People think they’ve worked out the real reason The Grinch is green and hairy in film

We all know and love How The Grinch Stole Christmas - it's a festive family favourite that we all end up watching each year, despite the fact we pretty much know it off by heart at this point.

The titular character, played to perfection by Jim Carrey, has a pretty memorable look, too.

He's green, grumpy, pot-bellied and pear-shaped - not that I'm one to comment on someone's appearance.

But, obviously, a Christmas-hating hermit who despises all things joyful isn't going to be pink, fluffy and cute.

Carrey compared sitting in the makeup chair to transform into the character as being 'buried alive' and the Dumb and Dumber actor revealed he had to be trained by the CIA on how to endure torture to get through it.

The process even made him consider backing out of The Grinch, as it took eight and a half hours to complete on the first day - and to be fair, can you blame him?

Carrey had to endure having facial prosthetics plastered across his mug, being encased head-to-toe in green yak fur and wear coordinating contact lenses - which he complained the fake snow on set kept getting into.

Some fans of The Grinch reckon they have worked out why the character was depicted as being a green, hairy creature - an answer I'm sure the actor who played him would be extremely interested to hear.

Warner Bros.

One Reddit user shared an elaborate theory on why they think the character was given such an unattractive - yet still iconic - appearance and colour, and it wasn't just to tie in with the Christmas hues.

The post explained: "So, The Grinch both begins and ends with a zoom in/out of a snowflake, going down to the microscopic/subatomic level to reveal that a civilisation lives in the strands of frozen water in the form of the Whos. "They're recognisably human, but with subtle physical differences. These are nothing like the Whos, supposedly the same species, that are present in Horton Hears a Who (2008), which are far more furry and cat-like, similar to the Grinch.

"This seperate Whoville is contained on a flower bud, unlike the snowflake. From this we can garner there are multiple variations of Whos in their microscopic worlds, each with slight variations in appearance and culture."

It seemed to suggest there was subtle links between the Dr Seuss' inspired films, similar to how all the Pixar movies are connected through unique 'Easter Eggs' that have been snuck into every movie.

The post continued: "It's entirely possible, seeing as how many snowflakes there can be at one time, that the Grinch was a Who intended for another Whoville on another snowflake who somehow ended up in the one the movie takes place on by mistake.

Warner Bros.

"Perhaps on another snowflake all the Whos are exactly like him -- green, gangly and intrinsically mean-spirited, and that's natural for them.

"Maybe out there there is a Grinch-species family who had to raise a weird, pink little Who that was intended for the Whoville snowflake.Or maybe I had too much wine with Xmas dinner, I dunno..."

Social media users seemed to support the complicated theory, while sharing their own nuggets of knowledge on why The Grinch is green.

In Dr Seuss' original book, How The Grinch Stole Christmas, The Grinch looks a lot tamer than he does in the films as the cartoon is black and white, with pink eyes.

Apparently, Chuck Jones decided to make the character green when he produced The Grinch TV special in 1966 because he always received green rental cars.

One film fan commented: "Damn...you literally blew my mind with that and it's so obvious I should have noticed this."

Another said: "I have always felt like there are many worlds on that snowflake and The Grinch is from a world of garbage eating green folks."

A third wrote: "Okay, this is fantastic!"

And a fourth added: "I need to see this version. A little Who kid trying to hide his weird obsession with Christmas while surrounded by Grinches, I NEED THIS."