Fireman Sam (Welsh: Sam Tân) is a Welsh stop-motion animation chilren's television series about a fireman called Sam, his fellow firefighters, and other townspeople in the Welsh town of Pontypandy (a portmanteau of two real towns, Pontypridd and Tonypandy, which are situated approximately 5 miles apart in the South Wales valleys). The original idea for the show came from two ex-firemen from Kent. They took their idea to S4C who saw the potential in the series and commissioned it.