Fully Booked
Encyclopedia
Fully Booked was a magazine show for children produced by BBC Scotland
and broadcast from 1995 to 1999, and in revised form as FBi in 2000. The show was a summer-time replacement for Live & Kicking
, which would normally not broadcast over the summer months. However, only the first series of Fully Booked and FBi actually went out on Saturdays, with all other series broadcast on Sundays.
. The show was presented by Zoë Ball
and Grant Stott
, and was set in a fictional hotel
. The presenters were joined by actor Paul Brophy, who appeared as a series of comic characters (such as 'Jan Van der Vall', 'Les Vegas' and 'Wee Alistair McAlistair'), and by a large puppet, a talking cow named Morag who was the hotel's receptionist
.
In 1996, the show returned in its new Sunday morning slot, with Zoe Ball having been replaced by ex-Neighbours star Sarah Vandenbergh, with Stott, Brophy's characters and Morag all returning. This series was not broadcast live but was 'recorded as-live', meaning that it was recorded in one session and broadcast as if it were a continuous live show (though without any live interactivity). This format was also used for the show's third series in 1997.
, Gail Porter
and Tim Vincent
. The show continued to use the magazine format, with guests, games, features, inserts and music; however, the 'hotel' gimmick was largely dropped in favour of relatively straightforward magazine presentation.
The 1999 series - the last under the Fully Booked name - continued in this new format, but with Gail Porter having decided to quit kids' TV, Kate Heavenor
was brought in to replace her. Heavenor had previously been presenting programmes for BBC Choice
, and was one of the first presenters to graduate from a digital BBC channel to a show on one of the mainstream terrestrial channels.
The show gained a reputation for allowing alternative bands to perform alongside the mainstream pop acts, and booked groups including Electrasy
, Shed Seven
, Catatonia
and St. Etienne
to appear during this era.
slot. The show was revamped again, with a new name: FBi (Fully Booked Interactive). A new studio set, title music and graphics were introduced to tie in with the new title.
The show was still hosted by Kate Heavenor, but Chris Jarvis and Tim Vincent were not involved, and were replaced by Vernon Kay
(previously a presenter on digital channel UK Play) and former Boyzone
member Keith Duffy.
The show had a similar mixed-magazine format to its predecessors, but aimed to increase the level of live interactivity by encouraging viewers to take part in the show via the internet, email
, text messaging
and telephony. Viewers were given the opportunity to take part in games and features and submit questions for studio guests.
's Sunday morning sequence of CBBC
links, the Saturday morning slot on BBC One
was available, but the BBC would not commission another longform programme. Instead, the CBBC links displaced from Sunday were transported across to the Saturday slot, often airing under the title Saturday Aardvark
(in reference to the character Otis the Aardvark
, who would present the slot, usually with Kirsten O'Brien
). During summer 1999, the strand was renamed "Planet Saturday".
each year produces content for the annual BBC Children in Need telethon, much of which is screened to viewers in Scotland and elements of which are screened as part of the networked show. Noticeably, for several years in the late 1990s/early 2000s, the Scottish CiN would come from the Glasgow studios and use a re-dressed version of the Fully Booked/FBi set; this was also the case in 2001, when the set used for the Glasgow-produced summer run of Live & Kicking
was used in a similar manner.
ran across the summer, broadcasting from the Glasgow
studios that had previously been home to Fully Booked/FBi. The autumn of 2001 saw the introduction of The Saturday Show
, which in its first two years was a year-round series, and then in 2004 and 2005 was itself the summer replacement for Dick and Dom in da Bungalow
. The BBC's next proper summer Saturday series was Mighty Truck of Stuff
in 2006, by which time all Saturday morning children's programmes had been moved to BBC Two.
From 2000, Sunday mornings on BBC Two reverted to a sequence of CBBC links, until September 2002, when Smile
moved across from the CBBC Channel
, and this show ran in the Sunday morning BBC Two slot near-continuously until August 2007, since when the CBBC sequence has usually been broadcast, albeit in truncated form to allow space for Something for the Weekend
to broadcast in the mid-morning slot.
