a tale of cuddly derring-do in the woodland.

Instead, they and their children were assailed by an hour and a half of death and cruelty. After the Channel 5 switchboard and Twitter feed lit up with complaints, the head of the British Board of Film Classification intervened, saying that, released today, Watership Down would almost certainly carry a PG rating.

"The film has been a U for 38 years, but if it came in tomorrow it would not be," said David Austin. "Standards were different then." It's a debate likely to be reignited when the BBC and Netflix debut their new TV adaptation of the book this December (it's as yet unclear whether it will be as gruesome as the movie).

Adams, who died in 2016 aged 96, was aware his story could be considered visceral - but saw no reason why he should apologise. In an interview with The Telegraph in 2014, he said: "I never consider the readers. I was allowed to read anything I liked when I was little, and I liked all sorts of things that I shouldn't have been reading." [...]

[T]he idea that such films have the potential to distress an entire generation has been challenged by recent research. Death on the screen can provide a healthy basis for children to discuss difficult subjects, a 2017 University of Buffalo study found.

"These films can be used as conversation starters for difficult and what are oftentimes taboo topics like death and dying," said a study author. "These are important conversations to have with children, but waiting until the end of life is way too late."

With a BBC/Netflix adaptation due on Christmas Day, Adams's world of feuding rabbits is likely to have a fresh lease of relevance. It already has its modern equivalents: Coco is similarly matter-of-fact about the reality of death.

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