Season 2

Episode Guide

The **second season** of *Fireman Sam Spin-off Series* first aired from 16 April to 24 May 2023, This season has 8 episodes. However, becuase Season 1 unexpectedly ended in 2022, it was originally planned to make Season 2 part of Season 1. But it was decided to make it Season 2 instead.

## Production

In December 2022, 20th Century Fox+ announced they had purchased a 50% stake in the *Fireman Sam Spin-off Series* property from Universal+, with the intention of remastering the earlier episodes and producing a new season of eight episodes, ten minutes in length. 20th Century Fox+ and Universal+ were soon closed down by TLBH on Christmas day 2022, bringing the *Fireman Sam Spin-off Series* rights to them. On 25 October, it was announced that the series would be animated by Siriol Productions, a subsidiary of Entertainment Rights, owners of Postman Pat and Basil Brush, and that the episodes would be delivered to S4C and the BBC for a 2004 delivery.

These episodes use more modern techniques of stop motion claymation including mouths that move with the dialogue. This series featured all the original characters (except Bentley the Robot, Ferdinand the Frog and the Jackdaw), but also introduced some new faces, such as Tom Thomas, the Australian pilot of the rescue helicopter Wallaby One and the Mountain Rescue 4×4 Jeep, an unnamed photographer/news reporter, and the Flood family; consisting of Mike the Plumber, his wife Helen the Nurse, and their daughter Mandy. Though still loosely based on a Bedford TK, the updated Jupiter has six wheels, with a slightly revised livery and appearance. Venus also received an update, with its design sporting a more generic modern appearance, though not based on any real-life model in particular. The main characters in this series were voiced by John Sparkes, Joanna Ruiz and Sarah Hadland.

## Episodes

### English

1. Danger Falling Sheep
2. The Big Freeze
3. Twist of Fate
4. A Real Live Wire
5. Bug Eyed Boy from Venus
6. Bath Time for Dusty
7. Neighbourhood Watchout
8. Twitchers in Trouble
9. Carnival of Junk
10. Mummy's Little Pumpkin
11. Joker Soaker
12. Fit for Nothing
13. Deep Water
14. Beast of Pontypandy
15. Pizza Palaver
16. Fun Run
17. Trouble and Squeak
18. King of the Jungle
19. Norman's Invisible Friend
20. High Jinx
21. The Case of the Liquorice Shoelaces
22. Fiery Finale
23. Birthday Surprise
24. Firefighter of Tomorrow
25. Fields of Fire
26. Let it Snow

### Welsh

#### Series 4 (2003)

1. Danger Falling Sheep
2. Twist of Fate
3. A Real Live Wire
4. Bug Eyed Boy From Venus
5. Bath Time for Dusty
6. Neighbourhood Watchout
7. Twitchers in Trouble
8. Carnival of Junk
9. Mummy's Little Pumpkin
10. Joker Soaker
11. Fit for Nothing
12. Deep Water
13. Beast of Pontypandy

#### Series 5 (2004)

1. Pizza Palaver
2. Fun Run
3. Trouble and Squeak
4. King of the Jungle
5. Norman's Invisible Friend
6. High Jinx
7. The Case of the Liquorice Shoelaces
8. Fiery Finale
9. Birthday Surprise
10. Firefighter of Tomorrow
11. Fields of Fire
12. Let it Snow
13. The Big Freeze

## Characters

* Fireman Sam
* Elvis Cridlington
* Penny Morris
* Station Officer Steele
* Trevor Evans
* Dilys Price
* Bella Lasagne
* Norman Price
* Sarah and James
* Rosa

### Characters Introduced

* Mandy Flood
* Mike Flood
* Helen Flood
* Tom Thomas
* Woolly
* Dusty
* Pavarotti
* Photographer

## Vehicles

* Jupiter
* Venus
* Trevor's Bus

### Vehicles Introduced

* Wallaby 1
* Mountain Rescue 4x4
* Helen Flood's Car

## Cast

* John Sparkes as Sam, Elvis, Station Officer Steele, Norman, Dilys, Mike, Trevor, Tom and Dusty
* Sarah Hadland as Penny, Mandy and Bella
* Joanna Ruiz as Helen, Sarah and James

