Is there any reason to believe that British cinema became more 'permissive' in the period from Darling to The Long Good Friday?

Whilst this essay focuses on the period dating from 1965 to 1979 I think that it is an inevitably more permissive path that British cinema has followed throughout history. Film has progressively become a far more accessible, and daring, medium as technological advances have allowed increased distribution channels for film and with a greater use of more fantastic special effects this has released the imaginations of scriptwriters, producers and directors. Along with these inevitable technical improvements that …

…', Sight and Sound, vol. 4, December 1994 Russell, Ken, A British Picture: An Autobiography (London: Heinemann, 1989) Russell, Ken, ''The Devils' and the Censor', in Forbidden Cinema, Sight and Sound, supplement with vol.6, no. 6, June 1995 Sinclair, Iain, 'Smart Guys', Sight and Sound, vol. 6, no. 8, August 1996, pp.22-3 Wollen, Peter, 'Possession', Sight and Sound, vol. 5, no. 9, September 1995, pp.20-3 Wood, Robin, Hitchcock's Films Revisited, (London: Faber & Faber, 1989) Filmography. The Devils (1971) The Long Good Friday (1979) A Clockwork Orange (1971)