BBC Scotland
BBC Scotland is a constituent part of the British Broadcasting Corporation, the publicly-funded broadcaster of the United Kingdom. It is, in effect, the national broadcaster for Scotland, having a considerable amount of autonomy from the BBC's London headquarters, and is run by the BBC Trust, who...
and broadcast from 1995 to 1999, and in revised form as FBi in 2000. The show was a summer-time replacement for Live & Kicking
Live & Kicking
Live & Kicking was a BBC Saturday morning children's magazine programme, running from 1993 to 2001. The fourth in a succession of Saturday morning shows, it was the replacement for Going Live!, and took many of its features from it, such as phone-ins, games, comedy, competitions and the showing of...
, which would normally not broadcast over the summer months. However, only the first series of Fully Booked and FBi actually went out on Saturdays, with all other series broadcast on Sundays.
Original format, 1995-97
The show launched in spring 1995 as a replacement for Parallel 9Parallel 9
Parallel 9 was a British children's television entertainment show that broadcast from 1992 to 1994. A total of three series - one in each year - was produced, and each series ran for up to twenty-two weeks Parallel 9 (commonly known as 'P9') was a British children's television entertainment show...
. The show was presented by Zoë Ball
Zoë Ball
Zoë Louise Ball is an English television and radio personality, most famous for becoming the first female host of the BBC Radio 1 breakfast show and for her earlier work presenting the 1990s children's show, Live & Kicking.-TV career:The daughter of the children's TV presenter Johnny Ball and his...
and Grant Stott
Grant Stott
Grant Stott is a Scottish broadcaster from Edinburgh, and currently works as DJ on Edinburgh radio station 97.3 Forth One. Grant is the brother of former television presenter John Leslie.-Television career:...
, and was set in a fictional hotel
Hotel
A hotel is an establishment that provides paid lodging on a short-term basis. The provision of basic accommodation, in times past, consisting only of a room with a bed, a cupboard, a small table and a washstand has largely been replaced by rooms with modern facilities, including en-suite bathrooms...
. The presenters were joined by actor Paul Brophy, who appeared as a series of comic characters (such as 'Jan Van der Vall', 'Les Vegas' and 'Wee Alistair McAlistair'), and by a large puppet, a talking cow named Morag who was the hotel's receptionist
Receptionist
A receptionist is an employee taking an office/administrative support position. The work is usually performed in a waiting area such as a lobby or front office desk of an organization or business...
.
In 1996, the show returned in its new Sunday morning slot, with Zoe Ball having been replaced by ex-Neighbours star Sarah Vandenbergh, with Stott, Brophy's characters and Morag all returning. This series was not broadcast live but was 'recorded as-live', meaning that it was recorded in one session and broadcast as if it were a continuous live show (though without any live interactivity). This format was also used for the show's third series in 1997.
Revised format, 1998-99
Fully Booked was revamped for its 1998 series. A new logo, title sequence and set were introduced, along with a remix of the theme music. The presenters and characters of the show's previous incarnation were all removed, with a new presentation team consisting of Chris JarvisChris Jarvis (presenter)
Chris Jarvis is a television actor and presenter and has appeared on BBC television since 1992 - apart from 2001-02 when he was with ITV and Channel 4....
, Gail Porter
Gail Porter
Gail Porter is a Scottish television presenter.- Life and career :Porter attended Portobello High School. She studied a BTEC HND in Media Production at West Herts College...
and Tim Vincent
Tim Vincent
Tim Vincent is a Welsh actor and television presenter who was a presenter on the popular children's programme Blue Peter between 1993 and 1997...
. The show continued to use the magazine format, with guests, games, features, inserts and music; however, the 'hotel' gimmick was largely dropped in favour of relatively straightforward magazine presentation.
The 1999 series - the last under the Fully Booked name - continued in this new format, but with Gail Porter having decided to quit kids' TV, Kate Heavenor
Kate Heavenor
Kate Heavenor is a Scottish children's television presenter for the BBC. She began her career on the then-new BBC digital channel, BBC Choice, presenting The Crew Room, a Saturday morning show. She later moved on to the main BBC services, presenting shows such as Fully booked, FBI, Children In...
was brought in to replace her. Heavenor had previously been presenting programmes for BBC Choice
BBC Choice
BBC Choice was a BBC TV station which launched on 23 September 1998 and closed on 9 February 2003. It was the first British TV channel to broadcast exclusively in digital format, and was the first new channel from the BBC since BBC Two launched in 1964...
