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Revision as of 11:32, 19 January 2006 by 194.83.68.236 (talk) (→New 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-firemen 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 32 10-minute episodes and a 20-minute Christmas special.
The main characters in the series are:
- Fireman Sam, the main character
- Elvis Criddlinton, who likes a bit of rock 'n' roll 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
- Trevor Evans, the town bus driver and auxiliary fireman
- Dilys Price is the mother of town mischief maker Norman, who wants everyone to think that her son is a little angel. Also runs town grocery store and is on for a good gossip
- Norman Price is the town mischief maker who loves playing practical jokes on everyone
- Sarah and James are the relatively well behaved niece and nephew of Fireman Sam.
- Bella Lasagne, the absent-minded town cafe owner of Italian origin and
- Rosa, Bella's temperamental cat.
The men attend to emergencies in their fire truck Jupiter and Penny drives Venus, the red rescue tender
New series
A new series of Fireman Sam was produced in 2003, comprising of 26x10 min episodes, using up to date computer animation. It features all the original characters, but also 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
- Smeg, a crazy loon