Test Card music and other delights.

November 5, 2009 4:16 AM

BBC test card music and other delights. Relive those rainy summer afternoons when the only thing to watch on television was a photograph of a girl playing noughts and crosses with a clown to an easy listening soundtrack who would later be fictionalised for Life on Mars. Join the club!
posted by feelinglistless (18 comments total)

Oh. When you mentioned "Life on Mars," I thought this was "the girl with the mousy hair" from the Bowie song and someone was finally going to explain that song to me.

Great post anyway!
posted by marxchivist at 4:44 AM on November 5, 2009

I love this. You are my new favourite Mefite.

Strangely, I don't seem to remember the ultra-cool "Shaft"-like jazz-funk that accompanies a lot of these test cards.

To relive those days in full, you also need to aimlessly "surf" around Ceefax.
posted by idiomatika at 4:46 AM on November 5, 2009 [4 favorites]

I am totally going to buy an hour of tv in oregon for test card television. Open source and good music, too!
posted by parmanparman at 4:57 AM on November 5, 2009

Frank Sidebottom and Little Frank re-enact the BBC test card.

Best discovered at 3am when stoned and channel surfing.
posted by vbfg at 5:36 AM on November 5, 2009 [1 favorite]

Excellent find, thank you!
posted by timshel at 6:31 AM on November 5, 2009

Once I swore that I saw her arm move ever so slightly. I then sat there and stared at the screen for hours waiting to see if she would move again.
  Not on drugs, I was about 5 years old at the time.
posted by Webbster at 6:34 AM on November 5, 2009

Nice. I'd become interested in BBC test cards from Life on Mars and started looking into all this. Terribly disappointed they replaced the little girl between seasons, though.
posted by Durn Bronzefist at 6:34 AM on November 5, 2009

This is the most boring show ever. No wonder they have to charge for a TV license.
posted by cjorgensen at 6:53 AM on November 5, 2009

cjorgensen -- you should see my family at Christmas watching "the fireplace" show.

Wait -- it's coming up -- there it is! The hand!
posted by Durn Bronzefist at 6:57 AM on November 5, 2009

<3
posted by strixus at 7:06 AM on November 5, 2009

Oh. When you mentioned "Life on Mars," I thought this was "the girl with the mousy hair" from the Bowie song and someone was finally going to explain that song to me.

The song's narrative is about a girl who goes off against her parent's wishes to meet/runaway with someone who never shows up, so she spends all night in a movie theatre, watching various shorts, cartoons, and movies.
posted by The Whelk at 7:06 AM on November 5, 2009

Whoa, I had no idea this was real when I watched Life on Mars. Thanks!
posted by Menomena at 8:17 AM on November 5, 2009

It never occurred to me that "Tic-Tac-Toe" could have another name. Woah.

My
mind
is
blown.
posted by parilous at 8:42 AM on November 5, 2009 [1 favorite]

I'm not British and therefor have no memory of these, but these are awesome. Muzak is just what I needed today.
posted by The Devil Tesla at 8:55 AM on November 5, 2009

This is great, I loved that girl and she was even in use on Swedens state television for a while "SR färg TV", then we had girl and doll and later your typical Swedish blond. I've always been fascinated by these random girls on telly to be honest, so when I made a new 404 page I naturally had to pose as test card F girl with the biggest stuffed animal I could find.
posted by dabitch at 10:08 AM on November 5, 2009

The best of all TV Muzak
posted by PeterMcDermott at 10:11 AM on November 5, 2009 [1 favorite]

I thank you for this post, if only for finally explaining to me why the Boosh were photographed like this!
posted by Mael Oui at 9:53 PM on November 5, 2009 [1 favorite]

Hahaha! Love that Boosh version.
posted by dabitch at 1:52 AM on November 6, 2009