Fireman Sam (TV series)

***Fireman Sam***, known as ***Sam Tân*** in Welsh, is a Welsh stop-motion television series about a firefighter named Sam Jones and the village he lives in, Pontypandy.

## History of Development

In the early 1980s, two firefighters from Kent, England began producing fireman figurines, made of lead, to sell to children and Fire Service enthusiasts.

Dave Gingell and Dave Jones only received minimal wages for their work in firefighting, so making and selling these figurines gave them that bit of extra cash. The figurines started to sell well with children and the two David's realised they could actually make something of this Fireman character.

Before 1987, there had been no British Children's TV shows based on The Fire Service. There had been a Fire Service in Trumpton, but Trumpton focused more on the whole town aspect.

David Jones' daughter had called the Fireman character "Sam" and the name had stuck.

In 1985, Dave Gingell and Dave Jones had contacted Mike Young (Creator of Superted), to help them develop their fireman for television.

Mike was working for S4C at the time, where his creation "Superted" had been a huge hit. Superted was the first Welsh cartoon that had ever been produced.

Mike suggested that "Stop Motion animation" was the best way to create Fireman Sam.

Cardiff born artist, Rob Lee (who had been an artist for the comic strip, "the Beano") was hired to develop the series. Rob created all of the characters for Fireman Sam. It's settings and the art design. The BBC (who were interested in broadcasting the show) wanted it to be set in Birmingham. But Rob stuck to his instincts and the show was set in the South Wales valleys.

The *Fireman Sam* franchise was officially established in 1985. Rob Lee began writing and illustrating books of Fireman Sam in 1986. The TV Series would air in the following year.

Ian Frampton and John Walker of Bumper Films were hired to animate the show. They had already produced a show for S4C called "Rocky Hollow" or "Deri Deg" in Welsh.

Bumper Films studios were based in Weston-Super Mare and their crew specialised in stop motion animation.

S4C newsreader, Nia Ceidiog was hired to write the scripts for the episodes. Rob Lee provided the storylines.

Ben Heneghan and Ian Lawson were hired to create the soundtrack.

Swansea born singer, Maldwyn Pope was paid £250 to sing the theme song in both Welsh and English. That would be around £780 in today's money.

Maldwyn and the composers later returned to work on Joshua Jones.

Well established English actor, John Alderton was hired to narrate the show in English. Gareth Lewis was hired to narrate the Welsh version, Sam Tân.

Sam Tân aired it's first episode, "Y Barcud" on S4C in early 1987. In November of that year, the English version, Fireman Sam aired on BBC one, starting with "The Kite".

The series was produced by Bumper Films for several years. Four seasons were made until the show finished.

Fireman Sam was a moderate success. It was popular with children and many books, videos and soft toys of the character was produced.
Although the show finished in 1994, the series was regularly repeated on BBC Two until the mid 2000s.

Bumper Films' other productions were much less successful. Joshua Jones and Starhill Ponies were not as well received as Sam.

By 2001, Bumper Films sadly became defunct and closed their doors on producing animation. Their copyright shares in Fireman Sam were sold to Gullane Entertainment.

Gullane only owned Fireman Sam for a very brief period, as the Gullane company itself was sold to Hit Entertainment in 2002.

Hit and S4C decided to co-produce a new reboot of Fireman Sam in 2003, this was known as "Series 5". This series, albeit short-lived, was still made with stop motion animation, however, the characters and settings were given a different look.

Multiple writers were hired to write scripts, alas, Nia Ceidiog was not one of them.

Heneghan and Lawson returned as the soundtrack composers with a brand new theme song. This newer theme tune was sang by Cameron Stewart.

In 2008, S4C sold their half of Fireman Sam's rights to Hit Entertainment. This gave Hit full control of the franchise. They created another reboot for the series, this time with CGI animation.

## Gallery/Promo Images

John Alderton with the Puppet of Fireman Sam.Behind the Scenes 3Pontypandy Fire Service 1Nia Ceidiog with the storyboard for "Norman's Pitfall"Behind the Scenes 2Pontypandy Fire Service 2Behind the Scenes 1Merchandise LogoChristmas Special Promo.Remastered Version's Title Card613245A Costume of Sam.