Fireman Sam facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Fireman Sam
Genre	Animation Children's television series Comedy Adventure Format: Stop motion (1987–2008) CGI (2008–present)
Created by	Rob Lee Dave Gingell Dave Jones
Written by	Various
Voices of	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
Narrated by	John Alderton (1987–1994)
Music by	Ben Heneghan Ian Lawson David Pickvance (2008-2019) Blain Morris (2020-present)
Country of origin	United Kingdom Israel
Original language(s)	Welsh (S1-4) English (S5-present) Hebrew
No. of series	12
No. of episodes	213 (list of episodes)
Production
Producer(s)	Various
Running time	10 minutes (series) 20 minutes (Christmas special episode)
Production company(s)	Bumper Films (1987–1994) HIT Entertainment (2005–2017) Mattel Television (2017–present) Animation: Siriol Productions (2005-2008) HRTv (2008–2010) Xing Xing Management Group (2008–2017) Island of Misfits (2017–present) WildBrain Studios (2020–present)
Distributor	S4C International (Season 1–5) HIT Entertainment (Season 5–10) WildBrain (Season 11-present)
Release
Original network	Wales: S4C United Kingdom: BBC One (Series 1–4) CBeebies (Series 5) Cartoonito (Series 6–present) Channel 5 (Series 8–present) Israel: Hop! Channel
Picture format	576i (4:3 SDTV) (series 1–4) 576i ( SDTV) (series 5–7) 1080i ( HDTV) (series 8–present)
Audio format	Stereo 5.1 Surround Sound
Original release	17 November 1987 (1987-11-17) – present

Fireman Sam is a fun animated TV show from the United Kingdom and Israel. It's all about a brave firefighter named Sam and his friends. They live in a small, make-believe Welsh village called Pontypandy. The name Pontypandy is a mix of two real Welsh towns: Pontypridd and Tonypandy.

The idea for the show came from two former firefighters in London, England. They shared their idea with artist Rob Lee, who helped create the show. Fireman Sam first appeared in Welsh as Sam Tân on S4C on 1 November 1987. A few weeks later, it was shown in English on BBC One on 17 November. The first series ended in 1994. A new version of the show with more characters started in 2005. The series was also shown in Scottish Gaelic as Sam Smalaidh in Scotland. Fireman Sam has been sold to over 40 countries. It is even used in the United Kingdom to teach kids about fire safety.

The catchy theme song was first sung by Mal Pope from 1987 to 1994. A different singer, Cameron Stewart, performed a new version of the song starting in 2005.

Adventures of Fireman Sam

Over the years, Fireman Sam has had many exciting spin-offs and special adventures. These include stage shows, movies, and even a charity song.

Stage Shows and Movies

• In 1996, a stage play called Fireman Sam In Action was made into a video. It was released by BBC Video.
• The show's first full-length movie was The Great Fire of Pontypandy. It came out in 2010 on DVD and iTunes. It was also shown in some movie theaters.
• Fireman Sam was turned into a live musical theater show. This show started touring the UK in June 2011.
• In 2015, the second full-length movie, Heroes of the Storm, was released. It was also known as Ultimate Heroes in the US.

Special Appearances

• In 2009, Fireman Sam joined other animated TV characters for a special song. This song was for a charity event called Children in Need. The famous comedian Peter Kay helped put the song together.

Voices in Different Countries

• In 2014, Amazon Prime started showing Fireman Sam in the US with American voices. This was done so that children in the US could understand the show better.
• However, some characters kept their original voices. Tom Thomas, Moose Roberts, and Bella Lasagna still have their Australian, Canadian, and Italian accents. This is because their accents are part of their characters.
• The American voice cast includes actors like Andrew Hodwitz, Jonah Ain, and Becky Shrimpton.