Carole Hersee
Check the behind the scenes section, the revision history and discussion page for additional comments on this article's title.
A girl once appeared on a television test card in 1969.
The Tenth Doctor once described seeing a girl who played noughts and crosses with a clown on television. (PROSE: Autonomy)
The Third Doctor arranged to have the broadcast of the final of Make a Star replaced with the test card, thus defeating the Master's plan to release yet unwritten songs and unravel the timeline. (PROSE: Hidden Talent)
The Fifth Doctor tried to tell Nyssa about test cards, after they saw the original 1963 test card on Bob Dovie's television, but she had no idea what he was talking about. (AUDIO: The Light at the End)
Behind the scenes
The image of Carole Hersee and a toy clown playing noughts and crosses was the real world image used on BBC produced test cards, such as Test Card F. Hersee's father, George Hersee, was the BBC engineer who developed the test card. A version of this test card appears in the Cyberman Ident Interruption in 2017, in which a CyberMondan 'interrupts' BBC One's continuity announcement and 'upgrades' announcer Duncan Newmarch. As this happens, a distorted test card featuring the image of Hersee briefly appears as the transmission is interrupted.
The test card was shown when no programmes were being broadcast, from 1967 until the BBC began 24-hour programming in 1997. As a result, the test card became one of the most iconic images in British popular culture, with Hersee currently holding the status of most aired face in British television history. The test card featuring Hersee's image has also been used beyond the BBC, such as by ITV and even foreign broadcasters such as Norway's NRK and Sweden's SVT.
