In Great Britian, is there really NO smoking minimum age and a 16min age for drinking?

Question

Also, I was watching the show Skins which just premiered in America on BBC and it looks like they constantly show naked and making out 16 year olds. Don't they have child pornography laws like in America?

Answer 1

It gets a bit technical. It's an offense to supply tobacco or alcohol to someone who is under age (18 for both, although when Skins was being filmed the age for tobacco was 16 (there's an additional complication in that you can buy alcohol at 16 if you're having it with a meal)), however it's not an offense for a minor to smoke or drink the tobacco and/or alcohol that they have nefariously obtained.

Are you sure that the actors are 16? If there is gratuitous nudity then chances are they'll be 18+ year olds playing 16 year olds.

Answer 2

The minimum smoking age is 18 while the minimum alcohol purchasing age is 18, the minimum drinking age for drinking with a meal when an adult orders the drink is 16 and the absolute minimum for being provided alcohol without medical supervision is 5.

As for Skins, most of those actors are 18 or older, and nudity, making out, and child pornography are not the same thing.

The UK does not have a clear definition of child pornography, but forbids "indecent" depictions of a child. Most people, especially people in the UK, where people are less prudish, would not consider nudity in and of itself indecent.