This programme has a lot of nice elements. The dreamy village setting is nice, the messages of guidance are clear and the story lines easy to follow. Our young children like it a lot. Which means I end up watching it a lot, too :-) If I could, I'd change a few things. The utter hero-worship of Sam, modest though he is, is too much; the kids always end up wanting to be him. Also, he's a rescue service of every kind, if a fuse went in the telly they'd "ring Fireman Sam". But toughest is Norman's harshly horrible voice which is the most unpleasant kid's voice you've ever know mixed with the most OTT caricature of Welsh.None of these things are crimes and the good of the show very much outweighs the bad. It's just when you've watched twenty or thirty of them in a summer, they start to grate just a tiny bit...!

I think this is the same makers as Postman Pat, and if you liked that you'll love this. A local fireman named Sam works for the local fire service, and throughout the series him and his team help people. For example Sam helps the naughty Norman out of a deep dark hole/ cave in the ground, he gets his nephew and niece's kite off Bella's roof, he catches Trevor's tyre and many other "daring" rescues and services. I used to like the naughty Norman always skate-boarding and trying to steal his Mum's apples. His Mum always tried to get him away from the telly, she didn't realise he was a mischief. There was also the silly Trevor with his van, he always had a problem somewhere. So altogether, when I was young this was a very good kids show. Very good!

There are new characters like Mandy and her mum,Dusty the dog and the return of old characters like Norman and his mum,Trevor Evans ,Bella and the fire crew.it's not the same as the old version.The voices aren't the same due to John Alderton doing the voices in the older version.There is a new theme tune which has bits of the old lyrics along with new lyrics.They use the same tune when they are off on a mission with their trusty fire engine Jupiter.Their mouths now move and they blink more often.I personally don't like it because it ruins the memories of the original.Luckily i have videos so i can always remember how it used to be and how the characters really were.GREAT FIRES OF London!!!!

I remember this show from my countless hours of viewing in the early 90's (probably aged no more than 4 at the time). I saw it again recently and it brought back such memories...this show is an absolute classic. The theme song alone is great.If you liked postman pat or something like that then you'll love this.