Annie Nightingale: Bird on the Wireless

This documentary is a radio show with pictures. To film Annie Nightingale talking to camera is rather a pointless exercise. Her story is fairly dull and brings little new to the viewer, especially if one has been a music fan for many years. it would have worked just as well as a radio broadcast. The only surprise for me was to see how much Annie had aged (I had not seen her for years). Lots of music people like Paul Weller have nice things to say about her and how she has helped new bands (no-one mentioned that her son managed Primal Scream when we were being told how much of a help she was to them!!) I have to say overall it was a rather boring story and I have to admit I turned it off after half an hour. Disappointing!

Yes, she's an old lady now, in her seventies, and Brook's unflinching portrait shows her as she is, wrinkles and all. Far from being stuck in her pioneering Swinging Lodon heyday, Ms Nightingale is passionate about new music, championing upcoming artists in dubstep and grime. She's allowed to tell her own story here - no tiresome cutaways to an interviewer doing "noddies", and no presenter's voice-over. Brook's directorial modesty means her vitality comes across undiluted - she never wallows in nostalgia. Key figures from her long history speak for her, and contemporary clips are used for context. The film has a nicely textured look, and is altogether a loving and skilled portrait of someone who rarely gets the credit she deserves. Anyone interested in how pop music has been broadcast since the 'sixties will find this fascinating stuff.