"Great fires of London - It's Sarah and James!"
 

    It's Christmas Eve, and Pontypandy's got four inches of festive snow to keep
    the kids entertained. They're playing snowballs, and everyone around  town is
    enjoying the cold snap, except for Dylis Price. She's not happy shovelling
    snow from her shop front and ducking the great hanging icicles above her
    head. She wonders why the Christmas tree isn't up in the park yet. Why, the
    Council have been a bit late this year. She suspects they couldn't afford
    one. Her comments give Fireman Sam a jolly idea...

    The Pontypandy kids - Sarah, James and Norman Price - decide to continue
    their snow games out of town and Trevor Evans gives them a lift in his bus to
    a high hill, for sledging, before promptly getting stuck in a snowdrift. Sam,
    Elvis and Station Officer Steele are called out to tow him free. And then,
    Sam's able to put his jolly plan into gear. He's got permission to
    cut down a Christmas fir tree for the townsfolk. But what's this? There's
    an emergency call coming in. The kids are in trouble. Norman's lead them
    on a record-breaking sled run, and Sarah and James are now stuck in the
    middle of a frozen pond!...

    It's surely no surprise to reveal that the kids are duly saved, and there
    are sausage rolls all round, and a little ginger wine for the adults - courtesy
    of kindly Bella Lasagne. Pontypandy gets its twinkling tree just in time for
    the big night, and Sam gets to muse on life in this friendly family village as
    he draws his curtains. Mind you, there's no rest for our next-door hero.
    He's even on call Christmas Day, poor chap...

      

    Needless to say, if you're a fan of the original series then this double-length
    episode is the perfect Christmas pressie. There are lots of familiar little details
    in the set dressing to admire - like the condiments on Sam's breakfast table,
    and those Daily Mirror-style headlines on Trevor's newspaper. When the kids
    are on his mini-bus, the steamy windows are smudged with handprints.There's
    also some great sound detail to listen out for; from the crunching of the snow
    underfoot to the varying thrums of Sam's engine. And better still, there's some
    lovely adult banter to enjoy. The way that Dylis and Bella "feud" over Trevor
    is just delightful.

    Above all, there's the Pontypandy location itself, with its steeped rows of
    grey semis, straight out of a Breconshire guidebook. In this story, everything's
    topped with cotton ball snow and icicles. There's even a chirruping Robin,
    twittering around the streets.

    Bumper Films have once more presented us with a lovely little postcard from
    Wales, circa the late 80's. And viewers are reminded of the way kids
    tv has changed since this film was produced. At the end of the tale, Dilys
    Price has drunk herself silly on Bella's ginger wine, much to Norman's
    embarrassment. Imagine the furore if you did that now!

 

     See also

          Fireman Sam (original series)
          Fireman Sam (2005)

 

     Snow Business on DVD

     The film has had its own standalone UK release. Don't be
     put off by the cover, though, which sports a picture of new-look
     Sam from the Siriol revival:

      Fireman Sam: Snow Business
                Region 2 / special + two episodes / HIT / Nov 2006

     Now, just to confuse things further. The film has also been issued
     as one half of a double-bill with Siriol's seasonal story "The Big
     Freeze":
  
     Fireman Sam: Snow Business/The Big Freeze
                Region 2 / two disc box-set / HIT / Nov 2007

 

    characters created by Rob Lee

    original idea by Dave Gingell and Dave Jones
    assisted by Mike Young

    produced and directed by
    Ian Frampton and John Walker

    story line:      Rob Lee
    writer:           Nia Ceidiog
    music:           Ben Heneghan, Ian Lawson
    lyrics:            Robin Lyons
    sung by:        Maldwyn Pope
    sets:              Beverley Knowlden, Linda Thodesen
    vehicles:       Brian Anderson
    puppets:        Ian Frampton, Alison Johnston
    engineering
     consultant:    Mel Grigg
    assistant
    animator:      Brian Anderson
    editor:           William Oswald, Jane Murrell
    sound:           John Cross, Steve Stockford
    told by:         John Alderton

 

      On the web

      Fireman Sam
      The official site for our next-door hero....

      HIT Entertainment
      Sam's current owners...