Fireman Sam
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| Fireman Sam | |
|---|---|
| Format | Children's |
| Created by | Dave Gingell, Dave Jones |
| Written by | Nia Ceidiog |
| Starring | John Alderton |
| Country of origin | UK |
| Production | |
| Producer(s) | Ian Frampton, John Walker |
| Running time | 10 minutes (one episode 20 minute Christmas special) |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel |  S4C BBC1 |
| Original run | 1985 November 17, 1987 – 1994 November 17, 1994 |
Fireman Sam (Welsh: Sam Tân) is a Welsh stop-motion animation children's television series about a fireman called Sam, his fellow firefighters, and other townspeople in the Welsh town of Pontypandy (a portmanteau of two real towns, Pontypridd and Tonypandy, which are situated approximately 5 miles apart in the South Wales valleys). The original idea for the show 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 in his native Welsh language on S4C in 1985 and later in English on BBC1 in 1987. The series finished in 1994 but remains popular well over a decade after the last episode was aired. The series was also shown dubbed in Gaelic in Scotland, where it was known as Sam Smalaidh. The series has been sold to over 40 countries, from Australia to Norway and is used across the UK to promote fire safety.
Since February 2008, the original series of episodes have begun showing on Saturday and Sunday mornings on Five, during their kids programming strand, Milkshake!.
Contents |
[edit] Original English language series
The series originally comprised 32 ten-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 television series produced by Bumper Films between 1985 and 1994 the firefighters had yellow and black clothes, whereas in the new television series produced by HIT Entertainment in 2003 and 2005 they were yellow and blue.
[edit] Characters
[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 spends his spare time in his "inventing shed", in which he makes devices ranging from a potato picker made from old bicycle parts to a machine capable of replacing the town band. On occasion his inventive streak can undermine his emphasis on fire safety. His catchphrase is "Great fires of London!"
- Firefighter 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. His catchphrase is "Great balls of fire!"
- Station Officer Basil 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. His catchphrase in the old series was "Now who needs the fire service?" but in the new series it is "Action stations men!"
- Firefighter Penny Morris is the only female member of the Pontypandy fire brigade. In the original series, she only visited occasionally (hailing from Newtown fire station), although in the new series, she seems to work at Pontypandy full time. Penny doubles as a mechanic. Her ideas are often unconventional and at odds with her male colleagues, but she usually turns out to have been right.
- Auxiliary fireman Trevor Evans is an auxiliary fireman with the brigade. His other job is the town's bus driver. He is known for his awkward manner and general bad luck streak, but nonetheless exhibits a great devotion to the welfare of others (especially Dilys). In the new series Trevor is no longer an auxiliary firefighter but he is still the bus driver, but still shows affection to Dilys.
[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 Price, but is frequently blind to her son's troublesome ways. She dotes on her only child, or 'Mummy's Little Darling' as she sometimes calls him
- 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 cause mischief and sometimes causes havoc at the fire station, for many of Pontypandy's residents.
- Sarah and James are the relatively well behaved niece and nephew of Fireman Sam. They are often more sensible in an emergency than Norman. When they grow up they want to be firefighters like their uncle Sam.
- Bella Lasagne is the absent-minded town cafe owner, originally from Italy.
- Mandy Flood, Norman's best friend. She is sort of a bridge between naughty Norman and the well behaved Sarah and James. (2005 season)
- Helen Flood, Caribbean born nurse and mother of Mandy Flood. (2005 season)
- Mike Flood, handyman husband of Helen and father of Mandy. (2005 season)
- Tom Thomas, a mountain rescue worker who hails from Australia. Tom is most often seen flying to the rescue in his helicopter (2005 season)
[edit] Vehicles
- Jupiter is a bright red fire engine driven by Fireman Sam and based on a 1974 Bedford TK and is also based on a 1990 Bedford 6x4 (2005 season).
- Venus is a rescue tender driven by Penny Morris based on a 1982 Range Rover.
- Nurse Flood's car is driven by Nurse Helen Flood, but has an unknown base. (2005 season)
- Wallaby One is a helicopter flown by Tom Thomas and based on a 1980 Bell 222. (2005 season)
- Rescue Jeep is also driven and owned by Tom Thomas, based on a 1976 Range Rover jeep. (2005 season)
- The Bus is driven by Trevor Evans, and based on a 1975 Ford Transit Dormobile.
[edit] Animals
- Rosa is Bella's temperamental cat.
- Dusty is a stray dog, usually found hanging around the fire station. (2005 season)
- Wooley is a lamb who Norman Price adopts after they were rescued from a mountainside. Rather bouncy and playful (2005 season)
[edit] Robot
- Bentley is Fireman Sam's robot.
[edit] Commercial Availability
The entire classic series was released on DVD in April 2007. Prior to that, only two other DVDs were available: Action Stations, containing what are believed to be some of the better episodes, and Snow Business, containing the Christmas special (which was noticeably absent in the classic series boxset) and two other episodes, "Safe with Sam" that includes fire safety and has not been shown by the BBC since November 1990, and "Rich and Famous". A further DVD of original episodes was available from the newspaper The Sunday Mirror in 2006, but only contained two episodes. The majority of the 2005 season has been released over various DVD releases.
Most of the original episodes have been made available on VHS previously (in the United Kingdom by BBC Video and in the United States and Canada by Family Home Entertainment), but apart from a VHS version of Action Stations these are all now out of print. Here is a list of the UK releases.
| VHS Title | Release Date | Episodes |
|---|---|---|
| Fireman Sam - The Hero Next Door (BBCV 4101) | 1988 | Kite, Flat Tyre, Trevor's Training, Norman's Tricky Day |
| Fireman Sam 2 - Lost Cat (BBCV 4137) | 1988 | Lost Cat, Telly Trouble, Camping, Barn Fire |
| Fireman Sam 3 - Sam's Day Off (BBCV 4197) | 1988 | Sam's Day Off, Treasure Hunt, Thief in Pontypandy, Chemistry Set |
| Fireman Sam 4 - Snow Business (BBCV 4268) | 1989 | Snow Business, The Great Inventor, The Wishing Well |
| Fireman Sam 5 - Norman's Pitfall (BBCV 4428) | 1990 | Norman's Pitfall, Dilys's Forgetful Day, Lost Ring, Spot of Bother |
| Fireman Sam 6 - All In A Good Cause (BBCV 4470) | 1991 | All In A Good Cause, Brass Band, Lost in the Fog, Bentley the Robot |
| The New Adventures of Fireman Sam (BBCV 5404) | 1994 | Deep Trouble for Sam, Quarry Rescue, Rich and Famous, Home from Rome |
| The New Adventures of Fireman Sam - Disaster for Dinner (BBCV 5625) | 1995 | Disaster for Dinner, Steele Under Par, Trevor's Bus Boot Sale, What Goes Up |
[edit] New series
A new series of Fireman Sam was produced between 2003 and 2005 by Siriol Productions (now known as Calon TV), comprising 26x10 min episodes, using up to date puppet-making, mouth movement and stop-motion animation techniques. It features all the original characters, but also adds some new characters such as Tom Thomas, the Australian pilot of Wallaby One, the rescue helicopter.
Instead of having all of the characters voiced by one person, there were three principal voice artists but John Alderton was not one of them. The voice of Sam was provided by John Sparkes.
The new series alienated many fans as many of the Welsh accents of the original, especially that of Sam himself, had been heavily watered down.[citation needed]
The new series has been broadcast and translated into several different languages, and is available on DVD.
In 2007, HIT Entertainment announced that a new series is in production, with them having a greater input in the series this time around, following S4C's sale of the rights to the show. HIT are aiming for a release date around Spring 2008, and are making a 60 minute special episode to be released directly to DVD. The new series also introduces the sights of the coastline of Pontypandy, as well as a new vehicle: Neptune, a lifeboat.
[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 on BBC Records.
The verse of the song alternates between notes a fifth apart - the intention being to suggest the sound of a fire engine siren.
The same composers wrote a new arrangement of the theme tune for the 2003 remake. (This time in straight quavers rather than the 'swung' twelve-eight of the original) Robin Lyons also updated the lyrics. This version was sung by Cameron Stewart, singer and lead guitarist with the Cardiff-based band Session.[1]
Ben Heneghan and Ian Lawson also wrote a number of other Fireman Sam-related songs that were released on a cassette by BBC Records. These songs were later used in the touring stage show.
[edit] Episode List
Series 1 (1987)
- Kite (November 17, 1987)
- Barn Fire (November 24, 1987)
- Trevor's Training (December 1, 1987)
- Flat Tyre (December 8, 1987)
- Camping (December 15, 1987)
- Norman's Tricky Day (December 22, 1987)
Series 2 (1988)
- Safe with Sam (October 25, 1988)
- Telly Trouble (November 1, 1988)
- Treasure Hunt (November 8, 1988)
- Sam's Day Off (November 15, 1988)
- Chemistry Set (November 22, 1988)
- The Wishing Well (November 29, 1988)
- Lost Cat (December 6, 1988)
- The Great Inventor (December 13, 1988)
- Thief in Pontypandy (December 19, 1988)
- Snow Business (December 22, 1988)
Series 3 (1990)
- Dilys's Forgetful Day (October 15, 1990)
- Spot of Bother (October 22, 1990)
- Halloween (October 29, 1990)
- Norman's Pitfall (November 12, 1990)
- Lost Ring (November 19, 1990)
- All in a Good Cause (November 26, 1990)
- Brass Band (December 3, 1990)
- Lost in the Fog (December 10, 1990)
- Bentley the Robot (December 17, 1990)
Series 4 (1994)
- Home from Rome (October 25, 1994)
- Rich and Famous (October 27, 1994)
- Quarry Rescue (November 1, 1994)
- Deep Trouble For Sam (November 3, 1994)
- Trevor's Bus Boot Sale (November 8, 1994)
- What Goes Up (November 10, 1994)
- Steele Under Par (November 15, 1994)
- Disaster for Dinner (November 17, 1994)
