Nia Ceidiog

Nia Ceidiog (born 1954) is a Welsh bodybuilder, broadcaster, and producer.

She is well known for writing the classic episodes of Fireman Sam from 1987 to 1994.

Career with Fireman Sam

Nia Ceidiog wrote the scripts for TV and translated them to Welsh, creating Sam Tân simultaneously. She remembers it as an exciting time when the series first appeared on S4C and BBC One network in 1987. It was also a time before computers so she wrote the scripts by hand and entrusted them to the postal service. "We wrote 26 episodes of Fireman Sam. It was a great time for children’s TV in Wales," says Nia. "Rob wrote the storylines, we discussed them and I wrote them out in long hand at home in Cardiff on A4 paper before getting them typed up and posting them off to John Walker and Ian Frampton at Bumper." "It was a long process". "Ian used Rob’s drawings to make the models and John directed filming." Nia could not write anything unless it worked in both languages so the stories depended on both Welsh and English to work and Sam had a strong identity in both languages from the start. "It is quite a craft to make a script feel indigenous with mouth movements based on two languages," Nia explains. Like Rob she was convinced a strong Welsh identity and setting would be a strong selling point. "I remember sitting in the meeting where the BBC wanted it set in inner city Birmingham and to have a mix of ethnicity and all sorts," Nia recalls. "We felt strongly it was important it had a Welsh feel and we got that. I like to think Pontpandy is everybody's village and reflects that". "In terms of international appeal all villages and communities have people who know each other and have characters that are recognisable". "But first of all Fireman Sam is a hero, and children love fire engines and heroes". To this day Nia, who runs Cardiff-based production company Ceidiog, and others involved at the start, say Sam is a fantastic calling card, recognised the world over. Although they knew Fireman Sam was a winner from the early days they never dared imagine the massive success he became. Nia has also said "I'm really proud of Fireman Sam. My children grew up with him and now my grandson Trystan, who's four, loves the new version. So many children love it". Her grandson Trystan enjoys singing along to the theme tune, composed a quarter of a century ago by Welsh music partnership Ben Heneghan and Ian Lawson.