THE SUN, THE TV MAG, JANUARY 20 -
26 2001
RED - HOT RECRUIT
Sam Callis is set to be a firm
favourite
Blue
Watch return with a scorching new series of London's
Burning and a hunky new firefighter in Adam Benjamin.
"Adam's an East End boy with a finger in lots of
pies. He chats up every woman he comes across," says
actor Sam Callis, who plays him. "I used to be a bit
of a lad but now I've got a lovely girlfriend called
Osmin who is a computer programmer. She thinks it's
hilarious that I'm suppost to be this sort of hunky
charmer."
As
the new series begins, the firefighters have swapped
their old station for an ultra - modern home. But with
bigger and more ferocious fires to deal with, from a
terrorfying tunnel inferno to a horrific hospital blaze,
the series promises more dramatic shouts than ever
before.
It's
not just the station that's changed. Sally Fields
(Heather Peace) is just trying to cope with her grief,
following the death of Joe Walker at the end of last
series. Meanwhile, a happy event is just around the
corner for Pearce (Michael Garner) as his wife is about
to give birth.
As
for Sam, he admits that, although he is lined up as the
show's new heart - throb, his mates have dubbed his
"Fireman Sam" after the kids' cartoon
character.
Sam,
who's 27 and from Sussex, says: "It was inevitable.
Now everyone calls me Fireman Sam. I probably deserve it
because I've played so many practical jokes on my friends
in the past."
Still
he knows that landing the action - packed role more than
makes up for being teased. Sam went through tough
training with real firefighters to get a feel for the
job, then spent four days finding out what it was like to
work in a busy London fire station.
"Going
out on fire calls screaming down Oxford Street, weaving
in and out of traffic in the middle of London at 2am was
great," he says. "But the biggest fire we dealt
with was in a telephone box!
"Making
the show is real boys' own stuff. The first time I went
out to film a shout, we were all engulfed in flames - it
was an amazing experience and I came out of the building
with a big grin on my face. I hadn't even thought about
whether I was scared of heights, but the first piece of
filming I did was spent the day 100ft up on a firemen's
ladder.
"By
then, it was too late to say I didn't like it"
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