, and was one of the first presenters to graduate from a digital BBC channel to a show on one of the mainstream terrestrial channels.
The show gained a reputation for allowing alternative bands to perform alongside the mainstream pop acts, and booked groups including Electrasy
Electrasy
Electrasy are a British rock band. Formed in 1994, the band consists of vocalist Alisdair McKinnell, guitarists Nigel Nisbet and Steve Atkins, bassist Alex Meadows and drummer Paul Pridmore...
, Shed Seven
Shed Seven
Shed Seven are an English indie rock band from York and were one of the groups which contributed to the Britpop music scene that evolved during the 1990s, yet never received the degree of mainstream success achieved by bands such as Oasis and Blur...
, Catatonia
Catatonia (band)
Catatonia were an alternative rock band from Wales who gained a national following in the United Kingdom in the mid to late 1990s. The band consisted of Cerys Matthews on vocals, Mark Roberts on guitar, Paul Jones on bass , Owen Powell on...
and St. Etienne
Saint Etienne (band)
Saint Etienne are an English Pop group comprising Sarah Cracknell, Bob Stanley and Pete Wiggs. They are named after the French football team AS Saint-Étienne.-History:Bob Stanley and Pete Wiggs were childhood friends and former music journalists...
to appear during this era.
FBi, 2000
In 2000, Fully Booked was replaced by a new live series, which returned to the Saturday morning BBC OneBBC One
BBC One is the flagship television channel of the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It was launched on 2 November 1936 as the BBC Television Service, and was the world's first regular television service with a high level of image resolution...
slot. The show was revamped again, with a new name: FBi (Fully Booked Interactive). A new studio set, title music and graphics were introduced to tie in with the new title.
The show was still hosted by Kate Heavenor, but Chris Jarvis and Tim Vincent were not involved, and were replaced by Vernon Kay
Vernon Kay
Vernon Charles Kay is a British television presenter, radio DJ, american footballer and former model. He began television presenting on the BBC children's programme FBi, a spin-off of Fully Booked. Since he has presented various programmes, most notably T4, Beat the Star and All Star Family...
(previously a presenter on digital channel UK Play) and former Boyzone
Boyzone
Boyzone are an Irish boy band comprising Keith Duffy, Mikey Graham, Ronan Keating,Shane Lynch, and formerly Stephen Gately. Boyzone have 19 singles in the top 40 UK charts and 21 singles in the Ire charts. The group currently have 6 UK number one singles and 9 number one singles in Ireland with 12...
member Keith Duffy.
The show had a similar mixed-magazine format to its predecessors, but aimed to increase the level of live interactivity by encouraging viewers to take part in the show via the internet, email
Email
Electronic mail, commonly known as email or e-mail, is a method of exchanging digital messages from an author to one or more recipients. Modern email operates across the Internet or other computer networks. Some early email systems required that the author and the recipient both be online at the...
, text messaging
Text messaging
Text messaging, or texting, refers to the exchange of brief written text messages between fixed-line phone or mobile phone and fixed or portable devices over a network...
and telephony. Viewers were given the opportunity to take part in games and features and submit questions for studio guests.
Saturday Aardvark
Due to Fully Booked moving to Sundays, displacing BBC TwoBBC Two
BBC Two is the second television channel operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It covers a wide range of subject matter, but tending towards more 'highbrow' programmes than the more mainstream and popular BBC One. Like the BBC's other domestic TV and radio...
's Sunday morning sequence of CBBC
CBBC
CBBC is one of two brand names used for the BBC's children's television strands. Between 1985 and 2002, CBBC was the name given to all the BBC's programmes on TV for children aged under 14...
links, the Saturday morning slot on BBC One
BBC One
BBC One is the flagship television channel of the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It was launched on 2 November 1936 as the BBC Television Service, and was the world's first regular television service with a high level of image resolution...
was available, but the BBC would not commission another longform programme. Instead, the CBBC links displaced from Sunday were transported across to the Saturday slot, often airing under the title Saturday Aardvark
Aardvark
The aardvark is a medium-sized, burrowing, nocturnal mammal native to Africa...
(in reference to the character Otis the Aardvark
Otis the Aardvark
Otis the Aardvark was a puppet presenter on Children's BBC. Otis mainly presented the afternoon links on BBC One alongside the main CBBC presenters....
