BBC Test Card F (1978)

[thee4thdoctor]

Seems like so long ago since I was a kiddie in the 70's,and I remember her well!

Thankyou!

Cheers ; )-

[SnapshotOfASoul]

I wasn't planning on sleeping tonight anyways.

[Barkermush]

I remember this when I was kid, in the early/mid 90's.

I'd fall asleep then wake up to the horrible bleep/screaching noice, with a pitcure of this girl and the doll. Sure it use to have a countdown timer, untill the nex t program started?

And it wasn't music like this, it was a continued bleep or screech noise iirc.

[minicolster]

An embarrassed Carole Hersee disliked this.

[RetroClassicVintage1]

I bet Carol Hersee was actually scared shitless by that clown... :)

[rtuckerivey]

It's just a picture. It won't jump out in your face, grab out a knife, and kill you in 4 in the morning or something.

[TheZeldacrazy]

i remember waking up at like 3:00 am and seeing this, i shat myself!

[DarkAquatix]

0:46 - 0:50 sounds very similar to the Wallace & Gromit theme tune...

[t1000eg]

i wonder who won the game of 0 and x's

[GreenerHill]

Do you know the title of the music, please? It's one of the best pieces!

[JFredUK]

@GreenerHill The tune is called, 'finally, swing-time', by Pit Fontana's New Sound, and is from the tape of the same name.

[GreenerHill]

@JFredUK Thanks you lots. :)

[khoigame]

OMG Please make more your amazing

[doodles01]

An enduring image that many people remember from their childhood. I liked it so much I put it as the background on my channel!

[DannyFox06]

Carole Hersee and Bubbles.. She still owns that clown... and she has the longest screen time of any person ever.

[pieman3007]

I vividly remeber these when I was a child, always confused me as the music seemed so perky, but the image was slightly sinister...who is the girl, why is she forced to sit at a blackboard and what is that damn clown up to?

[23565120]

@pieman3007 The girl's name is Carole Hersey, and her father designed BBC testcards A child was used as the skin colour would be a normal shade of pink,(as she wore no make-up)and could so be used to judge skin tone rendering. I dont think Carole was "forced " to do it as you claim. The X on the board indicates the actual centre of the picture, and the colours of the doll and even the colour of the tablecloth are there to facilitate adjustments to the receivers. Not so sinister after all, Eh?

[ChrisHenniker]

@23565120

I couldn't help notice the engineers had a good eye for aesthetics as well as well as function. Using a child playing is better than using colour bars, which don't reflect the use of the appliance realistically. We watch people on telly, not blocks of colour.

[karma780]

Most gigantic lying mouth of all time?

[IwillKillYourCereal]

It's the f***ing clown man! That's what has been giving me nightmares all of these years!

[MichaelGareth2008]

This image gave me nightmares

[HarvestmanMan]

EEK

[mrtnwhite]

Enjoying watching this while I wait for the BBC website to come back online again so I can watch iPlayer!

[Feisty1967]

that picture used to scare me as a child!

[TheClarksonFan]

I like the fact that the creators of Life On Mars played on the fear that people used to have of this.

[amyanubis]

I miss this even the though the clown scared me a little

[xoxohellokitttyxoxo]

I'm Ukrainian, and I recently turned fourteen years old. I wish instead of moving to Michigan, my parents chose the U.K. instead, because even though I still wouldn't have been born while this test card was in use, I would be able to parody it and people would actually know what I was talking about. Also, this thing would probably scare the heck out of me.

[petitemoineau]

I remember as a kid in the UK a neighbour had two tellies, one with no sound and the other with no picture, he had to use them both, but it was still telly. I remember the golly/puppet/whatever it was with the girl used to give me the willies, still does for that matter.

[NGMan62]

@petitemoineau You was a boy if you're male or a girl if you're female. You should not disregard your own gender... and use the word 'kid' for its immoral qualities.

[blueriderccx]

@NGMan62 Go fuck yourself, then fuck off with this gender shit.

[RobertTheDodger654]

When the continuity announcer said "Now BBC1's returning to a Trade Test Transmission", it sounded as though he was very angry - he was always in a very bad mood during the day.

[aerotro]

In those days most TV sets were dodgy the old valve TV's needed constant tune re-alignment of the red green and blue guns many engineers that fixed TV's did not have portable test pattern generators that's why we had these Test Cards so engineers could fix TV's more effectively I know this because I used to wait for these buggers to come on too lol

[Richyhello]

@Gu1tar1st

Yeah that is kinda weird actually as you're 42 years old, and the girl in the picture is 8.

So considering that a 42 man 'still' fancies a picture of an 8 year old girl, I'd actually call that paedophilia.

[BillxMach]

OMG! CLASSICAL MUSIC!!!!!!

[ricadus]

Seems more interesting than Big Brother at least.

[FantasyMindedMan]

Checkout my rare footage of the girl moving in the test card.

