Banksy behind subversive Simpsons introduction

Bristolian graffiti artist Banksy was brought in to direct his own version of the opening credits of The Simpsons, in an episode that aired last night in the US. And media commentators are saying his subversive take was the funniest thing on the show for years.

Last night's show opens with a three-eyed crow, presumably affected by a nuclear spill at the town power plant, carrying a rat – Banksy's regular motif. The secretive artist's name isn't in the credits, but in this sequence, his 'tag' is all over Springfield.

Bart's usual blackboard punishment is another clue to Banksy's involvement:, he is writing "I must not write all over the walls" and he has written this all over the walls of the classroom, as well as on the board.

But the street artist's main contribution is a subversive po-mo sequence in place of the usual family-on-the-sofa shot, in which we see a dismal Chinese factory where rows of workers in squalid conditions are hand-colouring frames of the cartoon. A child labourer dips an acetate in a vat of toxic fluid while rats gnaw at skeletons.

In the factory basement, other workers mince up cuddly animals to make the stuffing for Bart dolls, loaded onto a cart pulled by a miserable panda. In the next room an enslaved unicorn punches holes in Simpsons DVDs.

According to the Sun, which shares a parent company with Fox TV, the makers of the show, animators threatened to walk out because Banksy’s ideas entailed so much extra work. ·