Gail Porter (born 23 March 1971 in
EdinburghEdinburgh is the capital city of Scotland. It is the second largest Scottish city, after Glasgow, and the seventh-most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas....
,
ScotlandScotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
, sometimes known by her married name
Gail Hipgrave, is a
ScottishScotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
television presenter.
After making an unsuccessful bid to join the presentation team of the BBC children's show
Blue PeterBlue Peter is a long-running BBC television programme for children. It is shown on CBBC, both in its BBC One programming block and on the CBBC Channel.It is named after the blue-and-white flag hoisted by a ship in port when it is ready to sail...
, Porter has tended to present family-friendly television programmes, or ones aimed directly at children. This includes
The Movie Chart Show,
Top of the PopsTop of the Pops, also known as TOTP, is a British music chart television programme, made by the BBC and originally broadcast weekly from 1 January 1964 to 30 July 2006. It was traditionally shown every Thursday evening on BBC1, before being moved to Fridays in 1996, and then moved to Sundays on BBC...
, and
Live & KickingLive & 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...
, work for
CITVCITV is the brand name used for the majority of children's television output on ITV's television stations, including the ITV Network, breakfast broadcaster GMTV and the ITV plc-owned CITV Channel as well as non ITV plc owned regions...
, and other programmes such as
The Big BreakfastThe Big Breakfast was a British light entertainment television show shown on Channel 4 each weekday morning from 28 September 1992 until 29 March 2002. 2,482 shows were produced The Big Breakfast was produced by Planet 24, the production company co-owned by former Boomtown Rats and Live Aid...
and
Gail Porter's Big 90s for
VH1VH1 is an American cable television network based in New York City...
.
In the late 1990s she began to pose for photos in men's magazines such as
FHMFHM, originally published as For Him Magazine, is an international monthly men's lifestyle magazine.- History :The magazine began publication in 1985 in the United Kingdom under the name For Him and changed its title to FHM in 1994 when Emap Consumer Media bought the magazine, although the full For...
.
Gail Porter (born 23 March 1971 in
EdinburghEdinburgh is the capital city of Scotland. It is the second largest Scottish city, after Glasgow, and the seventh-most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas....
,
ScotlandScotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
, sometimes known by her married name
Gail Hipgrave, is a
ScottishScotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
television presenter.
Biography
After making an unsuccessful bid to join the presentation team of the BBC children's show
Blue PeterBlue Peter is a long-running BBC television programme for children. It is shown on CBBC, both in its BBC One programming block and on the CBBC Channel.It is named after the blue-and-white flag hoisted by a ship in port when it is ready to sail...
, Porter has tended to present family-friendly television programmes, or ones aimed directly at children. This includes
The Movie Chart Show,
Top of the PopsTop of the Pops, also known as TOTP, is a British music chart television programme, made by the BBC and originally broadcast weekly from 1 January 1964 to 30 July 2006. It was traditionally shown every Thursday evening on BBC1, before being moved to Fridays in 1996, and then moved to Sundays on BBC...
, and
Live & KickingLive & 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...
, work for
CITVCITV is the brand name used for the majority of children's television output on ITV's television stations, including the ITV Network, breakfast broadcaster GMTV and the ITV plc-owned CITV Channel as well as non ITV plc owned regions...
, and other programmes such as
The Big BreakfastThe Big Breakfast was a British light entertainment television show shown on Channel 4 each weekday morning from 28 September 1992 until 29 March 2002. 2,482 shows were produced The Big Breakfast was produced by Planet 24, the production company co-owned by former Boomtown Rats and Live Aid...
and
Gail Porter's Big 90s for
VH1VH1 is an American cable television network based in New York City...
.
In the late 1990s she began to pose for photos in men's magazines such as
FHMFHM, originally published as For Him Magazine, is an international monthly men's lifestyle magazine.- History :The magazine began publication in 1985 in the United Kingdom under the name For Him and changed its title to FHM in 1994 when Emap Consumer Media bought the magazine, although the full For...
. Probably the best-known product of her many photo-sessions is one particular still in which she is seen completely nude from behind.
