The eighth series of Fireman Sam aired from 3 March to 10 November 2012 in the United Kingdom, and was released in June and July 2014 in the United States.
Production[]
On 22 February 2011, HIT announced an eighth series of Fireman Sam for a 2012 delivery consisting of 26 10-minute episodes, as with the previous two series.[1] Xing-Xing Animation fully took over control of the animation production, with the series now being fully produced in HD.
Series 8 introduced a new environment - the Pontypandy Heritage Railway, which lines up to the base of Pontypandy Mountain and is run by new character Gareth Griffiths, who is Bronwyn's father. A new location near Pontypandy Mountain, the Mountain Activity Centre is introduced, ran by Moose Roberts, a famous mountain climber hailing from Canada. Mrs. Chen, a schoolteacher, and her daughter Lily Chen, the youngest character in the series so far were also introduced in the series.
Three new vehicles were introduced - the Pontypandy Flyer Train, Mercury, a quad-bike, and Bessie, a rail-based fire engine that was Station Officer Steele's first fire engine when he was younger, which lives in a shed near the Train Station. A quat-copter drone called Saturn was also introduced.
Voice actors joining the cast were John Hasler, who replaced Steven Kynman as the voice of James, Ifan Huw Dafydd, who voiced Gareth, and Nigel Whitmey, who voiced Moose.
On 31 August 2012, it was announced that Channel 5 had acquired the terrestrial broadcast rights to the series to air on the channel's Milkshake! strand from October[2]
Episodes[]
- Bronwyn's Millionth Customer
- Runaway Train
- Mandy's Mountain
- Water Tower Inferno
- Jupiter on the Loose
- The Big Chill
- Boyce will be Boyce
- Elvis in Concert
- Mandy at Sea
- The Great Guinea Pig Rescue
- The Pontypandyness Monster
- Disastrous Dilys
- Charlie's Big Catch
- Bessie to the Rescue
- King of the Mountain
- Lighthouse Lock Out
- Girls' Night In
- To Outfox a Fox
- Lily Lost and Found
- Sky Lanterns
- The Pontypandy Polar Bear
- Ice Cold in Pontypandy
- Snowball of Doom
- Floodlights
- Norman's Halloween Heist
- Wheel of Fire
Characters[]
- Fireman Sam
- Elvis Cridlington
- Penny Morris
- Station Officer Steele
- Chief Fire Officer Boyce
- Tom Thomas
- Sarah and James
- Bronwyn Jones
- Charlie Jones
- Helen Flood
- Mike Flood
- Mandy Flood
- Dilys Price
- Derek Price
- Norman Price
- Trevor Evans
- Lion
- Radar
- Nipper
- Woolly
- Lambykins
Characters Introduced[]
Cast[]
UK[]
- Steven Kynman as Sam, Elvis, Norman, Derek, and Charlie
- David Carling as Station Officer Steele, Chief Fire Officer Boyce, Trevor, Tom, and Mike
- Su Douglas as Dilys, Mandy, Helen, and Lily
- Tegwen Tucker as Penny, Sarah, Bronwyn, and Mrs. Chen
- John Hasler as James
- Ifan Huw Dafydd as Gareth
- Nigel Whitmey as Moose
US[]
- Andrew Hodwitz as Sam and Elvis
- Jonah Ain as James
- Margaret Brock as Bronwyn and Mrs. Chen
- David Carling as Tom
- Lily Cassano as Sarah, Mandy, and Lily
- Jacob James as Charlie
- Scott Lancastle as Mike
- Ashley Magwood as Penny
- Joe Marth as Dept Fire Chief Boyce
- Dave Pender Crichton as Fire Captain Steele
- Mike Pongracz as Trevor
- Becky Shrimpton as Helen
- Sarah Lynn Strange as Dilys
- Carter Treneer as Norman and Derek
Trivia[]
- From this series onwards, James is now voiced by John Hasler instead of Steven Kynman. This was likely done so James' voice could be distinguished from Norman's as he sounded too old compared to his sister Sarah.
- From this series onwards, the animation has switched to high-definition graphics and textures.
- Five of this series episodes were made available on the Fireman Sam YouTube channel.
- This is the last CGI series to have the firefighters wearing yellow suits with orange life vests during sea-based rescues. From Series 9 onwards, this colour scheme would be reversed (i.e. orange suits with yellow life vests).
- This is the first series where Laura Beaumont and Paul Larson are the head writers.
Gallery[]
