''
Fireman Sam'' (
''Welsh'':
Sam Tân) first broadcast on 17 November 1987 on the Welsh TV channel
S4C
S4C (, ''Sianel Pedwar Cymru'', meaning ''Channel Four Wales'') is a Welsh language free-to-air public broadcast television channel. Launched on 1 November 1982, it was the first television channel to be aimed specifically at a Welsh-speaking ...
.
The series is set in the
fictional
Fiction is any creative work, chiefly any narrative work, portraying individuals, events, or places
Place may refer to:
Geography
* Place (United States Census Bureau), defined as any concentration of population
** Census-designated place, ...
Welsh town of
Pontypandy, which was
retconned from being a rural village in the
south Wales valleys to being a larger seaside fishing town in the 2008 remake series.
Other locations mentioned include
Cardiff
Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital and largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a Sir Caerdydd, links=no), and the city is the eleventh-largest in the United Kingd ...
and
Newtown.
Originally featuring a small cast of characters, with the later series the cast was expanded to a large range of supporting characters of diverse backgrounds and occupations. The show focuses on the work of the Pontypandy
fire service as well as the day-to-day lives of town residents. Every episode includes an
emergency of some kind in which the characters say "call Fireman Sam", with a moral lesson being learned at its conclusion.
The series features an
ensemble cast
In a dramatic production, an ensemble cast is one that is composed of multiple principal actors and performers who are typically assigned roughly equal amounts of screen time.Random House: ensemble acting Linked 2013-07-17
Structure
In contrast to ...
of regular and recurring characters, and began with 9 human characters in its
first series
First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1).
First or 1st may also refer to:
*World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement
Arts and media Music
* 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and reco ...
. All the characters in the original series were voiced by
John Alderton, roughly divided between children and adults. The original four firefighters;
Fireman Sam,
Elvis
Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977), or simply Elvis, was an American singer and actor. Dubbed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Elvis Presley, one ...
,
Station Officer Steele and
Trevor
Trevor (Trefor (disambiguation), Trefor in the Welsh language) is a common given name or surname of Welsh language, Welsh origin. It is an habitational name, deriving from the Welsh ''tre(f)'', meaning "homestead", or "settlement" and ''fawr'', ...
were introduced alongside three child characters, Sam's niece and nephew
Sarah and James and naughty
Norman Price. They were joined by Norman's single-mother shopkeeper
Dilys Price
Dilys Price (3 June 19329 October 2020) was a Welsh educator, parachutist, and model who held the record for the oldest female solo parachute jump at the age of 80. She founded the charity Touch Trust to provide art and creative movement activi ...
and Italian Pizzeria proprietor
Bella Lasagne
'' Fireman Sam'' ( ''Welsh'': Sam Tân) first broadcast on 17 November 1987 on the Welsh TV channel S4C. The series is set in the fictional Welsh town of Pontypandy, which was retconned from being a rural village in the south Wales valleys t ...
. The only other character introduced in the original run was the female firefighter
Penny Morris who first appeared in Series 3.
In 2005, the revived series included all the old characters as well as new characters designed with the modern techniques of
stop motion claymation. The Flood family was introduced consisting of
Mike the Plumber, his wife
Helen the Nurse, and their daughter
Mandy
Mandy or Mandie may refer to:
People
* Mandy (name), a female given name and nickname
* Iván Mándy (1918-1995), Hungarian writer
* Mark Mandy (born 1972), Irish retired high jumper
* Philip Mandie (born 1942), a former judge on the Supreme Cou ...
. They were joined by
Tom Thomas an Australian helicopter pilot. The main characters in this series were all voiced by
John Sparkes
John Sparkes (born 6 January 1954) is a Welsh actor and comedian. He portrayed Barry Welsh, presenter of the HTV Wales series ''Barry Welsh Is Coming''. He has also had major roles in ''Naked Video'', '' Absolutely'', ''Fireman Sam'', ''Shaun ...
,
Joanna Ruiz and
Sarah Hadland
Sarah Hadland is an English actress. She is best known for her role as Stevie Sutton in the BBC One BAFTA-nominated comedy television series '' Miranda'' (2009–2015) and Trish in ''The Job Lot'' (2013–2015).
Hadland appeared as the Ocean S ...
.