The image became well known due to the events of one night in 1999, when
FHM, along with
guerrilla marketingThe concept of guerrilla marketing was invented as an unconventional system of promotions that relies on time, energy and imagination rather than a big marketing budget. Typically, guerrilla marketing campaigns are unexpected and unconventional; potentially interactive; and consumers are targeted...
company Cunning Communications, beamed an enormous projection of her onto the exterior of the
Houses of ParliamentThe Palace of Westminster, also known as the Houses of Parliament, is the seat of the two houses of the Parliament of the United Kingdom—the House of Lords and the House of Commons...
, with an accompanying message urging people to vote for Gail in the FHM Top 100 Sexiest Women Poll.. In her autobiography, Porter claims that she did not know about the stunt until it was reported in the news the following day.
In 2001, Porter took part in the Reality TV show
Celebrity Blind Man's Bluff and in 2003, she was a contestant on
Channel 4Channel 4 is a UK public-service television broadcaster which began working on November 2, 1982. Although commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station owned now and operated by the Channel Four Television...
's
The Games, although injury truncated her participation.
Recently she presented three series of
Dead FamousDead Famous - Ghostly Encounters is a television series that searches for the ghosts of the famous dead. Cynical but curious Gail Porter and sensitive Chris Fleming take a spirited road trip through America looking for the ghostly locations where legends of stage, screen and music reside...
and episodes of
The Gadget ShowThe Gadget Show is a British television series focusing on the world of technology, currently in its twelfth series. Originally a thirty minute show, it was extended to forty-five minutes, and currently airs for one hour on Five. The theme tune used is "In The Machine" by Barrie Gledden...
, temporarily replacing
Suzi Perry-Biography:Suzi Perry was born in an RAF hospital in Shropshire, England; the daughter of a music promoter - her godfather was guitarist Mel Galley. Raised in Finchfield, she attended Smestow school in Wolverhampton, and had a school job as a lighting technician at the Wolverhampton Grand Theatre...
.
Personal life
Porter dated
The ProdigyThe Prodigy are an English electronic music group formed by Liam Howlett in 1990 in Braintree, Essex, England. Along with Fatboy Slim, The Chemical Brothers and The Crystal Method, as well as other acts they are pioneers of the big beat electronic dance genre which achieved mainstream popularity in...
lead singer
Keith FlintKeith Charles Flint is a dancer and vocalist of the English electronic band The Prodigy.- Early life :...
, moving in together in a house in Essex. They were known as 'Beauty and the Beast' due to Porter's innocent beauty and Flint's hair raising style. The couple split in 2000, because it was too far away for Porter to commute on a daily basis for her work in the city, and their relationship wasn't working out.
She married
ToploaderToploader are an English alternative rock band from Eastbourne, formed in 1997. They are best known for their cover of King Harvest's song "Dancing in the Moonlight", which became a global hit for the band.-Career:...
guitarist
Dan HipgraveDan Hipgrave is a musician, writer and presenter. He is best known as the former guitarist of the indie rock band Toploader.-Biography:...
in August 2001, with whom she had a daughter, Honey, in 2002. They separated in the summer of 2004, and Porter has spoken publicly about her ensuing battles with stress, drugs and post-natal depression. In 2005 her conditions triggered
alopecia areataAlopecia areata is a condition affecting humans, in which hair is lost from some or all areas of the body, usually from the scalp.. Because it causes bald spots on the scalp, especially in the first stages, it is sometimes called spot baldness...
, causing her to lose much of her hair. She refused to wear a hat or wig, deciding instead to maintain a public profile and raise awareness of the condition. On an appearance on the
Richard & JudyRichard & Judy is a British magazine/chat show which was presented by married couple Richard Madeley and Judy Finnigan. It originally aired on Channel 4 from 2001 to 2008 but later moved to digital channel Watch in October 2008. It featured the world's most famous stars, along with their Book Club...
show on 15 February 2006 she showed that her hair, eyebrows and eyelashes were beginning to grow back. On 12 April 2006 Porter said "It is possible that I'm going to get my hair back."
Porter's experience with
alopecia areataAlopecia areata is a condition affecting humans, in which hair is lost from some or all areas of the body, usually from the scalp.. Because it causes bald spots on the scalp, especially in the first stages, it is sometimes called spot baldness...
was the subject of the
BBCThe British Broadcasting Corporation, usually referred to by its abbreviation as the "BBC", is the longest established and largest broadcaster in the world...
ONE Life series documentary
Gail Porter Laid Bare on 31 May 2006 .
Her autobiography,
Laid Bare: My Story Of Love, Fame And Survival, was published in September 2007.