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. It 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 Carole Hersee playing noughts and crosses with a clown doll, Bubbles the Clown, surrounded by various greyscales and colour test signals used to assess the quality of the transmitted 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 daytime downtime on BBC Television until 29 April 1983 and was still seen before the start of programmes until BBC1 began to broadcast 24 hours a day in November 1997, and on BBC2 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 in the 1970s, occasionally used in conjunction with Test Card G.

In the digital age, Test Card F and its variants are very infrequently broadcast, as downtime in schedules has largely become a thing of the past. Several variations of TCF have been screened, among them Test Card J (digitally enhanced), Test Card W (widescreen) and its high definition variant, which is sometimes erroneously referred to as Test Card X.

Up until the UK's digital switchover, the testcard made an appearance during the annual RBS (rebroadcast standby) Test Transmissions and, until 2013, during the BBC HD preview loop, which used Test Card W.
Q1653619
test card
MISC
Q9531
BBC
ORG
Q289
television
Concept
Q145
United Kingdom
LOC
Q15416
programmes
Concept
Q15078788
broadcast
Concept
Q170539
parody
Concept
Q5044683
Carole Hersee
PER
Q210339
noughts and crosses
Concept
Q685727
greyscales
Concept
Q216108
BBC2
ORG
Q2176252
engineer
Concept
Q5540559
George Hersee
PER
Q261492
BBC Television
ORG
Q191472
BBC1
ORG
Q1038123
Pages from Ceefax
MISC
Q220072
ITV
ORG
Q2148757
Test Card G
MISC
Q133454
high definition
Concept
Q2330048
digital switchover
UNK
Q1638793
BBC HD
MEDIA
Q7705708
Test Card F
MISC
Q7705708
Test Card F
MISC
1967-07-02T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
2 July 1967
DATE
1983-04-29T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
29 April 1983
DATE
1997-11-01T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
November 1997
DATE
1998-01-01T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
1998
DATE
1999-01-01T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
1999
DATE
1970-01-01T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
1970
DATE
2013-01-01T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
2013
DATE
+2^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#decimal
2
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+1924^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#decimal
1924
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2001
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+1^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#decimal
1
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+24^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#decimal
24
NUMBER
+2^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#decimal
2
NUMBER
instance of
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depicts
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date of first performance
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use
country