Fireman Sam
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Fireman Sam (Welsh: Sam Tân) is a stop-motion animation Welsh children's television programme about a fireman called Sam, his fellow firefighters, and other townspeople in the Welsh town of Pontypandy (a mix of two actual places, Pontypridd and Tonypandy, in the South Wales valleys). The original idea for Fireman Sam came from two ex-firemen from Kent. They took their idea to S4C who saw the potential in the series and commissioned it.
Fireman Sam first appeared on BBC television and S4C television between 1985 and 1986 and remains popular to this day. Fireman Sam has been sold to over 40 countries, from Australia to Poland and is used across the UK to promote fire safety.
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[edit] Original series
The series comprised 32 10-minute episodes and a 20-minute Christmas special. The narration and character voices were done by John Alderton
Sam is the protagonist in the show, and interacts with both colleagues at the fire station and local townspeople.
In the original series, the Fire brigade staff had black clothes whereas in the 2003-05 series they are yellow and blue.
[edit] Firefighters
- Fireman Sam is referred to as the "hero next door". He is the archetypal fireman, who remains composed in an emergency and unfailingly offers assistance to all those in need. Sam is not married, but maintains a close relationship with his nephew, James, and niece, Sarah. Sam's tragic flaw is a penchant for invention, which rarely results in a productive outcome, and can undermine his emphasis on fire safety.
- Elvis Cridlington provides a contrast to Sam in both competency and demeanour. Elvis is an exuberant rock 'n' roll fan and an appalling cook. He failed his 11+ exam at school.
- Station Officer Steele is the chief of Pontypandy Fire Station. As a former army officer, he insists upon a high standard of both hygiene and efficiency in the station.
- Penny Morris is the only female member of the Pontypandy fire brigade. She is originally from Newtown, and doubles as a mechanic.
- Trevor Evans is an auxilary fireman with the brigade. His day job is as the town bus driver. He is known for his awkward manner, but nonetheless exhibits a great devotion to the welfare of others (especially Dilys).
- Jupiter is a bright red fire engine.
[edit] Townspeople
- Dilys Price runs the town grocery store. She is a well known gossip, and has great affection for Trevor, the bus driver. Dilys is the mother of town mischief-maker Norman, but is frequently blind to her son's troublesome ways.
- "Naughty" Norman Price is a seven year old with a love of practical jokes and skateboarding. Unfortunately, Norman regularly fails to set appropriate limits on his own behaviour, and has been known to wreak havoc with the lives of Pontypandy residents. In one episode, one of Normans pranks causes Bella's cafe to be engulfed in flames, endangering the lives of many of the show's characters. At the end of the particular episode, it came with a strict warning to all children telling them not to play with fire. This episode was used as a promotional film shown in schools across the country.
- Sarah and James are the relatively well behaved niece and nephew of Fireman Sam.
- Bella Lasagne is the absent-minded town cafe owner, originally from Italy.
- Rosa is Bella's temperamental cat.
The firefighters attend to emergencies in their fire truck Jupiter and Penny drives Venus, the red rescue tender.
[edit] Commercial Availability
Only one DVD has so far been released; Action Stations, containing what are believed to be some of the better episodes. A further DVD of original series episodes was available from the newspaper The Sunday Mirror in 2006, but only contained two episodes. But in November 2006, a dvd named Snow Business was sold. But only with three stories Snow Business, Safe With Sam and Rich and Famous. A boxset of the first four series is due for release on 26th March 2007 in the UK.
[edit] New series
A new series of Fireman Sam was produced between 2003 and 2005 by Siriol Productions (now known as Calon TV), comprising of 26x10 min episodes, using up to date puppet-making, mouth movement and stop-motion animation techniques. It features all the original characters, but adds some new characters:
- Tom Thomas, the Australian pilot of Wallaby One, the rescue helicopter
- The Flood Family: Mike Flood (Pontypandy's odd job man), Nurse Flood (a nurse of Jamaican origin) and their daughter Mandy (a bit of a mischief maker, like Norman Price)
- Dusty, a stray dog
Instead of having all of the voices done by one person, there were 3 voice artists now. Unfortunately, John Alderton was not one of them. The voice of Sam was provided by John Sparkes
The new series has been broadcast and translated into several different languages, and is available on DVD.
[edit] Theme Tune
The series had a theme tune composed by Ben Heneghan and Ian Lawson. The lyrics were written by Robin Lyons, and sung by Maldwyn Pope. A full length version was also released.
The new series theme tune followed a similar tune but slightly more funky, although the lyrics differed greatly, and it was now sung by Cameron Stewart. Some of the lyrics were originally used in the full length version of the original theme tune.
