British Board Of Film Classification Director Robin Duval is to retire in August after five and a half years at the helm.

Duval oversaw the Board's first major public consultation exercise resulting in the Classification Guidelines published in September 2000.

The Board now classifies 14,000 titles a year - up from 5712 titles in 1998.

Duval said: 'My period as Director of the BBFC has been immensely stimulating and challenging. I shall be very sad to leave. I believe the publication of the Guidelines, the Board's websites and our continuing engagement with the public through research and publicity have made the Board's decisions much more understandable and acceptable."

Before joining the Board Mr Duval was, for seven years, the Deputy Director of Programmes at the Independent Television Commission.

The search for his replacement will begin immediately via open competition.