The BBC aired a one-off comedy/drama special recently - "Phoo Action" on BBC Three. It was based around work by Jamie Hewlett (responsible for Tank Girl and the Gorillaz characters), was set in a highly stylised near-future world and featured lots of fast paced comic-book action.

The star of the programme for car lovers had to be the Lancia Stratos, a shape so wildly wacky when it first appeared in the early 1970s that it still looks fresh in the near-tomorrow.

Along with the Audi Ur-Quattro in "Ashes to Ashes" and countless adverts and music videos featuring plenty of retro-iconic machinery we're seeing much more of our scene on screen. That can only be a good thing, in a world where the car is increasingly demonised as an environmental monster we need all the appreciation and enthusiasm we can get.