Gail Porter was born on 23rd March 1971 at 7pm at Simpson's Memorial Hospital in Edinburgh. She excelled in exams at school with the exception of her Accountancy Higher which, in a rare lapse of concentration, she failed because she bunked off the exam to go to the beach. She enrolled in a HND at film school at 18, and also got a job as a runner for a video production company. There she spent 4 agonising years, before producing her own showreel. This led to a job on ITV, which in turn led to Fully Booked and then onto further TV opportunities.