The Old Grey Whistle Test Pan Alley phrase from years before. When they got the first pressing of a record they would play it to people they called the old greys – doormen in grey suits. Any song they could remember and whistle, having heard it just once or twice, had passed the old grey whistle test. On 23 February 2018, a one-off three hour special of The Old Grey Whistle Test was broadcast on BBC Four, hosted by Bob Harris to mark 30 years since the final episode aired. The show's focus on "serious" rock music, rather than chart hits covered on BBC1 by
Big Country at the BBC Footage from "Top of the Pops" (including two separate performances of both "Fields of Fire" and "In a Big Country" from their 1983 chart run), "The Old Grey Whistle Test" and "In Concert" is featured on the DVD. Its centrepiece is Big Country’s Hogmanay performance from Edinburgh Playhouse, originally screened live as part of the BBC’s New Year celebrations in 1984/1985. Billy Sloan, who fronted the broadcast for "Whistle Test", is quoted in the sleeve notes and recalls that, as 1985 arrived, he had nothing stronger than "Scotland’s other national drink" Irn-Bru to toast the band with. Big Country’s Bruce