The Mirror - Gail Porter on Love and Her Life

WHAT with her cuddly toy collection, her trampoline and a penchant for wearing her hair in plaits, it's easy to forget that Gail Porter will be 30 in March. Even if you close your eyes, trying to blot out the little-girl features, it's hard to believe she is old enough to vote. Never mind run her own television production company.

Perhaps it's the TV presenter's inability to sit still for a minute that turns her into a slightly more voluptuous version of Peter Pan. Perhaps it's the constant schlurp of her drink making its way through the straw. But, most likely, it's her knack of peppering even the most "grown-up" conversations - the new man in her life or VAT returns - with a sudden reference to Willy Wonka and his Chocolate Factory.

An hour in her company is like being faced with the knickerboker glory of your childhood dreams: At first it is a pure delight; halfway through, you feel a bit sick; and by the end you realise you are too old for all this. Even if you are the same age as her.

She bursts into the London pub, all trendy txainers and falling-down jeans (size six) and demands to know if everyone is having fun. She comes armed with her mobile phone ("in case my man texts me") and her best friend, Charlotte Wheeler, a TV producer, is also her business partner. But you'd never guess that from the Porter introduction.

"This is my mate Charlotte," she says, delivering a playful punch in the ribs. "She's bonkers, you know." The pair set up their company, Heroine, last year and - if they are to be believed run it between drinking sessions. This week, they are also teaming up to promote the first-ever Celebrations National Friends Day.

"I said I'd do it 'cos friends are brilliant," Gail explains. "You can have the best man in the world, but your friends will still be more important."

They met when Gail turned up in the offices where Charlotte was working, desperate for a foothold in the London TV scene. Charlotte looked the tiny wannabe up and down, then sniffed. Gail was determined to win her over. Now Gail makes their business venture sound like child's play. "Oh, we just come up with ideas, then meet TV people in the pub and talk aboutthem. We don't wear suits or anything. We are just mad, really. They love it. We haven't had any of our ideas picked up yet, but it is early days. I think we'll be huge."

Of course, Gail is already huge in TV terms. Programme makers seem entranced by her exuberance in front of the camera. She has already notchedup stints on The Big Breakfast, Top Of The Pops and as frontwoman on the Channel 4 show Dotcomedy, which endedlast week. At Christmas she popped up, complete with wand and tutu, as the fairy on They Think It's All Over (the show on which Charlotte is associate producer). She also fronted the New Year's Eve live celebrations from her native Edinburgh.

This year sees her first venture into film with a small part in a comedy. And who can forget the lads' mags? Ever since her naked bum was projected on to the Houses of Parliament as part of a magazine publicity stunt, Gail has become a regular on the pin-up circuit. "I didn't know they were going to do that with my bum," she insists. "I was annoyed. I had to phone my grandadand warn him. But I accept that the exposure did me quite a bit of good, so I can't get too pissed off."

Ask Gall herself to describe her amazing route to stardom, one which took her via B&Q, and involved years as a dogsbody in Scottish production companies and she'll tell you that it "just sort of fell into place".

"I never planned anything," she insists, eyes wide. "I just knew I wanted to entertain people. I wanted to be Princess Leia in Star Wars. I just kept slogging away. I. knew I would make it some day."

Those who work with Gail, however, describe a fiercely-ambitious young woman determined to get to the top. Today, with a pop star boyfriend and a trendy Soho loft apartment, it's hardly surprising that Gail exudes a puppy-dog enthusiasm for life. The latest flurry of excitement comes from her new man, Toploader guitarist Dan Hipgrave. They met at the Q music awards a few months ago, and she reckoned he was "just her sort".

"I go for kind of dirty, indie pop-star types," she confides, whispering like a 14-year-old who has bagged her first boyfriend. When a text message presents itself, she waves her phone around. Barbie finally has her Ken. "Ooh, it's my man!" she cries. "He loves me! Charlotte has your man texted you today? No? Give me your phone, I'll call him to tell him off."

Of course Hipgrave is not her first boyfriend. Gail's love life has occupied almost as many column inches as her clothes, or lack of them. Her last relationship was Prodigy star Keith Flint, whose pierced tongue and dangerous reputation seemed at odds with her image. But it appears this relationship might be The One. Hipgrave, it seems, has the best friend vote of confidence.

"Charlotte hasn't liked a lot of my boyfriends," admits Gail. "But she likes Dan. Of course, I never listened to her before, but I'm glad they get on." She still seems confused about the end of her relationship with Flint. "I don't really know what went on there, but it wasn't to be," she says.

"I love Dan because he is as bonkers as I am. I knew from the first moment that I saw him that there would be something between us. At first I was concerned about how he would cope with being Gail Porter's boyfriend. People have the welrdest notions about me. Matthew Wright used to call me the Stripping Pixie. "There's a lot of of pressure because every time I go out there are photographers. Dan was a bit blown away by it all at the beginning. But, thank God, he got to grips with everything.

"Now he just love me for what I am. We have a laugh with the gameboy. He buys me toys." Which brings us to her trampoline. "I'm going to get one," she declares, arms flailing again. "Now I jump up and down on my bed to wake myself up, but I'd really like a proper trampoline. Although I wouldn't drink while I was jumping, 'cos I might throw up. I don't drink beer amyway. It makes me burp. Like Charlie in Wllly Wonka and the Chocolate Factory when he drinks the fizzy lifting drink? That's me when I drink beer."

Dan and Gail were recently spotted househunting in London, but marriage is out of the question. And Gall would "rather poke her eyes out" than contemplate having children. "There isn't a maternal bone in my body. I never ever, ever, want to have children. Ugh! No. They are not for me," she exclaims, her face contorting in disgust. I've made-up my mind and that's that. I don't mind holding my friends' children, but I never want my own. I've told my mum and she isn't bothered."

"People tell me I'll change. One day I'll have this all-consuming urge to have a little Gall - but I just know that won't happen. I'm too busy thinking about my career and going out enjoying myelf to worry about responsibilities like that."

She looks horrified at the mere suggestion of an accidental pregnancy. "Not me. That wouldn't happen. I am far too organized." This is probably correct. Gail my try to convince you that everything about her is spontaneous, but that is far from true. Behind the wacky front is a woman who knows her own mind. During our interview she orders a plate of lettuce, then sends it back when it comes with dressing. She is a self-confessed gym obsessive who gets up at six every morning to work out.

Her lithe figure isn't just the product of her boundless energy. The only time she is still, she says tellingly, is at home with her Slendertone. But even then she likens it to her cuddly bears. "It is my latest toy. It's the most brilliant thing. You Just lie there and it does all the work."

Charlotte is her biggest fan. "There isn't anything remotely negative about Gail," she explains. "She just charges through life, not worrying about anything. It's as if she has never really grown up. And never wants to grow up. It's impossible to be down when she is around. She makes you realise that life should be fun."