Fireman Sam was a British animated children's television series about a fireman named Sam, his fellow firefighters, and other residents living in the fictional Welsh rural village of Pontypandy (a portmanteau of two real towns, Pontypridd and Tonypandy). It was broadcast for the first time in November 1987 on Welsh TV channel S4C and was shown in more than 155 countries across the world. The theme song was performed by Maldwyn Pope in a classic rock style from 1987 to 1994, and then by a different singer, Cameron Stewart, in the 2000's alternative rock style since the 2003 new episode broadcasts. The characters and the storylines were created by Rob Lee, an illustrator from Cardiff who had also designed the SuperTed characters, and the programme was made using stop motion animation. Fireman Sam has, to this day, been broadcast in several countries around the world and has been translated into over 25 different languages including Mandarin.  In the original series, all the character voices were performed by John Alderton.