In 2008, the new
CGI series saw the introduction of three new relatives of established characters; Sam's brother Charlie and his wife Bronwyn along with Norman's cousin Derek Price. The voice cast was also replaced, with the new voice actors for the series being Steven Kynman, Tegwen Tucker, David Carling and Su Douglas. With each new series since, more characters have been introduced including Bronwyn's train driver father Gareth Griffiths, Canadian adventurer Moose Roberts and the Chen and Sparkes families.
The animal characters have also played an important role in the series including dogs Dusty, Radar and Nipper, cats Rosa and Lion and sheep Woolly and Lambykins.
As well as the television series, the characters of Fireman Sam have appeared in a number of
straight to video and DVD films, books, video games, musical theatre and in 2009 featured on
Peter Kay's ''
Children in Need'' single ''
The Official BBC Children in Need Medley''.
Pontypandy Fire Service
Fireman Sam
Fireman Samuel "Sam" Jones
is the title character of the series. He is a senior firefighter for the Pontypandy Fire Service. He is a competent and brave firefighter, who helps keep the people of Pontypandy safe. He considers his job to be 'the best job in the world' and often helps out in emergencies even on his days off. However, he does have an inventive streak which sometimes gets him in trouble when one of his inventions goes haywire: since the sixth series, he has stopped inventing, though he can be creative from time to time, such as fashioning a barbecue out of an oil drum in the episode Sausages vs. Shrimps.
Sam has been a mascot for
British fire services used to promote
fire safety
Fire safety is the set of practices intended to reduce the destruction caused by fire. Fire safety measures include those that are intended to prevent the ignition of an uncontrolled fire and those that are used to limit the development and eff ...
to children. In the original series, he lives alone in
Pontypandy and has a niece and nephew Sarah and James. Sam drives a large fire engine called Jupiter, based on a
Bedford TK
The Bedford TK was a truck manufactured by Bedford. Launched in 1960 to replace the Bedford S type, the TK was scheduled to be replaced by the Bedford TL in 1981, but manufacturing of the TK continued as a cheaper alternative. A military 4x4 ...
, receiving elements of a Bedford 6x4 in Series 5 and elements from the Volvo FL6 in Series 6 and entirely a
Rosenbauer Panther in Series 15. He also has an all-terrain vehicle called Mercury. Additionally, there is an Animal Rescue Crane called Phoenix, but it has been driven by multiple characters.
Elvis Cridlington
Firefighter Elvis Cridlington is a first class firefighter in Pontypandy and the station mess manager. He is Sam's
sidekick and learns skills from Sam, often used for
comic relief. As the fire station's cook, he enjoys cooking and playing guitar. His name and character design particularly his
pompadour hairstyle was based on
Elvis Presley
Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977), or simply Elvis, was an American singer and actor. Dubbed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Elvis Presley, one ...
.
In the CGI series the character was criticised for being more childish than the original Elvis had been.
Station Officer Steele
Station Officer (Fire Captain in the US dub of the CGI series) Basil Steele (Norris Steele in the CGI series) is the officer in charge of Pontypandy Fire Station. He has a rail fire engine called Bessie and a mobile command unit.
The character of Steele has been compared to
Captain Mainwaring from ''
Dad's Army''.
Penny Morris
Firefighter Penny Morris is a firefighter in Pontypandy who was the only female firefighter (firewoman) from 1990 to 2015. Originally from Newtown, Penny moved to Pontypandy in
Series 4 Series 4 could refer to:
* Aston Martin Lagonda Series 4, the automobile model
* BMW 4 Series, the automobile model line
* GeForce 4 series, line of nVidia video cards
* Scania 4-series, the truck model line
* South African Class 6E1, Series 4, el ...
. She is a trained lifeguard and certified scuba diver. She drives a rescue tender called Venus, as currently based on a Range Rover Carmichael Commando, but received elements of the greatly modified
Mini Cooper from the fifth season being a water carrier. She also has a rescue boat called Neptune beginning from the sixth season until Ben Hooper operates it in the ninth season.
Her cousin farmer
Annie Morris
Annie Morris (born 1978) is a British artist based in London.
Morris’ work draws inspiration from her own life experience, using painting, drawing and sculpture. She is best known for pieces that combine obsessive drawing and ready-made scul ...
was introduced to the series in 2023.
Ellie Phillips
Firefighter Ellie Phillips is a firefighter in Pontypandy. She is the second female firefighter after Penny.
Ellie is the main leader of the Pontypandy Junior Fire Cadets and is a keen athlete and will stop at nothing to accomplish a task.
She was first introduced alongside Arnold McKinley in the feature-length special Heroes of the Storm.