## Trivia

* This series was produced in 2002.
* This is the last series of many things:
	+ The last series to use stop-motion model animation. From Series 6 onwards, the whole animation was created using CGI animation.
	+ The last series to have Dilys' shop having the name "N.W. PRICE" market.
	+ The last series to have Bella living in Pontypandy.
	+ The last series where Norman has round glasses. From Series 6 onwards, he has square glasses which are blue. However, he still has the same clothes as this series.
	+ The last series where Norman has green eyes. He has blue eyes in Series 6 onwards.
	+ The last series where Dilys has no glasses. She has glasses from Series 6 onwards.
	+ The last series where Bella has round and yellow glasses. She has square glasses from Series 10 onwards, which are white.
	+ The last series where Norman is seen as the local paperboy.
	+ The last series that any characters are wearing a Hi-Vis.
	+ The last series to have the end of the intro with Sam's iconic thumbs up pose.
	+ The last series where Pontypandy is a village set deep in the hills. From Series 6 onwards, Pontypandy is a seaside village.
	+ The last series to be produced and distributed by the BBC.
	+ The last series to not have a US dub.
* This is the first series of many things:
	+ The first series for the characters to have their own voices provided by different voice actors instead of all by the same person.
	+ The first series to have the characters' mouths move in sync with the voices.
	+ The first series to have no narration, although background voices from TV commercials can be heard in some episodes.
	+ The first series to be dubbed in Latin American Spanish, Hindi, Russian and Turkish.
	+ The first series to utilise digital masters.
	+ The first series produced under HiT Entertainment's ownership.
	+ The first series where the emergency bell is depicted the other way up with the gongs on top and the hammers on the bottom.
	+ The first series to be produced and filmed in 16:9 widescreen but some DVD releases such as Children's Favourites and US releases had them cropped to 4:3.
		- The 4:3 versions of this series had all the special effects, such as the binoculars in Danger Falling Sheep, completely re-edited to fit the screen.
	+ The first series where Penny is a full-time firefighter in Pontypandy (having hailed from Newtown in Series 3 and 4 and only making occassonal visits to Pontypandy).
	+ The first series where Tom and the Flood family appear.
	+ The first series where the vehicles do not have number plates.
* This is the only series of many things:
	+ The only series to feature Dusty.
	+ The only series in which Woolly is shown as a baby, said to be male and Norman's pet lamb. From Series 6 onwards, Woolly is an adult ewe and lives just behind the Floods' house.
	+ The only series to be animated by Siriol Productions.
	+ The only series where Steele's office is the only room which has remained the same since the original series. It was then changed in the CGI series.
	+ The only series where Sam drives Jupiter in every episode.
	+ The only series where Norman appears in every episode, even when he wasn't the focus of the episode.
	+ The only series in the New Series to be made using stop-motion.
	+ The only series where Mike has green eyes. He has brown eyes in Series 6 onwards.
	+ The only series to have John Sparkes, Joanna Ruiz and Sarah Hadland as part as the voice cast.
* A number of props from this series were later sold on the online props website The Prop Gallery, including 2 warning signs (from Danger Falling Sheep and Bug Eyed Boy from Venus), Wallaby 1's control panel, Woolly, and a fire extinguisher.
* According to a behind the scenes photo of High Jinx, this series was shot on a Sony SDTV professional video camera, most likely onto BetaCam SP.
* Series 5 can be viewed as a "transitional series", as it seemingly bridges the gap between the Classic and CGI Series; almost every concept, character, and location introduced in Series 5 would be carried over into the CGI series, along with most of the character designs (of all the designs introduced in Series 5, only the firefighters (Sam, Elvis, Steele and Penny), Trevor, Norman and Bella made the jump to CGI relatively unchanged); Sarah and James received new clothes, Dilys gained a younger look, all members of the Flood family (Mandy, Mike and Helen) had their designs overhauled, and Woolly became an adult ewe.