--- title: Fifty Shades of Grey Movie: London Fire Brigade Issues Handcuffs Warning description: London Fire Brigade warns Fifty Shades of Grey moviegoers who try handcuffs not to get stuck so firefighters can handle real emergencies canonical: https://time.com/3708221/fifty-shades-of-grey-effect-london-fire-brigade/ author: Olivia B. Waxman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-02-12T23:13:39.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T08:03:06.725Z og:title: London Firefighters: Please Don't Get Stuck in Handcuffs After Seeing 'Fifty Shades of Grey' og:description: London Fire Brigade warns Fifty Shades of Grey moviegoers who try handcuffs not to get stuck so firefighters can handle real emergencies og:url: https://time.com/3708221/fifty-shades-of-grey-effect-london-fire-brigade/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: London Firefighters: Please Don't Get Stuck in Handcuffs After Seeing 'Fifty Shades of Grey' twitter:description: London Fire Brigade warns Fifty Shades of Grey moviegoers who try handcuffs not to get stuck so firefighters can handle real emergencies twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # London Firefighters: Please Don't Get Stuck in Handcuffs After Seeing _Fifty Shades of Grey_ > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. TIME is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: August 2026. ## TIME The Brief: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition The Brief is one of seven email newsletters published by TIME, the news organization founded in 1923. The day's top headlines, curated by TIME editors. The Brief brings TIME's perspective to the day's most important stories, helping readers understand not just what is happening, but why it matters. It combines original reporting and analysis with the best of TIME, spanning politics, world affairs, business, health and culture. 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It curates the day's top headlines with TIME's reporting and analysis across politics, world affairs, business, health and culture. It is free to join at time.com/newsletters. #### How do I sign up for The Brief? The Brief is available free at time.com/newsletters, where readers can select it along with any of TIME's other six newsletters. There is no subscription required to receive it. #### Is The Brief free? Yes. The Brief is a free daily email newsletter from TIME. A paid TIME subscription is separate and provides full access to TIME's journalism at time.com/subscribe-agent. #### Who writes The Brief? The Brief is led by editor Richard Hall and draws on reporting from TIME's newsroom. Every edition is assembled by TIME editors rather than generated automatically. ## Video: Video: Fans Welcome E.L. James to New York [Watch (HLS stream): Video: Fans Welcome E.L. James to New York](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/fooCMHAM.m3u8) (7:09)  _Published 2012-03-30. Enthusiastic fans welcome E.L. James, the author of the “Fifty Shades” trilogy, to New York_  by [Olivia B. Waxman](https://time.com/author/olivia-b-waxman/)  ## Olivia B. Waxman Staff Writer Feb 12, 2015 11:13 PM UTC  by [Olivia B. Waxman](https://time.com/author/olivia-b-waxman/)  ## Olivia B. Waxman Staff Writer Feb 12, 2015 11:13 PM UTC On Thursday, the London Fire Brigade [warned](http://www.london-fire.gov.uk/news/LatestNewsReleases%5FAA70ED7F665640C5857103C448B776A0.asp#.VN0izVodXDo) lovers who are inspired to use handcuffs after seeing _Fifty Shades of Grey_ to keep the key within reach so firefighters can spend time attending to actual emergencies. The department published a similar alert in summer 2013, arguing that it has seen an increase in the number of these incidents since E.L. James’s best-selling erotic trilogy became popular. “In 2013-14, firefighters attended 472 incidents involving people being trapped or stuck, often in everyday household items,” [according to](http://www.london-fire.gov.uk/news/LatestNewsReleases%5FAA70ED7F665640C5857103C448B776A0.asp#.VN0izVodXDo) a release. The authorities release cheeky alerts about the most bizarre 999 calls, from the man who got his “manhood” stuck in a toaster to the man who had “fallen behind a toilet and become trapped.” _Read next:_ [_The Fifty Shades of Grey Movie Won’t Arouse You Like the Book Did, According to Science_](http://time.com/3706466/fifty-shades-of-grey-movie-erotic-science/) ## Transcript I discovered the books, I would think, the way that most people did. It was word of mouth, passing of a whisper. My friend Vanessa, came up to me and said, did you read 50 Shades of Gray? And I said, no I've been in a writing slump. And she said, you need to read it. And you need to do it now. And you need to wear a pantiliner. [ SOUND ] The night of the event I was sweating, I was shvitzing. They came in in droves. They came in in limos, they came in car services. They drove in. Long Island, Westchester, Conneticut, New York City, Uptown, Downtown. [ SOUND ] They were all there to see EL James. I was completely and utterly stunned by the reaction to these books. I'm completely gobsmacked. [ CROSSTALK ] Just having it on my own Facebook page I had 650 RSVPs for this event in two