Forum:Pregnancy tests

Hello, I am currently researching the history of pregnancy tests on television and trying to track down the earliest instances on Coronation Street. So far I just have episode 1587, Weds 31 March 1976, thanks to Corriepedia: http://coronationstreet.wikia.com/wiki/Episode_1587_(31st_March_1976)

I'd really like to know about any other epidoes that feature or discuss pregnacy testings, especially if they predate Michelle Fowler's famous teen pregnancy in the first series of EastEnders in 1985. The earlier the better.

Searching for "pregnancy" turns up hundreds of hits, and I haven't had a chance to go through them all. Nor am I sure that every pregnancy test will be included in synopses. So if you can please help me out, I'd be extremely helpful. Basically, you are my best hope.

Thanks and all the best,

Jesse

Well, you perhaps assume that television wasn't as subtle prior to 1976 with such announcements and I suspect most of the early ones will be just the wife telling the husband (no babies outside of marriage then) that they were going to have a baby. The "how and why" weren't gone into. But the announcements seem to have been in:

and that was it!If you look at the page List of births and pregnancies, you'll see that there were very few prior to Tracy Barlow in 1977.--Jtomlin1uk (talk) 16:49, August 18, 2015 (UTC)

Thanks, those are very good to know about. Do you think there were any tests between 1976 and 1985? Cheers, Jesse

I'd imagine that most pregnancies within that era were confirmed either by a medical examination or a test conducted at the GP's surgery. Very difficult to pinpoint specifics, but usually - as John says, an announcement. Karen2310 (talk) 17:05, August 18, 2015 (UTC)

Nick Tilsley and Dawn Yeats were definately discrete announcements. You have to realise that before EastEnders came along with its "in yer face" shock values, Corrie managed very well at the top of the ratings for a quarter of a century without rank sensationalism!--Jtomlin1uk (talk) 18:46, August 18, 2015 (UTC)

Thanks again both. You are right that tests would have been mostly clinical until the 1980s. The first home test kits were marketed in 1971, but they did not become really popular until much later. It would certainly work my argument if pregnacny testing only gained prominence with programmes like EastEnders and Brookside, so I'd be happy if earlier Coronation Street episodes did not do pregnancy testing. Having said that, I will watch episode 1587 at the BFI next week to see how they handle Deirdre Langton's pregnancy test. Otherwise, I think Coronation Street's first teenage pregnancy was Sarah-Louise Platt in 2000, which is rather late in the game - and even she (and her mother) found out from a doctor, not a home test. Cheers, Jesse