THE waiting is over. Bilbo and his buddies are back. Today the final part of the Lord Of The Rings trilogy hits the screen.

Cinemas are braced to cope with a deluge of fans eager to immerse themselves into the fantasy world, not to mention snap up the merchandise.

A Gandalf scatter cushion would be a good first buy: sitting in a darkened cinema for 201 minutes can't be good for you.

Nevertheless we cannot help thinking that Frodo fans will be eager for more after the end of the cinematic epic.

There must be a book in it.

Updated: 10:14 Wednesday, December 17, 2003