I kid you not, I saw this when it first aired in Australia, and actually copped a beating with a wooden spoon from a teacher when I discussed the episode rather too enthusiastically with my pre-school classmates during nap time. Truly, my four-year-old self suffered in the cause of fandom.

I thought it was based on Larry Niven's Thrintun (see 'World of Ptaavs'), green cyclopean tentacle-faced monsters who ruled the galaxy before perishing in a war of extermination - they too, created life on Earth quite inadvertently. Was Adams reading Niven in the 1970's?

I remember this from years ago, and Karloff's voice with Jones' animation worked perfectly.

Someone in this town is trying to burn the teeth down.

As there is no evidence whatsoever for the existence of God, we should be wary of anyone who says that the big beard in the sky has chosen them for something special.

Well played, sir!

This is all extremely frustrating, since those procrastinating sods at the Australian Broadcasting Corporation have decided to put us behind the rest of the world once more…

Don't be silly, Gordon Ramsay never played for Bolton, he was on the bench for Rangers' youth team back in the 1980's.

And let us never speak of this 'American version' ever again.

Thamesmead Estate - another utopian fantasy gone wrong.

Flash Harry is an old fave, definitely a keeper and a re-reader, again and again. His sheer unabashed moral cowardice never ceases to amaze.

A Widow for One Year and The Cider House Rules get my vote for re-readability, The 158-Pound Marriage less so.

Yep, Distant Mirror is pretty full on - the 14th century has to be the most wretched period of recorded human history up to the 2oth, and she nails it pretty damned well.

"debauched my sloth"?

Hey, at least they're reading. Who says the American education system doesn't work?

Gaiman is an author who bears re-reading more than most. American Gods is a particular favourite of mine, and gets taken out for a spin at least twice a year. It's a hell of a road trip.

So many to choose from, but the scene in Ferris Bueller's Day Off with the Ferrari reveal; "Ooooh Yeeaaah…" is definitely a top 10 moment.

Vincente Minelli used exactly the same 'kill your dog' technique to get 5-year-old Margaret O'Brien to freak out in "Meet Me In St Louis" - aren't directors bastards?

I once punched a guy out for saying 'Hawk the Slayer' was crap.

Caipirinha, thank you for that clip - brooker is brilliant.