Test Card F

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, and has become an iconic British image regularly subject to parody.

The central image on the card shows eight-year-old Carole Hersee (born 1958), 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 (1924-2001), 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 ITVin the 1970s . 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 Promo loops of programmes shown on the channel on its terrestrial channels during downtime. Testcards now only appear during the annual RBS (rebroadcast standby) Test Transmissions and during the BBC HD preview loop, which uses Test Card X.