''Fully Booked'', later retitled ''FBi'', is a British

children's television series Children's television series (or children's television shows) are television programs designed for children, normally scheduled for broadcast during the morning and afternoon when children are awake. They can sometimes run during the early evenin ...

produced by

BBC Scotland BBC Scotland (Scottish Gaelic: ''BBC Alba'') is a division of the BBC and the main public broadcaster in Scotland. It is one of the four BBC national regions, together with the BBC English Regions, BBC Cymru Wales and BBC Northern Ireland. I ...

and broadcast from 22 April 1995 to 23 September 2000.

Format

Series 1–3

The first series is presented by

Zoe Ball Zoe Louise Ball (born 23 November 1970) is a British radio and television presenter. She was the first female host of both ''Radio 1 Breakfast'' and ''The Radio 2 Breakfast Show'' for the BBC, and presented the 1990s children's show ''Live & K ...

and

Grant Stott Grant Stott (born 13 May 1967) is a Scottish broadcaster from Edinburgh. He formerly worked as a DJ on Edinburgh radio station Forth 1 until January 2017. He then joined BBC Radio Scotland and now appears on the television soap opera ''River Cit ...

, and set in a fictional

hotel A hotel is an establishment that provides paid lodging on a short-term basis. Facilities provided inside a hotel room may range from a modest-quality mattress in a small room to large suites with bigger, higher-quality beds, a dresser, a ref ...

. 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 Highland cow named Morag who was the hotel's

receptionist A receptionist is an employee taking an office or 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. The title ''receptionist'' is attributed to ...

.Saturday
The second series had Ball being replaced by ex-''Neighbours'' star

Sarah Vandenbergh Sarah Vandenbergh (born 9 October 1972 in Sydney, Australia) is an Australian actress and presenter. Vandenbergh played the original role of Lauren Carpenter in '' Neighbours'', 1993–94, and Kerri in ''Hollyoaks'' in 1999. She was also a pre ...

, due to the former's promotion to co-hosting ''

Live & Kicking ''Live & Kicking'' is a British children's television series that originally aired on BBC1 from 2 October 1993 to 15 September 2001. It was the replacement for ''Going Live!'', and took many of its features from it, such as phone-ins, games, c ...

''. Stott, along with Brophy's characters and Morag, all returned. This series was not broadcast live but was 'recorded as-live', meaning that it was recorded in one session with no editing and broadcast as if it were a continuous live show (though without any live interactivity). This format was also used for the third series. Due to the death of

Diana, Princess of Wales Diana, Princess of Wales (born Diana Frances Spencer; 1 July 1961 – 31 August 1997) was a member of the British royal family. She was the first wife of King Charles III (then Prince of Wales) and mother of Princes William and Harry. Her ac ...

in the early hours of 31 August 1997, the edition of ''Fully Booked'' recorded for broadcast that morning was postponed, ultimately airing as part of the

CBBC CBBC (initialised as Children's BBC and also known as the CBBC Channel) is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast children's television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is also the bran ...

morning schedule on

BBC Two BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It covers a wide range of subject matter, with a remit "to broadcast programmes of depth and substance" in contrast to the more mainstream an ...

on 2 September at 7:30am.

Series 4–5

The fourth series had a new logo, title sequence and set 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 Jarvis,

Gail Porter Gail Porter (born 23 March 1971) is a Scottish television personality, former model and actress. She started her television career in children's TV, before branching out into modelling and presenting mainstream TV. In the 1990s, she famously po ...

and

Tim Vincent Tim Vincent (born Timothy Russell Walker; 4 November 1972) is a Welsh actor and television presenter. He appeared on the children's programme ''Blue Peter'' between 1993 and 1997 and has presented several Miss World contests. For several years, ...

. 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 fifth series continued in this new format, but with

having decided to quit kids' TV,

Kate Heavenor Kate Diaz ( née Heavenor; born 2 August 1980, in Glasgow) is a Scottish actress and television presenter. She is best known for her work presenting live children's television on CBBC. Since 2006 she has been the principal at Southgate and Enfi ...

was brought in to replace her. Heavenor had previously been presenting programmes for

BBC Choice BBC Choice was a British digital television channel which was owned by the BBC and was launched on 23 September 1998. It was the first British TV channel to broadcast exclusively in digital format, as well as the BBC's second non-analogue-terres ...

, 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 are an English rock band. Formed in 1994 in Dorset, UK, the band consisted of vocalist Alisdair (Ali) McKinnell, guitarists Nigel Nisbet and Steve Atkins, bassist Alex Meadows (who joined the band before they recorded '' In Here We F ...

Shed Seven Shed Seven are a alternative rock band, formed in York in 1990. One of the groups which contributed to the Britpop music scene of the 1990s, they continue to write, record and release music over thirty years later. They originally comprised sin ...

Catatonia Catatonia is a complex neuropsychiatric behavioral syndrome that is characterized by abnormal movements, immobility, abnormal behaviors, and withdrawal. The onset of catatonia can be acute or subtle and symptoms can wax, wane, or change during ...

The Dandys The Dandys were a British indie-pop act that formed in 1996, releasing their only album, ''Symphonic Screams'', on 15 June 1998. The album featured the singles "I Wanna Be Like You", "Dirty Weekend", "You Make Me Want To Scream" and "English Cou ...

and

St. Etienne ST, St, or St. may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Stanza, in poetry * Suicidal Tendencies, an American heavy metal/hardcore punk band * Star Trek, a science-fiction media franchise * Summa Theologica, a compendium of Catholic philosophy ...

to appear during this era.

Series 6

The sixth and final series was replaced by a new live series. A new studio set, title music and graphics were introduced to tie in with the retitled name ''FBi''. The show was still hosted by Kate Heavenor, but Chris Jarvis and

were not involved, and were replaced by

Vernon Kay Vernon Charles Kay (born 28 April 1974) is an English television and radio presenter, and former model. He presented Channel 4's ''T4'' (2000–2005) and has presented various television shows for ITV, including ''All Star Family Fortunes'' (2 ...

(previously a presenter on digital channel

UK Play Play UK was a television channel broadcasting in the United Kingdom as part of the UKTV network of channels. Play UK broadcast all day on the digital platforms, but on the Sky Analogue platform on the Astra 19.2°E satellite system it broadcast ...

) and former

Boyzone Boyzone were an Irish boy band, created in 1993 by talent manager Louis Walsh. Before even recording any material, Boyzone made an appearance on RTÉ's '' The Late Late Show''. Their most successful line-up was composed of Keith Duffy, Steph ...

member

Keith Duffy Keith Peter Thomas Francis Julian John Duffy (born 1 October 1974) is an Irish singer, actor, radio and television presenter and drummer who began his professional music career as part of Irish boy band Boyzone alongside Ronan Keating, Mikey ...

. 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 Electronic mail (email or e-mail) is a method of exchanging messages ("mail") between people using electronic devices. Email was thus conceived as the electronic ( digital) version of, or counterpart to, mail, at a time when "mail" meant ...

text messaging Text messaging, or texting, is the act of composing and sending electronic messages, typically consisting of alphabetic and numeric characters, between two or more users of mobile devices, desktops/laptops, or another type of compatible compute ...

and telephone. Viewers were given the opportunity to take part in games and features and submit questions for studio guests.

Transmissions

References

External links

* *
Summer Replacements
at Saturday Mornings

on Paul Morris' SatKids

on Paul Morris' SatKids {{British Saturday morning television 1995 British television series debuts 2000 British television series endings 1990s British children's television series 2000s British children's television series BBC Scotland television shows British television shows featuring puppetry BBC children's television shows English-language television shows