John Barrowman stars as Flex Dexter in the brand new Fireman Sam movie FIREMAN SAM: SET FOR ACTION Premiering on Cartoonito | The Fan Carpet Ltd • The Fan Carpet: The RED Carpet for FANS • The Fan Carpet: Fansites Network • The Fan Carpet: Slate • The Fan Carpet: Theatre Spotlight • The Fan Carpet: Arena • The Fan Carpet: International

John Barrowman stars as Flex Dexter in the brand new Fireman Sam movie FIREMAN SAM: SET FOR ACTION Premiering on Cartoonito


18 October 2018

Actor John Barrowman stars as the devious Hollywood A-list actor, Flex Dexter, who goes rogue and causes mayhem in Pontypandy (and even ends up getting Fireman Sam sacked from his job), in the brand new Fireman Sam movie “Fireman Sam: Set For Action” which premieres on Cartoonito (Sky 619 Virgin 706 BT 488), Monday 22nd October at 8am.

After a video of one of his daring rescues goes viral, Fireman Sam is scouted by Hollywood director Don Sledgehammer to be the star of his latest movie. While Sam is hesitant to take the role, his co-star, Hollywood actor Flex Dexter, is determined to get the lead part and will stop at nothing to get it. As more and more ‘accidents’ happen on set, Sam is held responsible and fired from both the movie and the Fire Service. It is now down to Sarah, James and Mandy to discover who is really behind all the accidents.

Combining the excitement and glamour of the Hollywood film industry with all the action and heroic rescues that fans know and love from the TV series, the 60-minute CG-animated special guest stars Scottish-American actor John Barrowman, MBE, (Doctor Who and Torchwood), who voices the new character, the charming yet sneaky movie star, Flex Dexter.

 

 

Talking about his character and the film, Barrowman said “The new Fireman Sam movie is going to be very exciting, action-packed and for those who are Fireman Sam fans, you are going to absolutely love it. A little bit of Hollywood has been brought to Fireman Sam and he’s going to be the star of a movie, however my character Flex Dexter, who is an A-lister movie star, hasn’t really had a hit recently. He is invited to be in this film, but he doesn’t realise that he is being asked to be the co-star and not the star.

Being the Hollywood guy that he is, he causes a bit of havoc and mayhem on the set, in order to get Fireman Sam fired or pushed out, so that Flex Dexter can come in and be the hero.”

Fireman Sam: Set for Action is the new feature for Fireman Sam fans – they’re going to love it. It’s action-packed and there are going to be lots of thrills in it.

Discussing what fans can expect, he added “Those of you who are Fireman Sam fans, you’re going to love Fireman Sam: Set for Action because it’s a whirlwind, rollercoaster ride of fun, action and adventure. A little bit of Hollywood has been brought to Fireman Sam, they’re going to be making a movie. My character Flex Dexter is a Hollywood A-lister, who hasn’t had a hit in a long time and he’s been asked to be involved in Fireman Sam’s movie, but he doesn’t realise that he has been asked to be the co-star and not the star. So being very Hollywood, Flex Dexter decides to cause a bit of havoc, make some things go wrong, and put people into a bit of danger because he’s not a very nice guy, although he has a really good smile. He puts him in danger and gets into the position where he puts himself in the leading role. He gets Fireman Sam shoved out and that’s all I’m going to tell you because I don’t want to spoil the rest of the movie.”

 

 

Discussing Dexter Flex, Barrowman added “I like to hope that I’m not an actor that is like Flex Dexter, but being an actor who is playing another actor, it’s fun. I was able to reach into my files of people that I have worked with who might be a bit like the character of Flex Dexter – I’m not going to tell you who they are though! It wasn’t very difficult to find Flex Dexter in myself, I don’t know if that’s a good thing or a bad thing!

I live in West Hollywood in California and I work in Hollywood, so I get to experience Hollywood. When you take someone like Flex Dexter out of Hollywood, and I live in Hollywood, and you put them into another location like Pontypandy, they try to be really big and bring “hey I’m from Hollywood and I’m in Pontypandy, it’s not so big, not so great”… that’s the kind of attitude he has and there’s a lot of people like that in Hollywood. They’ll go off to film somewhere and they’ll say, “Oh I’m heading off to such and such town, and it’s not going to be like Hollywood” – I’ve been around that and I kind of fed upon that to bring a little bit of that to Flex. He’s not a nice guy! He’s really not a nice guy – Pontypandy doesn’t need a bad person in it, but you wouldn’t have the movie without a bad guy, would you?

It’s really hard to do. Knowing the history of the Fireman Sam world, Pontypandy and all the different characters. It’s been around for thirty years and I’ve had the great privilege of being part of another British iconic TV show, some of you may have heard of it, called Doctor Who and I was a character in that for many years so I know the history, I know the pressure that you’re under when you do something like this because you have to honour the history and bring some new life to it – so I hope I’ve done that in some way. My best Flex Dexter impersonation? I am Flex Dexter so it’s very easy.. I’m just going to go “Hey! Come on over here! I’ll show ya how to work the Hollywood camera, don’t you worry kid.”

 

 

Talking about lending his voice to a character, he said “When you voice a character for something like animation, you have to imagine what they look like and also you become very physical. I find it very helpful to be a little OTT with him, but it was also good to sometimes bring it down. My arms were flapping around all over the place. Flex Dexter wasn’t just ‘flexin’, he was ‘flappin’.

I would like to say, in creating the character of Flex Dexter, I would like to give you some meaty, theatrical thespian answer, but he really wasn’t hard for me to find, because having played a bad guy before in another show on television, it was kind of easy for me to find the not so nice guy. However, Flex has got to do it with a smile on his face. He’s got to be, not so much as bad, but mean and be nice.

I haven’t told any of my family that I am doing this yet, because I have a great nephew, my niece’s son, and also I know Fireman Sam from my childhood. My great nephew is a huge Fireman Sam fan and I haven’t told him yet. When it finally comes to the point where I can show him the finished product, I’m going to sit and watch it and watch his face realise that that’s Great Uncy John... and I know Fireman Sam. I might not have been very nice to him, but I know Fireman Sam and he taught me a lesson.

For a long time, I have always wanted to do a voice for an animated character and having been involved with some great British iconic TV shows, it’s great to be involved with Fireman Sam. Thirty years it’s been around, everybody knows who Fireman Sam is, so to be part of Pontypandy is just amazing. We’ve all grown up with these characters and as an actor, as somebody who loves what they do, to be the voice of something that is going to be there for a long, long time, so in another thirty years, I will always be Flex Dexter, which is kind of awesome to think that, so my voice will live on for generations and generations in the land of Fireman Sam, Pontypandy. I will be there for a long time!”

Talking about Flex’s resemblance to himself, he added “Does he have a resemblance? I like to think that I have biceps like that... and I’ve taken a few pictures for publicity that you’ll see that I do have the biceps. I’ve got the chin, I think I’ve got the eyebrows… the hair, mine’s forward, his is slicked back. It looks like me, I don’t mind looking like Flex Dexter. Pontypandy… here comes John Barrowman as Flex Dexter."

 

 

Fireman Sam: Set for Action was produced by Mattel and the special is being distributed by Canada-based DHX Media, who in 2016 struck an exclusive deal with Mattel to distribute Fireman Sam™ content worldwide.

Fireman Sam: Set for Action airs exclusively on Cartoonito, Monday 22 October at 8.00am

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