Screen Test ( TV Series 1970 - 1984 )



 

Screen Test was a UK children's quiz show about films, broadcast from 18 November 1970 to 20 December 1984 on BBC1. When it was launched in 18 November 1970, Screen Test was one of the earliest children's TV quiz shows in the UK; it was originally intended to be transmitted during Blue Peter's annual break. In 2001, Michael Rodd commented on Channel 4's 100 Greatest Kids' TV shows: "We made five programmes originally in black and white, which were going to go into the summer slot that Blue Peter left when they all went on holiday. Then, we made the next five in colour (BBC2 was then the only colour station available in the UK)  so we knew we'd really arrived then!"

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Viewing figures began to fall in the early 1980s, and the BBC decided that the series had run its course. In 1984 Screen Test was dropped.

 

Contestants aged around 11 were shown a series of film clips, with each one being followed by a series of questions specifically about the content of the clip. Most episodes included a clip from a film made by the Children's Film Foundation as one of the rounds.

Aside from the quiz, early in its run, the programme featured pre-filmed items about the film world and later a young film-makers' competition. Viewers were invited to send in films they had made themselves to be judged by anonymous experts. The prize at stake was a selection of camera or projection equipment. This competition was first introduced in the 1973 series. Michael Rodd stated that it was included because "with Screen Test only being shown once a week, and with only four contestants each week, there were thousands of young people who could not possibly ever take part in the programme, so the BBC decided to launch a competition to encourage viewers to take an interest in making their own films." The Oscar-winning Jan Pinkava was the winner of the 1980 series with his film The Rainbow. Runners up were awarded with a sophisticated looking certificate of merit that would be sent in the mail. One of the young film makers, Will Bilton, reported that, after his 8 mm animated film Gus & Guzzles was broadcast on 4 November 1984 in the final series before Screen Test was cancelled, he received an unexpected cheque of £15. This motivated him to continue with his career in animation