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.

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.

The Flood family was introduced consisting of Mike the Plumber, his wife Helen the Nurse, and their daughter Mandy.

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.

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.

Additionally, there is an Animal Rescue Crane called Phoenix, but it has been driven by multiple characters.Firefighter Elvis Cridlington is a first class firefighter in Pontypandy and the station mess manager.

[11] 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 season being a water carrier.

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.

He first appears in the 2009 film Fireman Sam: The Great Fire of Pontypandy.Police Constable Malcolm Williams is a Police Officer in Pontypandy.

She is introduced in the 2020 TV movie Fireman Sam: Norman Price and the Mystery in the Sky.

She is voiced by former Coronation Street actress Sasha Behar, known for her role as Maya Sharma.

[18] She drives her own car introduced in Alien Alert.Bella Lasagne is an original character from the series.

She is an Italian citizen living in Wales and runs Bella's Café, a pizzeria in Pontypandy.

In Series 9, he states that he hails from Huddersfield in West Yorkshire yet in the US dub he has a Brooklyn accent.Helen Flood née Williams is the nurse of Pontypandy.

He owns and runs the Mountain Activity Centre.Gareth Griffiths is the father of Bronwyn, maternal grandfather of Sarah and James and father-in-law of Charlie.

He appears to have been an avid yachtsman in his youth having been Captain of the Pontypandy rowing team.Charlie Jones is a fisherman.

He operates a green fishing boat.Bronwyn Jones née Griffiths is the new age mother of Sarah and James.

He is a mischievous redhead turned scapegoat who loves playing practical jokes and skateboarding.

He has shown interest in becoming a firefighter himself one day, but he also has said he was going to be a shepherd when he grows up as stated in the episode Sheepdog Trials.

He is first introduced in the Series 6 episode Double Trouble, where he is revealed to be a goody-two-shoes, the opposite to his cousin Norman.

He is named Norris after Station Officer Steele because they both have similar moustaches.Buck Douglas is a television presenter and an "alien hunter".