I LOVEEEEE the clear shot of Sam from the image of him posing beside John Alderton btw (image 2). My detective eyes are telling me that might be yet another puppet that I haven't seen before. It could be after-effects, could be the lighting, but the outlines on his eyes are not normally that thick. And his eyes are longer, more close together!!

Lovely VHS ☺️ There might be more than 1 puppet per character, they are different in season 1-3 and in season 4, and in different shots

Jesus Christ you're one lucky duck. The VHS probably wasn't a hit in the US as consumers probably just saw it as just another video in the video shop, as well as the fact Sam was never on television over there and Americans probably didn't get the show due to how Welsh it is and how the different the Fire services are in Britain than in America. There was also a tape that featured classic Sam in Canada called Cavalcade of Cartoons.

Wow you are so lucky to own a copy!!!

Nice find! It's a shame only 3 OG episodes were released in the US, but still nice for you to own the VHS available :)

According to someone known as Ed Hornby, one of FS' animators told him American networks wanted to buy the show but asked that they get rid of the fires/reduce the number of emergencies in the plots - when it's literally a firefighting show and there weren't that many fires in it back then. They didn't reject it because of 999 instead of 911 or even Norman's dangerous behaviour, but because it depicted an emergency service doing what it's supposed to do.