Fireman Sam/Behind the Scenes

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Behind the Scenes

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Background Information

Fireman Sam is a fictional fireman created by Dave Gingell, David Jones and Rob Lee. He is a senior firefighter in the Pontypandy Fire Service.

He first appeared in the first episode of Fireman Sam, The Kite, which aired in 1987.

Whilst designing the characters, Rob Lee decided to give Sam a quiff from his hair, which stuck out of the firefighter helmet. This was to make Sam stand out in appearance.

Behind the Scenes

Original Stop-motion model

Fireman Sam's original model was made from scratch using fibreglass for the head, felt for the hands and possibly linen fibres for the hair. For his uniform, fabric was used for his tunic and shirt , and ( possibly plastic or rubber for the waterproof trousers and rubber for the boots).

A yellow helmet (possibly made out of) plastic helmet was made for the firefighters, using the custom Pontypandy Fire Service logo on the front.

When the original series was created during the 1980s, the puppets uniforms actually depicted the real life British firefighter's uniform very closely,

These were used in the first to fourth series.

All of the original puppets were specifically designed to resemble concept sketches that Rob Lee had drew for the Bumper Films crew.

Fireman Sam's original puppet model in Series 1 to 4

The original puppet's first appearance in The Kite

John Alderton with Sam's original puppet

Sam wearing Line Rescue Uniform Quarry Rescue

Fireman Sam wearing a Hawaiian shirt in Deep Trouble for Sam

Fireman Sam wearing his pyjamas in the opening sequence

The original puppet's last appearance in Disaster For Dinner

Sam's original puppet was displayed at Museum of the Moving Image in August 1990, with Bobby the Banana's puppet and Wilson the Butler's gloves

Thomas & Friends' railway consultant Sam Wilkinson holding Sam's original puppet in 2020 (note: he wears the Series 5 helmet for some reason)

Series 5 Stop-motion model

After Bumper Films stopped making new episodes after Series 4, HiT Entertainment built the new stop-motion model of Fireman Sam, made out of clay and fabric for his body. A prototype was loosely based on the original series.

A prototype of Sam's Series 5 puppet on display

Sam series 5 prototype puppet with Small-scale models of Trevor's bus and Jupiter

Fireman Sam's series five puppet

The series 5 puppet's first appeance in Danger Falling Sheep

Tim Allen filming the end of King of the Jungle

Tim Allen filming High Jinx

The series 5 puppet's last appearance in Let it Snow

After Series 5 was finished, when Fireman Sam's series 5 model was sitting at HiT Entertainment storage until it returned in The Official BBC Children in Need Medley. In this special, his model was modified and his eyebrows appear to be thicker.

Sam's series 5 model in Children in Need (note: his eyebrows were incorrectly coloured as ginger)

After Children in Need, all original and series 5 models of Fireman Sam were put in storage at Mattel, when both were never seen again in public. Some were sold online. A prototype of Sam was put on display for children's exhibitions; the regular puppet is likely either broken or missing a few parts.

CGI model

In 2008, the series introduced Computer-Generated Imagery (CGI) as a replacement for the show's long-standing stop motion. Fireman Sam was recreated from scratch in CGI by Xing Xing.

A pilot CGI model of Fireman Sam with Norman Price (notes: his hair was brown)

Fireman Sam's CGI in Series 6 to 9

In Series 10 to 13

Sam being animated

In Series 14-Present

Voice

In the first series to the fourth series, the character was voiced by John Alderton, who also voiced every other character and was also the narrator of the same series. Alderton portrayed Sam with a Welsh accent.

In the fifth series, the character was voiced by John Sparkes, who also played all of the male characters (along with Dilys) in the same series (with the exception of James). Sparkes played Sam until 2007 when the producers wanted to start with a new cast with a new fresh voice for Sam. However, he returned in 2009 to narrate some Fireman Sam games on the Cartoonito website. He even did his original voices for Sam, Elvis and Norman on the website. Steven Kynman went to an audition and luckily, he got the role. Kynman made Sam sound a bit younger than how Alderton and Sparkes made him sound.

Much like Alderton, Sparkes and Kynman consistently portrayed Sam with a Welsh accent.

In 2014, HiT Entertainment and Amazon Prime made a deal to make a US dub of Fireman Sam. The character was voiced by Andrew Hodwitz in this US dub. While all the other voice actors for Sam portrayed him with a Welsh accent, Hodwitz portrayed him with an American accent.

Voice Actors

• John Alderton (first series - fourth series)
• John Sparkes (fifth series)
• Steven Kynman (UK; sixth series onwards)
• Andrew Hodwitz (US; sixth series onwards)
• Rob Rackstraw (scriptbooks)
• Juha Varis (Finland)
• Helge Winther-Larsen (Norway)
• Nir Ron (Israel)
• János Bata (Hungary; 1987-1994)
• Zoltán Csankó (Hungary; 2003 onwards)
• Massimiliano Lotti (Italy; 1998-2009)
• Alessandro Iannizzi (Italy; 2012 onwards)
• Lars Mikkelsen (Denmark)
• Aubrahn Eric (France and French-speaking Canada)
• Juan Manuel Echave (Argentina)
• Victor Covarrubias (Mexico)
• Gu Ja-hyung (South Korea)
• Richard Elfyn (Wales; fifth series onwards)