''Fireman Sam'' (

Welsh Welsh may refer to: Related to Wales * Welsh, referring or related to Wales * Welsh language, a Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Wales * Welsh people People * Welsh (surname) * Sometimes used as a synonym for the ancient Britons (Celtic peopl ...

: ') is a Welsh animated

children's television series Children's television series (or children's television shows) are television programs designed for children, normally scheduled for broadcast during the morning and afternoon when children are awake. They can sometimes run during the early evenin ...

about a fireman named Sam, his fellow

firefighter A firefighter is a first responder and rescuer extensively trained in firefighting, primarily to extinguish hazardous fires that threaten life, property, and the environment as well as to rescue people and in some cases or jurisdictions als ...

s, and other residents in the fictional Welsh rural village of Pontypandy (a

portmanteau A portmanteau word, or portmanteau (, ) is a blend of wordsPontypridd () ( colloquially: Ponty) is a town and a community in Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales. Geography comprises the electoral wards of , Hawthorn, Pontypridd Town, 'Rhondda', Rhydyfelin Central/Ilan ( Rhydfelen), Trallwng ( Trallwn) and Treforest (). ...

and Tonypandy). The original idea for the show came from two ex-firemen from

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

, England, who took their idea to artist and writer Rob Lee who developed the concept, and the show was commissioned. ''Fireman Sam'' first appeared on

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 ...

on 1 November 1987, and a few weeks later on

BBC1 BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's flagship network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television bulletins, ...

on 17 November. The original series finished in 1994, and a new series that expanded the character cast commenced in 2003. The series was also shown as ' in

Scottish Gaelic Scottish Gaelic ( gd, Gàidhlig ), also known as Scots Gaelic and Gaelic, is a Goidelic language (in the Celtic branch of the Indo-European language family) native to the Gaels of Scotland. As a Goidelic language, Scottish Gaelic, as well as ...

in Scotland. The series was sold to over 40 countries and has been used across the United Kingdom 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 ...

. The theme song was performed by Mal Pope in a classic rock style from 1987 to 1994, then by a different singer, Cameron Stewart, in a 2000s alternative rock style since the 2003 new episode broadcasts.

Development

The original idea came about from two ex-firemen from

, England – Dave Gingell and David Jones after

purchasing Purchasing is the process a business or organization uses to acquire goods or services to accomplish its goals. Although there are several organizations that attempt to set standards in the purchasing process, processes can vary greatly bet ...

stop motion Stop motion is an animated filmmaking technique in which objects are physically manipulated in small increments between individually photographed frames so that they will appear to exhibit independent motion or change when the series of frames i ...

animation book by artist Anthony Miller. They approached Mike Young, creator of '' SuperTed'', in

Barry Barry may refer to: People and fictional characters * Barry (name), including lists of people with the given name, nickname or surname, as well as fictional characters with the given name * Dancing Barry, stage name of Barry Richards (born c. 195 ...

, Wales, and asked him to further develop their concept. The idea was then brought to S4C's Director of Animation, Chris Grace, who had previously commissioned ''SuperTed'', saw potential in the idea and commissioned the series. The characters and the storylines were created by Rob Lee, an illustrator from Cardiff, and the programme was made using

. It could take up to four days to produce one minute of this form of puppet animation. ''Fireman Sam'' has to this day been translated into over 25 different languages including Mandarin. In the original series, all the character voices were performed by

John Alderton John Alderton (born 27 November 1940) is an English actor. He is best known for his roles in '' Upstairs, Downstairs'', '' Thomas & Sarah'', '' Wodehouse Playhouse'', ''Little Miss'' (original television series), '' Please Sir!'', '' No, Hones ...

. The later series used several actors' voices.

Episodes

Characters

Spin-offs

In 1996, there was a stage show which was later released on video, titled '' Fireman Sam in Action''. It was interspersed with scenes of children learning about fire safety with Gary Lewis, the actor playing Fireman Sam in the stage show. In 2009, ''Fireman Sam'' appeared with other animated children's TV characters in a '' Children in Need'' single. The single was put together by

Peter Kay Peter John Kay (born 2 July 1973) is an English actor, comedy writer and stand-up comedian. He has written, produced and acted in several television and film projects, and has written three books. Born and brought up in Bolton, Kay studied ...