[plmpnlnja1985]

It would be cool if they used the test card on bbc 2 late at night instead of ceafax. It would be a nice send off to analogue tv.

[Truemouse]

@plmpnlnja1985 Or, with the switchover to digital, have a CGI version of her that occasionally makes faces, or doles out random information just like Ceefax does.

[stephaniemurrayxx]

who the hell stayed up to watch songs of praise at 3:15... thats the pneultimate question

[Truemouse]

@stephaniemurrayxx I did, then I discovered The Tube on Channel 4

[Orlabobz]

Interesting, it was last seen in 1999? I can still really remember this coming on! not like 'oh we have 15 mins till the next programe' sort of thing, but every now and again, it would come up if the broadcast would become unresponsive. Scared the bejazus out of me!! Tv was so much cooler in the 90's....that said, I'm a 90's kid. :)

[ORALORALSEX]

I know it's insane

Never seen this happen before

Maybe russsia are gonna Bomb ??

[ExpoFever]

the same card is on now i don't get it me and my bro a puzzled why this is on cause it should be bbc news 24

[3AProductionz]

anybody kno whats happened to bbc 1 i was watching news for fuck sake lol

[ORALORALSEX]

Turn quick now to BBC 1

they are playing the test card hurry

[1210djy]

just amagine if that testcard fell and there was to guys playing strip pocker :D

[mauricemicklewhite]

A good test card.

[dalekofdoom2]

i actually prefer these to the ridiculous adverts you get nowadays

[wildone106]

That thing gave me nightmares too!

[FantasyMindedMan]

I have very rare footage of the Girl poking the clown in the eyes! also her eyes move. i have the only footage.

[Gu1tar1st]

I was born in 1968, and I really fancied the girl in the test card when I was about 7 or 8. Ah them were the days. I still fancy her now, as I'm still a kid on the inside when I see this. Does that make sense? Weird...

[NGMan62]

@Gu1tar1st You are a gender-disregarding fool. You was a boy or a gay girl. She's too young for you, now.

[MsMasterLuke]

I remember sneaking down stairs in the early hours on saturday mornings, waiting for the cartoons to come on!

[mgsfag9]

That is the scariest thing i think i may have ever seen .

[JasonJason210]

Crazy music. I'm sure they used the same song in the Generation Game at the end, with Bruce.

[XShellsX1]

One of the things i'd love to do was go back in time to that period- tv was so different!! This test card look really interesting, yet kind of creepy!!!!!

[lordilujah]

this is better than the spec you get from the bbc nowadays or maybe not lol

[spike4buffy07]

This scares me D:

[nickcresswell]

This is how dull life was in the 70s! People would sit through this for 15mins whilst waiting for Song's of Praise. Dear God please preserve us!!

[Matt571]

I remember Test Card F well from the late 80s and early 90s - I'm wasn't born until 1979, though and I am too young to remember the trade test transmissions.

The music is much better here than the dull Ceefax-style music they had on the test card in the late 80 and early 90s. Like so many kids, I used to find Test Card F very strange and wonder what it was and why the girl never moved!

[HelloNewYorkCity]

BEST

SHOW

EVER

PERIOD.

[blueriderccx]

Anyone know who won? The girl or the clown? I WANNA KNOW!!!!!

[ChrissyboyH44]

thats exactly what Ive been wondering and joking about all day, lol!!!!!!

[boyrichboy]

Probably the Clown.. If shes stupid enough to play against a doll clown, shes bound to stump herself, and beat herself lol

[AdrenalineAddict610]

@blueriderccx I think Carole won, since, well, Bubbles is an inanimate doll.

[geraldnapper]

Its been years since i've heard this sorta stuff :( and well, 2003 was the last ever time i heard it...

[hulk239239]

at 00:18 is that called a clock card if not whats it called and dont say a clock i mean in television

[Marillionmad]

This would have driven me mad !!!!

[MrGordongecko2007]

hear hear.

[Marillionmad]

Makes me glad i wasent born in the 70's I am a 90's man me ! :)

[MadHobbit]

@Marillionmad someone will say that about the 90's in 10-20 years.

[lordilujah]

@Marillionmad love old marillion stuff and i remember this cos iunfortunatley am from the 70's !

[lordilujah]

@lordilujah i agree that Marillion were fantastic and Fish still puts out amazing solo stuff

[georgeman2468]

Haha, that last comment, is soooo TRUE!

[AnElephantsChild]

This reminds me chickenpox & measles, days off school & a bed on the settee.

I have a strong craving for a bowl of Heinz cream of tomato soup every time I see it !

[steelcityred]

freaky

[SPTSuperSprinter156]

I don't ever remember seeing this testcard, it's pretty freaky though - that clown does it for me!

[JFredUK]

At the time, no-one thought much about the, 'trade test transmissions', shown in the spaces between programmes on the BBC. But, now they're gone, a lot of older people are nostalgic about such occasions, reflecting a time in their younger days, sat listening to some, 'easy listening', music on the long afternoons of a school holiday. I had my own favourites, which even years later, I still remember.

