BBC Online - The Gail Porter Interview

Best known now for presenting BBC-2's Sunday morning music and entertainment series Fully Booked, Gail Porter has been working both in front of and behind the cameras for six years. She's a familiar face on children's television for both BBC and ITV, and has co-presented BBC Scotland's Children In Need appeals.

If people haven't seen Fully Booked yet, how would you describe it to them?
It's a magazine show with a lot of laughs, music, reports on new films and videos. It changes all the time, though. One moment it's got Buried Treasure, the game show we film and then it's got cartoons. Everything to everybody amused on a Sunday morning - adults as well as children. When I go out on a Saturday night in town I'm bombarded by adults asking about it. I think they watch it on a Sunday morning while they get over their hangovers.

What's the best and the worst thing about presenting Fully Booked? (Anna Price, Harrogate)
The best thing is that I have such a laugh with Chris and Tim. You get to meet so many great people and the team is brilliant - it's like going up to a family there. I can't think of a bad thing, I don't even mind the early mornings. I suppose it'd be the travelling, as with flying a lot it feels as if you've missed a day somewhere. But really there's nothing bad about it at all.

It seems a difficult show to present - with three of you sharing out the work amidst such a lot of items going on.
I don't find it hard. This week's one was, with Boyzone coming in and we had a lot of bands on so it was hard getting your head around who was on when. But the three of us, the presenters, get on like a house on fire. We never think of it as a difficult job because we like it so much.

Watching that Boyzone interview, you had a lot of fans in the studio and whenever you asked the lads anything it seemed to cause a scream - especially when one question turned out to be from a fan right there. Do you find that with such an intense reaction, you automatically play to the studio audience or do you try to ignore them so that you can concentrate on the viewers at home?
We were actually warned with Boyzone that we'd better not walk into the audience because of the reaction they'd get. But when I asked that question and heard the scream, I realised what had happened and I thought she'd love it if we pointed her out. You've got to be aware that you have to play to the camera, but I like to make sure the whole audience is involved. It's nice because they all come at about 8.30am, an hour before the show starts, and Chris and I come out to see them, talk a bit, warm them up. Chris does go in during the show and do jokes with them most weeks, too.

What would cause you to give up your job? (Anna Price, Harrogate)
Nothing! I don't think I could ever not work, I'd hate that - unless someone would offer me a penthouse somewhere hot...

How do you see your career developing in the years ahead with the beeb? (Niall Magner, Dublin)
I hope to get into comedy - both writing and performing. I'm working on a couple of ideas now, which I'm trying to work with my manager to promote. But presenting work seems like it all fell into my lap. It wasn't planned and I just take it one day at a time. I find it easy to get in front of the camera and have a laugh, and I hope that if I'm having a good time, so will the viewers. I went to Beaconsfield Film School, too, just outside London, and did production management there, so I would like to produce and I don't think I'll be presenting forever. That all helps with my job now, too, because I realise how much work people are doing in putting the show together.

How long have you been involved in television - specifically children's television - and how did you get into it? (Chris Heard, Bridgwater)
I've been working in TV since I left college when I was 21, six years ago. I was a runner, a VT operator, any back stage job I could get in TV. Then one day I decided "I could present a programme!" so I sent in a tape of me blathering away. That tape got me onto a series called Total Interactive Game Show - after the first interview they took me and I jacked in my job. Now I fly up to Scotland from London to do Fully Booked, I'm doing How 2 for ITV - I used to watch How! When I was a kid - and I'm also doing a series called It's A Mystery. It's seven days a week at the minute, but I'm having a ball.

Who is your favourite person? (Muhammad Shabir, Pakistan)
In the whole world? It would have to be my mommy! If it weren't a family person, it'd be Eddie Izzard. I've never met him but I think he's great. And James, the lead singer of the Supernaturals. I've interviewed him, he's nice. Researchers on Fully Booked give us suggested questions but if we're interested in an act, we're allowed to put our own to them, too.

What's the best and the worst thing about presenting Fully Booked?
The best thing is that I have such a laugh with Chris and Tim. You get to meet so many great people and the team is brilliant - it's like going up to a family there. I can't think of a bad thing, I don't even mind the early mornings. I suppose it'd be the travelling, as with flying a lot it feels as if you've missed a day somewhere. But really there's nothing bad about it at all.

Who is better, All Saints or the Spicies? (Anna Price, Harrogate)
Oh, well... Let me think. I think that they're both good in different ways - how's that for diplomatic? I'm not a particular fan of either, but they've done well for themselves and good on them. Too many people, especially in the media, are quick to build them up and then bring them right back down again, which is awful.

What's it like having your own fan website - did you even know that you did?
No, I didn't know. Oh, my God! How bizarre. As long as it's saying nice things, though, that's alright. What's the address?