Fully Booked
Contents |
Host
Paul Brophy (original host)
Co-hosts
Gail Porter and Tim Vincent (team captains)
Broadcast
BBC Scotland for BBC1, 1995
BBC Scotland for BBC2, 1996 to 1999
Synopsis
Fully Booked was one of those kids' weekend shows that nobody liked very much, but nobody could come up with anything better for the same budget. Filmed on Friday afternoons for broadcast on Sunday morning, it didn't even have the anything-can-happen thrill of live television to help it along. What it did have, though, was two mildly interesting game show segments.
Buried Treasure was an outward-bound adventure game which involved Grant Stott taking some kids and some celebrities into some woodland in Scotland (namely Lochgoilhead) where they performed outdoor based adventure tasks which earnt them bits of a treasure map. In the final game they'd have a certain amount of time to find prizes in an old pirate camp using metal detectors. This was also repeated as a show in its own right in the school holidays.
In the final series, the adventure aspect was scaled back somewhat with one presenter each week leading a team at a theme park (Alton Towers was used a few times) or a water park, where they would have to perform certain tasks. This might be riding a rollercoaster while spotting letters on large signs placed around the course, and re-arranging the letters into a word at the end. Other times it would be to ride a waterslide while catching or throwing balls. Another often used task was to ride a bicycle which went left when the handle-bars were turned right and vice-versa. Although keeping the same name, this second incarnation had little in common with it's predecessor, lacking both the originality and excitement that had previously made it a worthwhile little segment.
There was also a time-filling studio-based segment at the anticlimax of each show, The End of the Show Show - pretty much your usual weekend kids TV silliness (the physical challenges were the usual slapstick games, and the quiz rounds were full of trick questions). Initially this was hosted by Paul Brophy in full Elvis Presley garb with regular hosts Grant Stott and Various Aussie Soap Actresses Co-Presenter (mainly Sarah Vandenberg) as team captains. Later on, Chris Jarvis took over the host role and attempted to fill the script with as much innuendo as possible. We're guessing he doesn't do that so much on Cbeebies.
Trivia
During the later incarnation, the buzzer sounds were the captains name. Gail's was fast and squeeky while a dapper posh voice would exclaim "Timothy!".
