Test Card F is a test card that was created by the BBC and used on television in the United Kingdom and in countries elsewhere in the world for more than four decades. Like other test cards, it was usually shown while no programmes were being broadcast, but was the first to be transmitted in colour in the UK and the first to feature a person,[1] and has become an iconic British image regularly subject to parody.
The central image on the card shows eight-year-old Carole Hersee, playing noughts and crosses with a clown doll, Bubbles the Clown, surrounded by various greyscales and colour test signals needed to ensure a correct picture. It was first broadcast on 2 July 1967 (the day after the first colour pictures appeared to the public on television) on BBC2.
The card was developed by a BBC engineer, George Hersee, father of the girl in the central image. It was frequently broadcast during downtime on BBC1 until that channel went fully 24 hours in November 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. The card was also seen on ITV. Test Card J, Test Card W and Test Card X, which are digitally enhanced, widescreen and high definition versions respectively, have replaced it, although they are very infrequently broadcast because the BBC now broadcasts BBC News and Ceefax pages on its terrestrial channels during downtime. Testcards now only appear during the annual RBS Test Transmissions (part of engineering works taking place around January) and during the BBC HD preview loop, which uses the BBC HD Test Card.
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Virtually all the designs and patterns on the card have some significance. Along the top (see above) are 95% colour-bars in descending order of luminance - 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. Standard greyscale and frequency response tests are found on the left and right respectively 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 child was depicted so that wrong skin colour would be obvious and not subject to changing make-up fashions. 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 inequality would make the clown's yellow buttons turn white. The name of the broadcasting channel usually appeared in the space underneath the letter F — a sans serif F denoting an original optical version of the test card.
Originally a photographic slide made up of two transparencies in perfect registration - one containing the colour information and the other the monochrome background — the card was converted to electronic form in 1984 when electronic storage became possible.
A sound of some kind usually is transmitted in the background. It is sometimes music, usually a composition commissioned by the station itself or "royalty-free" stock music. Composers whose music has been used include Roger Roger, Johnny Pearson, Neil Richardson and Frank Chacksfield.
However, during more recent years in which the Test Card is only played during engineering tests on the BBC, it is more common to hear a steady tone of various pitches accompanied by a female talking clock. Test Card music had ceased to be frequently heard in the 1980s (though it continues to be played over Pages From Ceefax).
Along with his Test Card F co-star Carole Hersee, Bubbles has appeared for an estimated total of 70,000 hours[2] on television, equivalent to nearly eight whole years, which is more than any living person other than Carole (who still owns Bubbles).[3]
Bubbles' original body colour was blue and white, but the BBC engineers decided that green was also needed within the scene[4] as the other two television primary colours, red and blue, were already shown. A green wrap was made to cover his body and this can be seen in Test Cards J and W, along with more of his body shown in the photograph[5] — revealing the fact that he is actually holding a piece of chalk, which was not previously visible.
However, the shade of green material chosen was too subtle for the engineers' liking and so Bubbles' body colour in Test Card F was retouched (this can be seen from the edges of his image) to make it more saturated and also to give it a higher luminance value on screen.[4]
Since the late 1990s, Bubbles has only very rarely appeared on television as Test Card F has been discontinued, and Test Cards J and W are very seldom shown due to the advent of digital television and 24-hour programming.[5]
For the fortieth anniversary of Test Card F, there has been renewed interest in Bubbles in the media; in a 2007 interview, Hersee mentioned that she took Bubbles into school with her to prove to her headmaster that she really was the girl in the picture.[6]
The BBC Website (as of June 2009) features Bubbles next to a chalkboard with '404' inscribed on it when a user visits a page that does not exist. (BBC Website 404 Page)
The BBC website's '500' Internal Error page features Bubbles next to a chalkboard but with fire in the background.
Variations and parodies of Test Card F are common in British broadcasting, Internet sites and games.
| “ | Any small child catching sight of Noel Fielding of The Mighty Boosh in his clown gear would vow never to go to the circus again.[9] | ” |
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