I guess I'm just getting old, but TV seemed so much more wholesome back then. (sigh...)

[sirtinycreep]

Correct.

[Sunzuki2012]

@JFredUK Life is like that, when you were a boy older people would make the same remarks about their youths.

[cloud1244]

GREATEST....VIDEO....EVER!!!!!­

[ceaselessidleness]

Well, I seem to disagree with almost everyone as I ADORED the test card in my youth. I found the music pleasant and comforting and I have to say that if it was back instead of the garbage of Daytime TV, life might be a bit less chaotic.

Kids have a HUGELY lower concentration-span nowadays, and that is partly due to the non-stop TV. My ex-husband's brother and his wife NEVER put the television off and their two young kids sit in front of it all day. How are they going to turn out I wonder?

[dacotv]

I can't believe I'm watching this!

[lewis450]

There is a test card fan club,what would you talk about when you meet up?the girl,who one noughts and crosses..lol

[RobertTheDodger654]

When the announcer said "Now BBC1's returning to a Trade Test Transmission", it sounded like he wasn't in avery good mood; in actual fact he almost never was.

[Grendan24]

This show is bad ass

[Thitoss]

i don't know why but this picture scares me...

[andyjee86]

same. hated it as kid, hate it now

[TheGeezerboi]

Its funny u both say that coz there was something i always found eery and creepy about it as a kid aswell

[Thitoss]

yeah i've to admit that it is very strange. and it's not because of the sound, the picture is the problem.

weird...

[LemosAde]

I think it's the doll

[Thitoss]

maybe. :/

i think it's the whole image. i don't know.

[TheGeezerboi]

I think its the doll too but im not sure lol i agree its the picture not the sound but the sound adds to the eeriness of the creepy picture

[lohanette]

Wish they still showed this so I could set TV.

[qadorr]

omg a blast from the past

[hardy309]

wtf it made m laugh

[PhilW93]

this video is so random xD what was the use for these cards?

[cwilliams1976]

To ensure that the picture and the colours and everything else was fine.

[CaliforniaGirl088]

FREAKY lol i remember this when i was young -_- in the 90's. not really that long ago is it?

[TKGB2006]

The UK gets a test card with muzak and a photograph while we americans get a bunch of bars with a long beep that would kill your ears if the volume was too loud. Unless of course you got stoned, then the color bars had a purpose.

[djmcc1981]

Miss these days :(

[sirtinycreep]

Brilliant. I remember the Beeb playing 'The Days of the Old School Yard' (by Cat Stevens) while a test card was shown. :D

[redsnapper1959]

That would've been the tape that started with Bread's "Baby I'm A Want You" around 1980.

[Overfiend002]

Test card F used to scare the shit out of me when I was young kid with an overactive imagination... there just wasn't something right about that staring girl, the clown and the eerie BEEEEEEEEEEP

[sushilnash]

COMPLETELY AGREE! i hated this testcard when i was young, it was terrifying!

[wildphoenix1984]

@Overfiend002 The staring, that's what got me. Creepy little girl! Even her clown I could put up with, but her STARING! *shudder*

I was terrified of her for a very long time, even after they got rid of her, if I heard the beeeeeep-beeeeep-beeeeeeeeeeee­eeeeeep that was enough to bring it all back!

[kakoroto]

me too !!!!

[skyd900]

noise

[skyd900]

Yea that clown use to scare me and the beeping nose in the 1995 test card f (shivers)

[artwel123]

what exactly was up with that freaky clown ? now i think i know why my m8 has a clown phobia..

[SSJ3Sandslash]

this is a catchy tune while they're showing the test card!

^_^

[gordonbleedinbennet]

nnnyyyaaaarrggggg....test card music

[cwilliams1976]

The music here is from the trade test tape Finally Swing Time

[mazzab1970]

The music sounds like something from a 'Carry On' film. It just needs Barabara Windsor to giggle half way through and have Bernard Breslaw shout 'Si--id'. Class!

[sabuecw1990]

i remember the test card thing used to scare the hell out of me.can u imagine sleepin downstairs wakin up in the dark with this on.i would have died of fright lol

[Truemouse]

@sabuecw1990 Life On Mars had it right. We were afraid we'd blink and she'd have buggered off, or crawl out of the screen and mortify us in our sleep.

[mackfeck]

bbc digitatal text = major letdown....... barely 1/4 of the old analogue text/ceefax content. my licence fee direct debit's getting blocked next time. bring it mo'fos

[Hyc0t3]

Haha, don't mess about with the government when it comes to something petty like a licence fee.

I recieved about 20 phonecalls from a friends in Saudi Arabia and Jordan, and the day my licence goes out of date I get a huge geezer interrogating me on my doorstep as to why I haven't renewed it.