Fireman Sam (Welsh: Sam Tân) first premiered in November 1987 on the Welsh TV channel S4C. The series is set in the fictional Welsh town of Pontypandy, which was retconned from being a rural village in the south Wales valleys to being a larger seaside fishing town in the 2008 remake series. Other locations mentioned include Cardiff and Newtown. Originally featuring a small cast of characters, with the later series the cast was expanded to a large range of supporting characters of diverse backgrounds and occupations. The show focuses on the work of the Pontypandy fire service as well as the day-to-day lives of town residents. Every episode includes an emergency of some kind in which the characters say "call Fireman Sam", with a moral lesson being learned at its conclusion. The series features an ensemble cast of regular and recurring characters, and began with nine human characters in its first series. All the characters in the original series were voiced by John Alderton, roughly divided between children and adults. The original four firefighters; Fireman Sam, Elvis, Station Officer Steele and Trevor were introduced alongside three child characters, Sam's niece and nephew Sarah and James and naughty Norman Price. They were joined by Norman's single-mother shopkeeper Dilys Price and Italian Pizzeria proprietor Bella Lasagne. The only other character introduced in the original run was the female firefighter Penny Morris who first appeared in Series 3. In 2005, the revived series included all the old characters as well as new characters designed with the modern techniques of stop motion claymation. The Flood family was introduced consisting of Mike the Plumber, his wife Helen the Nurse, and their daughter Mandy. They were joined by Tom Thomas an Australian helicopter pilot. The main characters in this series were all voiced by John Sparkes, Joanna Ruiz and Sarah Hadland. In 2008, the new CGI series saw the introduction of three new relatives of established characters; Sam's brother Charlie and his wife Bronwyn along with Norman's cousin Derek Price. The voice cast was also replaced, with the new voice actors for the series being Steven Kynman, Tegwen Tucker, David Carling and Su Douglas. With each new series since, more characters have been introduced including Bronwyn's train driver father Gareth Griffiths, Canadian adventurer Moose Roberts and the Chen and Sparkes families. The animal characters have also played an important role in the series including dogs Dusty, Radar and Nipper, cats Rosa and Lion and sheep Woolly and Lambykins. As well as the television series, the characters of Fireman Sam have appeared in a number of straight to video and DVD films, books, video games, musical theatre and in 2009 featured on Peter Kay's Children in Need single The Official BBC Children in Need Medley.
Pontypandy Fire Service
Firefighters
Fireman Sam
Fireman Samuel "Sam" Jones is the title character of the series. He is a senior firefighter for the Pontypandy Fire Service. He is a competent and brave firefighter, who helps keep the people of Pontypandy safe. He considers his job to be 'the best job in the world' and often helps out in emergencies even on his days off. However, he does have an inventive streak which sometimes gets him in trouble when one of his inventions goes haywire: since the sixth series, he has stopped inventing, though he can be creative from time to time, such as fashioning a barbecue out of an oil drum in the episode "Sausages vs. Shrimps".
Sam has been a mascot for British fire services used to promote fire safety to children. In the original series, he lives alone in Pontypandy and has a niece and nephew Sarah and James. Sam drives a large fire engine called Jupiter, based on a Bedford TK, receiving elements of a Bedford 6x4 in Series 5 and elements from the Volvo FL6 in Series 6 and entirely a Rosenbauer Panther in Series 15. He also has an all-terrain vehicle called Mercury. Additionally, there is an Animal Rescue Crane called Phoenix, but it has been driven by multiple characters.
Elvis Cridlington
Firefighter Elvis Cridlington is a first class firefighter in Pontypandy and the station mess manager. He is Sam's sidekick and learns skills from Sam, often used for comic relief. As the fire station's cook, he enjoys cooking and playing guitar. His name and character design particularly his pompadour hairstyle was based on Elvis Presley.
In the CGI series, the character was criticised for being more childish than the original Elvis had been.
Station Officer Steele
Station Officer Steele is the officer in charge of Pontypandy Fire Station. He has a rail fire engine called Bessie and a mobile command unit. In the original series, his real name is Basil Steele, while in the CGI series, it is Norris Steele. He is referred to as Fire Captain Steele in the US dub of the CGI series. The character of Steele has been compared to Captain Mainwaring from Dad's Army.
Penny Morris
Firefighter Penny Morris is a firefighter in Pontypandy who was the only female firefighter (firewoman) from 1990 to 2015. Originally from Newtown, Penny moved to Pontypandy in Season 3. She is a trained lifeguard and certified scuba diver. She drives a rescue tender called Venus, as currently based on a Range Rover Carmichael Commando, but received elements of the greatly modified Mini Cooper from the fifth series being a water carrier. She also has a rescue boat called Neptune beginning from the sixth season until Ben Hooper operates it in the ninth season.
Her cousin farmer Annie Morris was introduced to the series in 2023.
Arnold McKinley
Firefighter Arnold McKinley is a firefighter in Pontypandy. He is an expert in technology and is often found in the office working on the computer.
He was first introduced alongside Ellie Phillips in the feature-length special Heroes of the Storm.
Ellie Phillips
Firefighter Ellie Phillips is a firefighter in Pontypandy. She is the second female firefighter after Penny. Ellie is the main leader of the Pontypandy Junior Fire Cadets and is a keen athlete and will stop at nothing to accomplish a task.
She was first introduced alongside Arnold McKinley in the feature-length special Heroes of the Storm.
Chief Fire Officer Boyce
Chief Fire Officer Horatio Boyce is the chief fire officer of the Pontypandy Fire Service from Newtown.
He first appears in the 2009 film Fireman Sam: The Great Fire of Pontypandy.
Other rescue staff
Tom Thomas
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