THE Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy famously reviewed Earth as "mostly harmless" - but the guide's verdict on a part of Gwent is set to be much harsher.

Because Trefil Quarry, near Tredegar will appear in the upcoming blockbuster movie of the sci-fi classic as the home of the most loathsome beings in the universe, the Vogons.

Two weeks of hush-hush filming for the £60m adaptation took place in July when more than 100 cast and crew members descended on the quarry.

It will appear in the movie starring The Office's Martin Freeman, Bill Nighy and John Malkovich as the Vogsphere, home of the Vogons who eventually demolish Earth to make way for a hyperspace bypass in The Hitchhikers' Guide.

The film, set to be released next year, is directed and produced by Garth Jennings and Nick Goldsmith, and is based on a new script by author Douglas Adams written shortly before his death in 2001.

Trefil was suggested as a location by the Wales Screen Commission, who were contacted by the location manager in February.

Douglas Adams said of the Vogons: "They are one of the most unpleasant races in the Galaxy - not actually evil, but bad-tempered, bureaucratic, officious and callous."

And in Mostly Harmless, the fifth book in the Hitchhikers 'trilogy', he described Vogsphere as having "a fetid, fog-bound mud bank" with a monument on which is carved "an arrow which points away into the fog, under which are inscribed in plain, simple letters the words 'The buck stops here'."

David Broder, location manager for the film, said: "We came to Wales because of library pictures, tremendous back-up, help on reconnaissance, letters of introduction and more."

A spokeswoman for Blaenau Gwent council said: "Obviously it will require a huge suspension of disbelief for those who know Blaenau Gwent to believe it could be the home of the most repugnant creatures in the galaxy, but we are delighted that a major film has taken advantage of our excellent location and infrastructure.

However, we think we may have had a somewhat unfair advantage in tempting the Hitchhikers' Guide production here. Just look at the number of representatives on the council: forty-two."

l For the uninitiated, 42 was the answer to the ultimate question of life, the universe and everything as computed by the computer Deep Thought in the first of Adams' Hitchhiker's books.