This is an old revision of this page, as edited by 81.77.42.251 (talk) at 11:14, 25 August 2005 (→Original series). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.
Revision as of 11:14, 25 August 2005 by 81.77.42.251 (talk) (→Original series)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)Fireman Sam (original title: 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. The original idea for Fireman Sam came from two ex-fireman from Kent – Dave Gingell and Dave Jones. They took their idea to S4C who saw the potential in the series and commissioned it.
Fireman Sam first aired on the BBC and S4C in 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.
Original series
The series comprised of 32 10-minute episodes and a 20-minute Christmas special.
The main characters in the series are:
- Fireman Sam, the arrogant firefighter.
- Elvis Criddlinton, the dim firefighter, who enjoys as his name and haircut suggest. His cooking skills leave quite a bit to be desired.
- Station Officer Steele, who is the chief of Pontypandy Fire Station and insists that everything be spick and span and running like clockwork.
- Penny Morris, the female firefighter from Newtown who occasionally joins the men from Pontypandy and has more sense than the other 3 put together. She is also a keep fit queen.
- Trevor Evans, the town bus driver and auxiliary fireman who fancies Dilys.
- Dilys Price, the mother of town mischief maker Norman, who wants everyone to think that her son is a little angel. Also runs village store and is on for a good gossip.
- Norman Price, the ginger-haired town mischief maker with a skateboard who loves playing practical jokes on everyone.
- Sarah and James, the relatively well behaved niece and nephew of Fireman Sam.
- Bella Lasagne, the constantly worrying town cafe owner of Italian origin.
- Rosa, Bella's precious ginger cat.
The men attend to emergencies in their fire truck, Jupiter and Penny drives Venus, the rescue tender.
New series
A new series of Fireman Sam was produced in , comprising of 26x10 min episodes, using up to date puppet animation. It features all the original characters, but also some new characters:
- Tom Thomas, the Australian pilot of Wallaby One, the mountain 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 with a bad case of fleas.
- Woolly, Norman's pet sheep who loves chewing things.