Arnold McKinley
Firefighter Arnold McKinley is a firefighter in Pontypandy.
He is an expert in technology and is often found in the office working on the computer.
He was first introduced alongside Ellie Phillips in the feature-length special Heroes of the Storm.
Horatio Boyce
Chief Fire Officer Boyce is the chief fire officer of the Pontypandy Fire Service from
Newtown.
He first appears in the 2009 film ''
Fireman Sam: The Great Fire of Pontypandy''.
Pontypandy Police Force
Malcolm Williams
Police Constable Malcolm Williams is a Police Officer in Pontypandy. He transferred from The Big City hoping for some peace and quiet, but all is not as it seems.
He is the younger brother of
Helen Flood.
Rose Ravani
Sergeant Rose Ravani is the Senior Officer at Pontypandy Police Station, and puts all of her confidence in PC Malcolm to keep Pontypandy the safe and happy place it always has been. She is introduced in the 2020 TV movie ''Fireman Sam: Norman Price and the Mystery in the Sky''.
She is voiced by former ''
Coronation Street
''Coronation Street'' is an English soap opera created by Granada Television and shown on ITV since 9 December 1960. The programme centres around a cobbled, terraced street in Weatherfield, a fictional town based on inner-city Salford.
Origi ...
'' actress
Sasha Behar
Sasha Behar (born 25 September 1971) is an English actress, known for portraying the role of Maya Sharma in the ITV soap opera ''Coronation Street''.
Career
Behar portrayed the character of villain Maya Sharma in the ITV soap opera ''Coronation ...
, known for her role as
Maya Sharma
Maya Sharma is a fictional character from the British ITV soap opera ''Coronation Street'', played by Sasha Behar. Maya is known for her disastrous relationship with Dev Alahan (Jimmi Harkishin) and her dangerous feud with Dev's wife Sunita Par ...
.
Adults
Trevor Evans
Trevor Evans is the bus driver of Pontypandy. He drives a 1985
Ford Transit
The Ford Transit is a family of light commercial vehicles manufactured by the Ford Motor Company since 1965, primarily as a cargo van, but also available in other configurations including a large passenger van (marketed as the Ford Tourneo in ...
Dormobile and is also an auxiliary firefighter in the original series.
He is a romantic interest for
Dilys Price
Dilys Price (3 June 19329 October 2020) was a Welsh educator, parachutist, and model who held the record for the oldest female solo parachute jump at the age of 80. She founded the charity Touch Trust to provide art and creative movement activi ...
.
Dilys Price
Dilys Price is an original character from the series. She is the shopkeeper of the Cut-Price store. She is the strict mother to a son,
Norman
Norman or Normans may refer to:
Ethnic and cultural identity
* The Normans, a people partly descended from Norse Vikings who settled in the territory of Normandy in France in the 10th and 11th centuries
** People or things connected with the Norm ...
, whom she regularly disciplines.
A single mother, Dilys is a romantic interest of Trevor Evans. She is described as a gossiping greengrocer. Dilys frequently misuses words.
Her original appearance was similar to that of ''
Coronation Street
''Coronation Street'' is an English soap opera created by Granada Television and shown on ITV since 9 December 1960. The programme centres around a cobbled, terraced street in Weatherfield, a fictional town based on inner-city Salford.
Origi ...
'' character
Hilda Ogden.
She drives her own car introduced in Alien Alert.
Bella Lasagne
Bella Lasagne is an original character from the series. She is an
Italian citizen living in Wales and runs ''Bella's Café'', a
pizzeria
A pizzeria is a restaurant focusing on pizza. As well as pizza, dishes at pizzerias can include kebab, salads and pasta.
Many pizzerias offer take-away, where the customer orders their food either in advance or at the restaurant and then take ...
in Pontypandy. She lives opposite the Price Family and has a pet cat named Rosa. She also has a pet goldfish named Pavarotti. Bella's "gentle and loveable" character was contrasted with the matriarchal approach of Dilys.
Bella appeared from
Series 1
The IBM Series/1 is a 16-bit minicomputer, introduced in 1976, that in many respects competed with other minicomputers of the time, such as the PDP-11 from Digital Equipment Corporation and similar offerings from Data General and HP. The Seri ...
to
5 but was absent from the sixth to ninth series but returned in
Series 10
Series may refer to:
People with the name
* Caroline Series (born 1951), English mathematician, daughter of George Series
* George Series (1920–1995), English physicist
Arts, entertainment, and media
Music
* Series, the ordered sets used i ...
