Fireman Sam

{{short description|British animated children's television series}}

{{Infobox television

| image = Fireman Sam logo.png

| genre =

| creator = {{plainlist|

Dave Gingell
Dave Jones
Rob Lee

}}

| writer = Laura Beaumont
Paul Larson (2012–present)

| director = Jerry Hibbert
Gary Andrews
Cam Lizotte
Greg Richardson
Katrina Hadley
Jennifer Guglielmucci
Oskar Nilsson
William Gordon
Connor Ferguson

| voices = {{plainlist|

John Alderton
John Sparkes
Joanna Ruiz
Sarah Hadland
Steven Kynman
David Carling
Su Douglas
Tegwen Tucker
Ifan Huw Dafydd
Nigel Whitmey
John Hasler
Alex Lowe
Jo Wyatt
Colin McFarlane
Ayesha Antoine

}}

| narrated = John Alderton

| country = United Kingdom

| language = {{plainlist|

English
Welsh (Series 1-4)

}}

| num_series = 15

| num_episodes = 304

| list_episodes = List of Fireman Sam episodes

| producer = Various

| runtime = {{plainlist|

10 minutes (series)
20 minutes ("Snow Business" only)

}}

| company = {{plainlist|

Bumper Films (1987–1994)
HIT Entertainment (2003–2017)
Mattel Television (2017–present)

}}

| network = {{plainlist|

S4C (Welsh version)
Children's BBC on BBC1 (series 1–4)
CBeebies (series 5)
Cartoonito (series 6–present)
Channel 5 (series 8–present)

}}

| first_aired = {{Start date|1987|11|17|df=y}}

| last_aired = {{End date|1994|11|17|df=y}}

| first_aired2 = {{Start date|2005|04|04|df=y}}

| last_aired2 = {{End date|2005|12|25|df=y}}

| first_aired3 = {{Start date|2008|11|24|df=y}}

| last_aired3 = present

| music = {{plainlist|

Ben Heneghan (1987–2005)
Ian Lawson (1987–2005)
David Pickvance (2008–2019)
Blain Morris (2020–present)
Mike Shields (2021–present)
Amanda Cawley (2021–present)

}}

Fireman Sam ({{langx|cy|Sam Tân}}) is a British animated children's television series about a fireman named Sam, his fellow firefighters, and other residents in the fictional Welsh rural village of Pontypandy (a portmanteau of two real towns, Pontypridd and Tonypandy). It was broadcast for the first time in November 1987 on Welsh TV channel S4C and is shown in more than 155 countries across the world.{{Cite web |date=2019-03-20 |title='No stereotype problem' in Fireman Sam |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-wales-47629489 |access-date=2023-09-08 |website=BBC News |language=en-GB}}{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-41762714|title=Happy 30th birthday Fireman Sam|first=Peter|last=Shuttleworth|work=BBC News|date=17 November 2017}}

History

Fireman Sam first appeared in Welsh on S4C on 1 November 1987,Regional Television Variations. Date: Saturday, October 31, 1987 Publication: The Times (London, England) Sunday: 1st 7.20. {{lang|cy|Sam Tân}} and a few weeks later on BBC1 on 17 November 1987. The original series finished in 1994, and a new series that expanded the character cast commenced in 2003. The series was also shown as {{lang|gd|Sam Smalaidh}} in Scottish Gaelic in Scotland. The series was sold to over 40 countries and has been used across the United Kingdom to promote fire safety.

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

Development

The original idea came about from two ex-firemen from London, England – Dave Gingell and David Jones after purchasing a stop motion animation book by artist Anthony Miller. They approached Mike Young, creator of SuperTed, in Barry, 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 who also designed the SuperTed characters, and the programme was made using stop motion animation. It could take up to four days to produce one minute of this form of puppet animation. Fireman Sam has, to this day, been broadcast in several countries around the world and has been translated into over 25 different languages including Mandarin.{{cite web | url=http://www.firemansamonline.com/uk/Parents/About_Sam/index.asp | title=About Sam | access-date=4 January 2011}}

In the original series, all the character voices were performed by John Alderton. The later series used several actors' voices.

In 2021, Mike Young said that shows like Fireman Sam and SuperTed would not be able to exist without government subsidies to S4C.{{Cite news |date=2021-10-21 |title=TV: Fireman Sam and SuperTed 'wouldn't exist' without subsidies |language=en-GB |work=BBC News |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-wales-58955393 |access-date=2023-12-13}}

Episodes

Characters

Spin-offs

In 1996, there was a stage show that 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 the Children in Need single The Official BBC Children in Need Medley. The single was put together by Peter Kay.

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

In 2014, Amazon Prime redubbed Fireman Sam using American voices instead of British voices for children in the United States. However, the characters of Tom Thomas, Moose Roberts and Bella Lasagne have their regular, respective Australian, Canadian and Italian voices (instead of being dubbed with a US voice actor), due to their characters' 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.{{citation needed|date=May 2023}}

Reception

The ABC website said of the series, "All the characters blend together into an appealing mixture of fun and entertainment for children everywhere".{{cite web | url=http://www.abc.net.au/abckids/shows/prog64.htm | title=Fireman Sam at ABC | website=Australian Broadcasting Corporation | access-date=4 January 2011}}

Common Sense Media 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.{{cite web | url=http://www.commonsensemedia.org/tv-reviews/Fireman-Sam.html | title=Fireman Sam at commonsensemedia | date=16 October 2006 | access-date=4 January 2011}}

In 2014, Dean Burnett wrote in The Guardian calling Fireman Sam the "worst children's programme ever" due to its lack of realism.{{Cite news |last=Burnett |first=Dean |date=2014-02-07 |title=Fireman Sam: the worst children's programme ever? |language=en-GB |work=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/science/brain-flapping/2014/feb/07/fireman-sam-the-worst-childrens-programme-ever |access-date=2023-12-13 |issn=0261-3077}}

Controversies

File:Fireman Sam Quran.jpg appearing in Fireman Sam.]]

In July 2016, it emerged that in Series 9, Episode 6 called "Troubled Waters" – in which 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: "Surah Mulk (67), verses 13–26".{{cite web|last1=Evans|first1=Patrick|title=Fireman Sam episode pulled amid Quran row|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-36900310|publisher=BBC|access-date=30 July 2016|date=27 July 2016}} The production company Mattel apologised for this incident, removed the episode from broadcast, and ceased work with Xing Xing, the animation company made 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. Ofcom decided not to investigate the episode stating that even at the highest resolution it was impossible to tell if the text was from the Quran or not.{{cite news |date=12 September 2016 |title=Fireman Sam 'Koran' scene cleared by Ofcom|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-37338265 |work=BBC News |location= |access-date=11 April 2024}}