days. [ CROSSTALK ] A godsend, you have, you have changed every mother and if you're not a mother, every woman's life. [ CROSSTALK ] Basically it's a, a love story. A love story with a kink is what I like to call it. [ CROSSTALK ] [ CROSSTALK ] Let me know if any of this is based on any truth of your own life. I wrote the books for myself. It's, it's my fantasy writ large. And Christian, Christian had created this kind of mystery man. He's very good looking. He's very good at sex, he's disgustingly rich, he's every woman's dream in a way. Well, he's certainly my dream. His answering grin is dazzling, and he opens the throttle and speeds around the Fair Lady and on out to sea once more and I think I'm forgiven. [ NOISE ] I read Twilight And I loved it, and then I discovered Twilight fan fiction and then I came up with the idea for what would eventually become 50 Shades and I wrote that. Cuz I was also a huge Twilight fan and why do we love it so much? First of all, the way that you write is unbelievable. Like I feel like I'm there. And second, it's a sense of security, like when he found her at the bar. When Robert Patterson found her when she was about to get raped. It's like a sense of security, a little jealousy, and good sex. And the way you describe it. No, it's doing the right thing at the right time. [ LAUGH ] My husband was a little jealous. He didn't say that he was jealous, but he was a little short with me. At first it was cute with him, but then when I was not paying attention and reading at night as opposed to watching a show that we usually watched together he would get a little bit of like, you're reading that book again? I'm like well that book is going to get you lucky later, so shh. After we have a child sometimes, you know, you, you just let you, you, everything changes in your life. [ CROSSTALK ] It's about your children and it's about, your running your career. Your career and your job and your work and your home and whatever it is, and sometimes you forget, to [ UNKNOWN ]. [ LAUGH ] At the book signing someone told me that they had never had an orgasm before, and they're 43 years old and they had an orgasm. Someone told me they had an orgasm just reading the book and I just thought, really, what's your name again? And just signed the book very quickly, I mean, you know, it was extraordinary. I love when she uses the periods for emphasis, it changes the whole dynamic of the writing. You are so beautiful, he breathes. I stare up at his dear, dear face bathed in the intensity of his gaze. It's as if he's seeing me for the first time. I'm sorry, I don't know what came over me. I curl up in his lap, inhaling his heavenly Christian smell. Feeling safe regardless of the fact that he's mad. Me neither, where would you like, he murmurs. He runs his hand up my bare leg to my thigh, besides this dress has its advantages. And before I'm even aware of it he's unzipping his pants, pulling me astride his lap and sinking in to me. I grasp at the back of the chair, my feet just touching the ground and we start to move. Men are visual. You know, you walk in, in lingerie, they immediately are like, oh my god, yes that's what I want. Women are not necessarily that. For me, it was that voice that was in this book, Christian's voice. Like everyone's trying to, to cast Christian. And yeah, there all these beautiful actors that I see out there. But for me, it's my husband's voice. I think that's it also. I think I was reading the book and I think I became Anna, a little bit. Not that we're so similar, I mean, we are in certain ways. That I like the way she kinds of, you know, stood up for herself. But, we all wanna be take control of a little bit. [ SOUND ] Kind of what I've noticed is that [ CROSSTALK ] what Anna achieved in the book is not something that you spell out, but what she has really done is changed this man, and I think that... This woman female character changed this man, and I think that's really at the core of it. Where, we can't change our mates, and we are told this by every psychologist on every show and in every magazine article. You cannot change your man. Men, you cannot change your woman. And she changed him! And I think that's a huge attraction for women who have been married and going through life and raising their children that, wow, she actually did it. None of us did it [ LAUGH ] but she did. [ CROSSTALK ] We have a man here. Woo! It's a decision that you have to make. Do I wanna go with this beautiful flawed damaged man or not? Because he comes with so, so much baggage. He has a lot of baggage. He's a fixer upper. It was a little bit about the sexual part but it was mostly about this innocent woman Who was able to change Mister Grey. I felt like the diva in her, in her, empowered her, and that was the uplifting part of the book, the romance part, the changing, the giving into each other. [ CROSSTALK ] a man can sometimes be treated [ CROSSTALK ]. They like to think that love can conquer all and redeem and heal and, I mean the story is about unconditional love really, underneath it all, I think. Oh my, he wants me, Christian Grey, Greek God, wants me and I want him. 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