. She speaks with a heavy Italian accent.
Mike Flood
Mike Flood is the handyman of Pontypandy. He has a green van used for carrying tools for repair work. He was introduced in Series 5 alongside his wife
Helen Flood and daughter
Mandy Flood. Mike is unlucky and regularly causes accidents.
In Series 5, Mike spoke with a
West Country English
West Country English is a group of English language varieties and accents used by much of the native population of South West England, the area sometimes popularly known as the West Country.
The West Country is often defined as encompassin ...
accent, but in the CGI reboot he speaks with a
northern accent. In Series 9, he states that he hails from
Huddersfield
Huddersfield is a market town in the Kirklees district in West Yorkshire, England. It is the administrative centre and largest settlement in the Kirklees district. The town is in the foothills of the Pennines. The River Holme's confluence into ...
in
West Yorkshire
West Yorkshire is a metropolitan and ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and Humber Region of England. It is an inland and upland county having eastward-draining valleys while taking in the moors of the Pennines. West Yorkshire came into exi ...
yet in the US dub he has a
Brooklyn accent.
Helen Flood
Helen Flood
née
A birth name is the name of a person given upon birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name, or the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a birth certificate or birth re ...
Williams is the nurse of Pontypandy. She was introduced in Series 5 alongside her husband Mike Flood and daughter
Mandy Flood.
She has her own ambulance car and an ambulance van for the Mountain Rescue service. She is implied to be of Jamaican descent.
In Series 12, her brother PC. Malcolm Williams was introduced.
Tom Thomas
Tom Thomas is an Australian helicopter pilot introduced in Series 5.
He owns his Mountain Rescue Center. Has two helicopters called Wallaby 1 and Wallaby 2 and drives a yellow Jeep.
Ben Hooper
Ben Hooper is the coastguard in Pontypandy. He has driven a fireboat called Titan and a jet ski called Juno.
Joe Sparkes
Joe Sparkes is the town's mechanic. His daughter is named Hannah and his wife is named Lizzie.
Lizzie Sparkes
Lizzie Sparkes is the town's veterinary surgeon. She is also a member of the town's Volunteer Rescue Squad. Her husband is Joe and her daughter is Hannah.
Mrs. Chen
Mrs. Chen is the town's bossy schoolteacher. She has a young daughter called Lily.
Moose Roberts
Moose Roberts is a famous mountain climber from
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
. He owns and runs the Mountain Activity Centre.
Gareth Griffiths
Gareth Griffiths is the father of Bronwyn, maternal grandfather of Sarah and James and father-in-law of Charlie. He runs the Pontypandy Flyer steam train, which runs on a short, steep
heritage railway
A heritage railway or heritage railroad (US usage) is a railway operated as living history to re-create or preserve railway scenes of the past. Heritage railways are often old railway lines preserved in a state depicting a period (or periods) i ...
line up to the base of Pontypandy Mountain. He appears to have been an avid yachtsman in his youth having been Captain of the Pontypandy rowing team.
Charlie Jones
Charlie Jones is a fisherman. He is the father of
Sarah and James and younger brother of Fireman Sam. He and his wife Bronwyn had been previously unseen until the CGI Series 6.
He operates a green fishing boat.
Bronwyn Jones
Bronwyn Jones née Griffiths is the
new age
New Age is a range of spiritual or religious practices and beliefs which rapidly grew in Western society during the early 1970s. Its highly eclectic and unsystematic structure makes a precise definition difficult. Although many scholars conside ...
mother of
Sarah and James. She is married to Charlie Jones and is Fireman Sam's sister in-law.
With the departure of
Bella Lasagne
'' Fireman Sam'' ( ''Welsh'': Sam Tân) first broadcast on 17 November 1987 on the Welsh TV channel S4C. The series is set in the fictional Welsh town of Pontypandy, which was retconned from being a rural village in the south Wales valleys t ...
, Bronwyn runs the new Wholefish cafe. Although she was raised in the city, she feels much more at home in Pontypandy.
In Series 8, her father Gareth Griffiths is introduced.
Krystyna Kaminski
Krystyna Kaminski is a rescue pilot introduced in Series 14.
She has a half-brother named Peter.
She is the first Polish character in the series. Krystyna is voiced by Krystyna O'Brien.
Annie Morris
Annie Morris is a farmer who is the cousin of
Penny Morris. She was introduced in Series 15 and is voiced by
Helen Skelton.
