Annie Nightingale the early 1980s she presented a Friday night show and the non-music-based "Radio 1 Mailbag" and "Talkabout". In 1978, Nightingale became the main presenter of "The Old Grey Whistle Test" on BBC2 as a replacement for long-time host Bob Harris. During her tenure, the show moved away from its traditional bias under Harris towards country music, blues rock and progressive rock and embraced popular modern styles such as punk rock and new wave. She left the series in 1982. She had begun "The Sunday Request Show" in September 1975, originally on Sunday afternoons until the end of 1979. It began
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