So Martin Freeman is taking the title role in Peter Jackson's The Hobbit. Might this aid the UK in their bid to play host to the production?The Hobbit is often considered to be a lesser book when compared to JRR Tolkien's later opus, The Lord of the Rings. This is patent nonsense: the two novels are simply entirely different beasts, one a vivid but fuzzily drawn tale, the reading of which feels like a warm hearth and a mug of mulled wine, the other a thrilling yet terrifying vision of a world in which nightmarish creatures of genuine evil vie to destroy that kind of comfortable existence.The disparity between the two books is also the reason why the casting of Martin Freeman in the central role of Bilbo Baggins – announced today – comes as such a relief.