, who would present the slot, usually with Kirsten O'Brien
Kirsten O'Brien
Kirsten O'Brien is an English television presenter and stand-up comic.She is known for presenting SMart, and presented Smile and Totally Doctor Who alongside Barney Harwood on CBBC....
). During summer 1999, the strand was renamed "Planet Saturday".
Children in Need
BBC ScotlandBBC Scotland
BBC Scotland is a constituent part of the British Broadcasting Corporation, the publicly-funded broadcaster of the United Kingdom. It is, in effect, the national broadcaster for Scotland, having a considerable amount of autonomy from the BBC's London headquarters, and is run by the BBC Trust, who...
each year produces content for the annual BBC Children in Need telethon, much of which is screened to viewers in Scotland and elements of which are screened as part of the networked show. Noticeably, for several years in the late 1990s/early 2000s, the Scottish CiN would come from the Glasgow studios and use a re-dressed version of the Fully Booked/FBi set; this was also the case in 2001, when the set used for the Glasgow-produced summer run of Live & Kicking
Live & Kicking
Live & Kicking was a BBC Saturday morning children's magazine programme, running from 1993 to 2001. The fourth in a succession of Saturday morning shows, it was the replacement for Going Live!, and took many of its features from it, such as phone-ins, games, comedy, competitions and the showing of...
was used in a similar manner.
After FBi
FBi was the final BBC summer Saturday replacement for several years. In 2001, Live & KickingLive & Kicking
Live & Kicking was a BBC Saturday morning children's magazine programme, running from 1993 to 2001. The fourth in a succession of Saturday morning shows, it was the replacement for Going Live!, and took many of its features from it, such as phone-ins, games, comedy, competitions and the showing of...
ran across the summer, broadcasting from the Glasgow
Glasgow
Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...
studios that had previously been home to Fully Booked/FBi. The autumn of 2001 saw the introduction of The Saturday Show
The Saturday Show (BBC TV series)
The Saturday Show was a BBC children's Saturday morning show that first aired in 2001, replacing the popular Live & Kicking. It had a mix of audience participation, cartoons, games and gunge. Initially it was presented by Dani Behr and Joe Mace. They left in 2002 and were replaced by Fearne Cotton...
, which in its first two years was a year-round series, and then in 2004 and 2005 was itself the summer replacement for Dick and Dom in da Bungalow
Dick and Dom in da Bungalow
Dick and Dom in da Bungalow was a CBBC children's entertainment television series presented by the duo Dick and Dom...
. The BBC's next proper summer Saturday series was Mighty Truck of Stuff
Mighty Truck of Stuff
Mighty Truck of Stuff was a children's television programme, where a truck is filled with toys and one phone-in viewer wins the contents of the truck. After the show, the truck is driven to the home of the winner. It was shown on Saturday mornings from 15th October 2005 to 8th July 2006 on BBC Two...
in 2006, by which time all Saturday morning children's programmes had been moved to BBC Two.
From 2000, Sunday mornings on BBC Two reverted to a sequence of CBBC links, until September 2002, when Smile
Smile (TV series)
Smile was a British Sunday morning children's programme created by production company Darrall Macqueen Ltd for CBBC. It first aired in 2002 and was originally shown on the CBBC Channel. It was moved to BBC Two to make way for Dick and Dom in da Bungalow. Although Dick and Dom finished in 2006,...
moved across from the CBBC Channel
CBBC Channel
CBBC is a BBC television channel aimed at 6 to 12 year olds. It complements the CBBC programming that continues to air on BBC One and BBC Two. Launched on 11 February 2002, it broadcasts from 7am to 7pm on Freeview, cable, IPTV and digital satellite, occupying the same bandwidth as, but a different...
, and this show ran in the Sunday morning BBC Two slot near-continuously until August 2007, since when the CBBC sequence has usually been broadcast, albeit in truncated form to allow space for Something for the Weekend
Something for the Weekend (2000s BBC TV series)
Something for the Weekend is a British television series, broadcast on BBC Two on Sunday mornings. It features cookery, drinks, interviews with celebrity guests and clips from the week's television, as well as classic clips in the 'Deja View' section...
to broadcast in the mid-morning slot.