Emma Fireman Sam was one of three shows I watched almost religiously as a child. I don't remember what I loved about it, just that did.20-something years later with a small boy of my own, he shows the same excitement as I did when he hears an admittedly slightly different theme to what I heard makes me, his mother, very, very happy. There are things about the new one I don't like (no Bella, seemingly randomly moving from the valleys to the coast...but still being mountainous, Mike Flood) but it's not enough to detract from the fact that there is a show I can watch quite happily with my boy...plus I still want to dance when I hear the fire bell.

Stompgal_87 I have fond memories of watching this show as a child and as an adult I still enjoy watching it now. This original 1987 - 1994 series is the best (the 2003 - 2005 stop-motion and 2008 CGI series are nearly as good and have engaging if derivative plot lines) and not only do I own the entire collection on DVD (with the exception of the 20-minute-long Christmas special) but I have also watched it on Amazon Instant Video more recently. The most memorable episodes from my childhood are 'Norman's Tricky Day,' Camping,' 'Flat Tyre,' 'Chemistry Set,' 'A Spot of Bother,' 'Halloween,' 'Brass Band' and 'Trevor's Bus Boot Sale.' I didn't see the rest of the episodes until adulthood but most of them were as good as the ones I saw as a child.The stop-motion animation is very well done and is produced in a similar manner to that in 'Postman Pat' what with well-crafted characters whose mouths don't move but have realistic hair and clothing nonetheless and the sets were made with such intricacy as well. The series as a whole is educational, informative and entertaining and focuses on a wide variety of scenarios such as an electrical fire in Bella's café in 'Telly Trouble,' Trevor being trapped on the roof in 'Brass Band' and Sarah sinking in quick sand in 'Lost in the Fog' while the topic of fire safety strongly features in 'Safe with Sam.' There is an appealing range of characters such as the prim and proper Station Officer Steele, the incompetent Elvis Cridlington, the heroic Sam, Sam's well-behaved niece and nephew Sarah and James and the mischievous Norman Price. Other things I liked about this show were its setting and production in Wales (where I grew up), all characters except Bella and Steele speaking with Welsh accents and, to a lesser extent, the music, especially the theme tune and the music played when the firefighters set out for the emergencies although I liked the sing-songs from Bella, Elvis and Trevor too.While there are plenty of positives with this show, I have also noticed some flaws. Bella's voice in the first episode 'The Kite' was inconsistent but I put it down to John Alderton experimenting with her voice. Secondly Bella, Dilys and the children do not evacuate from the café when the television catches fire and thirdly I couldn't get how Bentley the Robot could rescue Penny from the burning locker room without getting damaged.Overall despite the flaws I mentioned in the above paragraph and not having seen all episodes in my childhood, the original 'Fireman Sam' is still the best incarnation of its kind and is of sentimental educational value. 8/10.

Jordan H. I watched most episodes of this show with my son when he was 3 and 4 years old. While I loved the earlier stop motion version of Fireman Sam, my son roundly rejected it, instead preferring the shiny computer animated episodes. I think the computer animation lacks a little soul, but my son loved them.My son was very interested in firefighting, and this is one of the few shows for little kids on the topic. So he loved watching it. The show was fairly entertaining for me.Norman Price is the world's worst role model for a little kid. That said, he's so awful that my kids mostly griped about what an awful kid he is. That gave us a good starting point to talk about behavior.

TheLittleSongbird When we were in primary school, Fireman Sam was something that my siblings and I used to watch without fail every day. At 18 I remember it with such fondness. It looked wonderful, was funny, educational and adventurous. I often laughed at Norman's naughty antics, and often sang along with the irresistibly catchy theme song. I marvelled at how the characters looked, the construction of the village PontyPandy itself and how colourful it was. I loved the fun and creativity of the stories, while they taught us very important things without it being forced down our throats. And the characters are endearing, Sam, Norman, Elvis, Penny, Basil and Norman's mum all to name a few.Plus John Alderton was perfect with the narration and voices. Overall, a great show! 10/10 Bethany Cox