. ''Fireman Sam'' was adapted into a live musical theatre show, which began touring the UK in June 2011. In 2014,

Amazon Prime Amazon Prime is a paid subscription service from Amazon which is available in various countries and gives users access to additional services otherwise unavailable or available at a premium to other Amazon customers. Services include same, one- ...

redubbed ''Fireman Sam'' using American voices instead of British voices for children in the US. However, the characters of Tom Thomas, Moose Roberts and Bella Lasagna have their regular, respective Australian, Canadian and Italian voices (instead of their being dubbed them with a US voice actor) due to their accents. This cast includes the voices of Andrew Hodwitz, Jonah Ain, Chris D'Silva, Margaret Brock, Lily Cassano, Dave Pender Crichton, Jacob James, Scott Lancastle, Ashley Magwood, Michael Pongracz, Becky E. Shrimpton, Sarah Lynn Strange, Carter Treneer, Mark Ricci, Joe Marth (later replaced by Dave MacRae), Adam Turgeon and Christa Clahane. Starting from season 12, the US dub has been possibly discontinued.

Reception

The ABC website said of the series, "All the characters blend together into an appealing mixture of fun and entertainment for children everywhere."

Common Sense Media Common Sense Media (CSM) is an organization that reviews and provides ratings for media and technology with the goal of providing information on their suitability for children.

recommended the 2005 series for ages three and up, praising it for showing how to "stay calm in a crisis" and rely on a team to solve problems. The American website found that the "distinctly Welsh characters, community, accents, and expressions may pose some minor comprehension problems for kids on this side of the pond", but considered it a useful example of life in another part of the world.

Controversies

In July 2016, it emerged that in Series 9, Episode 6 called "Troubled Waters" – in which the character Elvis slips on a piece of paper and falls into a stack of sheets of paper, causing them to fly everywhere – one of the flying pages that briefly came into view was identified as a page from the

Quran The Quran (, ; Standard Arabic: , Quranic Arabic: , , 'the recitation'), also romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a revelation from God. It is organized in 114 chapters (pl.: , ...

: "Surah Mulk (67), verses 13–26". The production company Mattel apologised for this accident, removed the episode from broadcast, and ceased work with Xing Xing, the animation company responsible for the error. Mattel stated: "Someone from the production company thought they were just putting in random text. We have no reason to believe it was done maliciously." It was at first thought that this episode would have to be removed from broadcast circulation, but instead was censored by having the scene edited to show Elvis just slipping on a blank piece of paper, so the television networks were still able to broadcast it. The BBC received more than 1,000 complaints and forwarded them to Channel 5 as the BBC has not aired Fireman Sam since 2008. In October 2017, the

London Fire Commissioner The London Fire Commissioner (LFC) is a functional body of the Greater London Authority, with responsibility for the governance of the London Fire Brigade. It is a corporation sole and is the fire authority of Greater London. It replaced the London ...

Dany Cotton Danielle Amara Cotton, (born 11 June 1969) is a British retired firefighter. From 2017–2019, she served as the Commissioner of the London Fire Brigade and was the first woman to hold this position. She had previously been the Director of Safe ...

highlighted Fireman Sam in a campaign fighting sexism and promoting the gender-neutral term . She proposed that Fireman Sam should be renamed "Firefighter Sam", and said that research showed that women are put off a career in the fire service because it is seen as a job for men.

Notes

References

External links

*
Official Fireman Sam website
* {{Portal bar, Wales, United Kingdom, Animation, Television Television characters introduced in 1987 1987 British television series debuts 1980s British children's television series 1990s British children's television series 2000s British children's television series 2010s British children's television series 2020s British children's television series 1980s British animated television series 1990s British animated television series 2000s British animated television series 2000s preschool education television series 2010s British animated television series 2020s British animated television series British computer-animated television series British stop-motion animated television series British television shows featuring puppetry English-language television shows BBC children's television shows Disaster television series S4C original programming Fictional firefighters Television series about firefighting Television series by DHX Media Television series by Mattel Creations Television shows set in Wales CBeebies HIT Entertainment Cartoonito original programming Channel 5 (British TV channel) original programming British television series revived after cancellation