Sam is the hero next door

Fireman Sam  The hero next door is a British animated comedy children's series about a fireman called Sam, his fellow firefighters, and other residents in the fictional Welsh rural village of Pontypandy (a portmanteau of two real towns, Pontypriddand Tonypandy, which are situated approximately 5 miles (8 km) apart in the South Wales Valleys). The original idea for the show came from two ex-firemen from London, England, who took their idea to artist and writer Rob Lee who developed the concept, and the show was commissioned.

Fireman Sam first appeared as Sam Tân (Fireman Sam in Welsh) as a Welsh language series on S4C in 1987, and later that year on BBC1. The original series finished in 1994, and a new series that expanded the character cast commenced in 2003. The series was also shown in Gaelic in Scotland. The series was sold to over 40 countries and has been used across the UK to promote fire safety.

Contents

 * 1Development
 * 2History of the series
 * 2.1Original series (1987–1994)
 * 2.22005 series
 * 2.32008–2018 series
 * 3Episodes
 * 4Spin-offs
 * 5Critical response
 * 6Controversies
 * 7References
 * 8External links

Development[edit]
The original idea came about from two ex-firemen from London, England – Dave Gingell and David Jones after purchasing the cartoon drawn by artist Anthony Miller. They approached Mike Young, creator of SuperTed, in Barry, Wales, and asked them to further develop their concept. The idea was then brought to S4C's Director of Animation, Chris Grace, who saw potential in the idea and commissioned the series. Grace had previously commissioned SuperTed, which had achieved success across the United Kingdom and worldwide. The characters and storylines were created by Rob Lee, an illustrator from Cardiff, and the program was produced using stop motion. 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.[2]

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

Original series (1987–1994)[edit]
The original series comprised 32 ten-minute episodes and a 20-minute Christmas special. The narration and all the character voices were done by John Alderton. Sam is the main character in the show, and interacts with both colleagues at the fire station and fellow villagers. He is seen as somewhat of a hero in the village. Despite being so small, and with so little activity, the village sees its fair share of fires, which Sam and his team can easily handle. The vehicles at the fire station include a four-wheeled Bedford TK fire engine called Jupiter, a six-wheeled 1982 Range Rover Rescue Tender named Venus, and Trevor's Bus, a 1985 Ford Transit Dormobile. Fireman Sam's colleagues are Elvis Cridlington, Station Officer Basil Steele (renamed Norris Steele in the new CGI series) and later Penny Morris (who hailed from Newtown with the firetender). The villagers are bus driver/auxiliary firefighter Trevor Evans, Italian café owner Bella Lasagne, Norman Price, Norman's mother Dilys Price, and the twins Sarah and James Jones. The objects include Bentley the Robot, M.O.P., and Mechanical Master Chef.

The original series aired on BBC One, CBBC and CBeebies since it was launched in 1987, most commonly airing on CBeebies on a daily basis with repeats showing until 28 December 2007. In the original series produced by Bumper Films from 1987 to 1994, the firefighters had yellow and black uniforms, whereas in 2003 series produced by S4C and the BBC and the CGI series produced by HIT Entertainment and Hibbert Ralph, the firefighters now have yellow and blue uniforms.

In 1988, the original series was nominated for a BAFTA Award for Best Short Animated Film. The potential recipients were Ian Frampton and John