Sir Ian McKellen returns as Gandalf the Grey, the character he played in The Lord of the Rings trilogy, with Elijah Wood as Frodo and Richard Armitage as Thorin Oakenshield.

BBC: First instalment of The Hobbit to get Royal premiere

Also on hand, and running in the Viggo Mortensen groove, is Richard Armitage, who, as Thorin Oakenshield, somehow performs the near-impossible task of depicting a hot hairy dwarf.

NEWYORKER: The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey