Test Card F
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Test Card F is a test card that was created by the BBC and used on television in the United Kingdom and elsewhere for more than three decades. Like other test cards, it was usually shown while no programmes were being broadcast. It is the most well known test card worldwide, has become an iconic British image and is regularly subject to parody. The image on the card shows an eight-year-old [1] girl, Carole Hersee, playing noughts and crosses with a clown doll, surrounded by various greyscales and colour tests needed to ensure a correct picture. It was first broadcast in 1967 on BBC2.
The card was developed by a BBC engineer, the late George Hersee, father of Carole, the girl pictured in the central image. It was frequently broadcast during downtime on BBC1 until that channel went fully 24 hours in 1997, and on BBC Two until its downtime was replaced entirely by Pages from Ceefax in 1998, after which it was only seen during engineering work, and was last seen in this role in 1999. Test Card J and Test Card W, which are digitally enhanced and widescreen versions respectively, have replaced it, although they themselves are very infrequently broadcast because the BBC now broadcasts BBC News 24 and Ceefax pages instead of a test card on its terrestrial channels.
Contents |
[edit] Technical information
Virtually all the designs and patterns on the card have some significance. Along the top are the main colours of white, yellow, cyan, green, magenta, red, blue and black. There are triangles on each of the four sides of the card to check for correct overscanning of the picture. The standard greyscale and frequency response tests are found on either side of the central picture. On the updated Test Card J, the X on the noughts-and-crosses board is an indicator for aligning the centre of the screen. A person was depicted so that wrong skin colour would be obvious. Even the garish colours of the clown had a purpose, according to the BBC, because their juxtaposition is such that a common transmission error called chrominance/luminance delay made the clown's buttons show up white.
The name of the broadcasting channel often appeared in the space underneath the letter F. Originally a photographic slide, the card was converted to an electronic version in 1984.
[edit] Trivia
- The clown doll is named Bubbles.
- In the 1970s ITV satirical series, End of Part One, there is an audition for a new test card 'girl'. This features various adults (including a bearded man) sitting behind a giant test-card cutout and attempting the same pose as Test Card F.
- The image has appeared on recordings of easy listening music played during transmissions: The Girl, The Doll, The Music and Big Bandwidth, both released by Chandos Records.
- A fictional version of Test Card F, of sorts, appears in the BBC television series Life on Mars. A girl resembling Carole Hersee acts as a sort of spiritual guide in the series. Watch the Clip
- According to Keith Harmer, a collector of test cards, Carole Hersee is in the Guinness Book Of Records as the person who's appeared on television for more hours than anyone else [2].
- The Weebl and Bob cartoon "merchandise" features a parody of Test Card F, in which Carole is replaced by Weebl and the clown is replaced by Bob (wearing a clown's hat and makeup).
- A close-to-Test card F (With Carole replaced) can be seen in 2006 on Channel M as part of the Frank Sidebottom show.
- Julian Barratt and Noel Fielding of BBC3's cult comedy programme The Mighty Boosh posed for a parody of Test Card F for Guardian Unlimited in 2006.