Children
Norman Price
Norman Stanley Price is the son of shopkeeper Dilys Price. He is a mischievous redhead turned scapegoat who loves playing practical jokes and skateboarding.
He frequently causes accidents.
From
Series 6, Norman became more troublesome. He has shown interest in becoming a firefighter himself one day, but he also has said he was going to be a shepherd when he grows up as stated in the episode Sheepdog Trials. He has also shown to be interested in science, as seen in the episode Chemistry Set.
He is based on
Dennis the Menace from ''
The Beano''.
Sarah and James
Sarah and James Jones are two original characters from the original series. Sarah and James are twin siblings. Sarah is the older twin and James is the younger twin. In the first five series, the two of them respected each other very much and were very well-behaved, but as of the sixth series, they have a sibling rivalry with each other and are not as well-behaved as they used to be.
Originally, Sarah and James were very similar to each other, but later series developed them to have their own personalities. Sarah developed into being very outgoing, way tougher and braver than James and being a bit of a
tomboy
A tomboy is a term for a girl or a young woman with masculine qualities. It can include wearing androgynous or unfeminine clothing and actively engage in physical sports or other activities and behaviors usually associated with boys or men. Wh ...
. While James developed into being sensitive and cautious, as he is often scared of many things and lacks confidence. Both Sarah and James changed appearance throughout the original series, the fifth series and the CGI series, mostly with the clothing. The two are always portrayed with short blonde hair.
Their parents Charlie and Bronwyn Jones are introduced in Series 6, and their maternal grandfather Gareth Griffiths was introduced in Series 8.
Mandy Flood
Mandy Flood is a young girl who is friends with Norman Price. She lives with her parents Helen and Mike Flood. Mandy is mixed race.
Derek Price
Derek Price is Norman's cousin. He is first introduced in the Series 6 episode Double Trouble, where he is revealed to be a
goody-two-shoes, the opposite to his cousin Norman.
Derek appears in the 2009 film ''
Fireman Sam: The Great Fire of Pontypandy''.
He is known as Derek Abney in the Spanish dub.
Hannah Sparkes
Hannah Sparkes is an 11-year-old girl in a wheelchair introduced in series 9. She is the daughter of Joe and Lizzie Sparkes. She is also the third child in Pontypandy to have blond hair.
Lily Chen
Lily Chen is the toddler daughter of Mrs. Chen and the youngest character on the show. She has a plush toy called Sharky.
Peter Kaminski
Peter Kaminski is an 11-year-old boy introduced in Series 14.
He speaks with a London accent and has a Polish half-sister named Krystyna.
He is voiced by Arthur Smith Galiano who is the child actor to voice a main character in the series.
Animals
Rosa Lasagne
Rosa Lasagne is Bella Lasagne's cat. Rosa is the only non-human character to appear in the first four series.
Lion Jones
Lion Jones is the Jones' cat.
Dusty Jones
Dusty Jones is a stray dog, but later in the end of Bathtime for Dusty, he became a fire mascot.
Radar Jones
Radar Jones is Sam's Dalmatian and is part of the fire service.
Nipper Griffiths
Nipper Griffiths is an energetic dog who belongs to Bronwyn's sister that the former looks after.
Woolly
Woolly is a sheep. She was introduced as a male lamb in Series 5 before reappeaing as a adult female ewe in Series 6. She is Lambykins' mother.
Lambykins
Lambykins is a sheep. She was named by Sarah in "Baa Baa Baby".
Norris
Norris is a
Guinea Pig
The guinea pig or domestic guinea pig (''Cavia porcellus''), also known as the cavy or domestic cavy (), is a species of rodent belonging to the genus ''Cavia'' in the family Caviidae. Breeders tend to use the word ''cavy'' to describe the ani ...
owned by
Sarah and James. He is named Norris after
Station Officer Steele because they both have similar moustaches.
Visitors
Buck Douglas
Buck Douglas is a television presenter and an "alien hunter". He was introduced as the main antagonist in ''Alien Alert''.
Flex Dexter
Flex Dexter is an actor from Hollywood, as the main antagonist in ''Set For Action!''.
Professor Piccalilli
Professor Piccalilli is an archaeologist from the museum in the Big City. He is the main rival for Norman Price in the search for pirate treasure.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fireman Sam characters
Fireman Sam
Fictional firefighters
Fictional Welsh people
Lists of characters in British television animation