LIVESTREAM Policing Pornography: Obscenity and Corruption in Soho, 1950–1980
Watch the Live Stream of this event from the comfort of your own home.
Policing Pornography: Obscenity and Corruption in Soho, 1950–1980
Thursday 28th May 2026, 18:30
In the 1960s and 1970s, Soho was the centre of Britain’s illicit pornography trade. In the backrooms of bookshops, a business in explicit photographs, magazines and 8mm films flourished, despite the Obscene Publications Act 1959 making their sale a criminal offence.
Drawing on police investigation files and first-hand accounts, Professor Oliver Carter reveals how members of the Metropolitan Police’s Obscene Publications Squad operated a corrupt, informal licensing system in which pornographers paid regular bribes in exchange for protection and advance warning of raids. The arrangement depended on protection at senior levels within Scotland Yard and became embedded in the policing of obscenity.
When the corruption was exposed in 1972, officers were prosecuted and imprisoned, forcing a reckoning within Scotland Yard. The episode highlights the difficulties of enforcing a law that relied heavily on discretion and interpretation, and the unintended consequences that can follow when regulation proves unclear or inconsistent.
Our guest will be bringing the Under the Counter archive into the museum – including archival footage, interviews, legal documents, and the (edited) artefacts themselves – to animate this fascinating episode in Soho and police history.
Professor Oliver Carter researches hidden economies of cultural production, with a particular focus on the intersections of technology, law, and commerce. His most recent monograph, Under the Counter: Britain’s Trade in Hardcore Pornographic 8mm Films (Intellect, 2023), examines the underground adult media economy in postwar Britain through archival and material analysis. He is currently working on a second volume. More of his work in this space can be found at www.under-the-counter.com (NSFW).
Booking essential as places are limited.
Timings: doors open at 18:15 and entry before then will be refused. The talk begins at 18:30 and lasts approximately 75 minutes, including a Q&A with the audience.
Conditions of entry: please note that this event features discussion of explicit material and mature themes. Although explicit artefacts shown will be edited for legal reasons, this event remains restricted to those over the age of 18.
Tickets: there are two ways to attend this event, in person at Bow Street Museum, or online via livestream (using Zoom).
Prices to attend via Zoom: £6
Ticket options
Watch the Live Stream of this event from the comfort of your own home.
Policing Pornography: Obscenity and Corruption in Soho, 1950–1980
Thursday 28th May 2026, 18:30
In the 1960s and 1970s, Soho was the centre of Britain’s illicit pornography trade. In the backrooms of bookshops, a business in explicit photographs, magazines and 8mm films flourished, despite the Obscene Publications Act 1959 making their sale a criminal offence.
Drawing on police investigation files and first-hand accounts, Professor Oliver Carter reveals how members of the Metropolitan Police’s Obscene Publications Squad operated a corrupt, informal licensing system in which pornographers paid regular bribes in exchange for protection and advance warning of raids. The arrangement depended on protection at senior levels within Scotland Yard and became embedded in the policing of obscenity.
When the corruption was exposed in 1972, officers were prosecuted and imprisoned, forcing a reckoning within Scotland Yard. The episode highlights the difficulties of enforcing a law that relied heavily on discretion and interpretation, and the unintended consequences that can follow when regulation proves unclear or inconsistent.
Our guest will be bringing the Under the Counter archive into the museum – including archival footage, interviews, legal documents, and the (edited) artefacts themselves – to animate this fascinating episode in Soho and police history.
Professor Oliver Carter researches hidden economies of cultural production, with a particular focus on the intersections of technology, law, and commerce. His most recent monograph, Under the Counter: Britain’s Trade in Hardcore Pornographic 8mm Films (Intellect, 2023), examines the underground adult media economy in postwar Britain through archival and material analysis. He is currently working on a second volume. More of his work in this space can be found at www.under-the-counter.com (NSFW).
Booking essential as places are limited.
Timings: doors open at 18:15 and entry before then will be refused. The talk begins at 18:30 and lasts approximately 75 minutes, including a Q&A with the audience.
Conditions of entry: please note that this event features discussion of explicit material and mature themes. Although explicit artefacts shown will be edited for legal reasons, this event remains restricted to those over the age of 18.
Tickets: there are two ways to attend this event, in person at Bow Street Museum, or online via livestream (using Zoom).
Prices to attend via Zoom: £6
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