Scottish novelist Irvine Welsh used the monologue to convey the despair of a heroin junkie caught in Edinburgh's drug scene. 

Now the 'choose life' riff made famous by Ewan McGregor in Trainspotting has been given a new, brighter lease of life in a YouTube video urging tourists to 'choose Malta'.

Italian-Maltese video blogger Federico Chini's latest video highlights some of the quirks that make Malta what it is, from colourful doors to lampuki, sofas covered in plastic and locals' predilection for spending summer nights sitting outside their doorstep. 

Mr Chini, who lives in Gozo, is a filmmaker whose videos are infused with a love for life in Malta and Gozo. A previous video of his that depicted a fictional French tourist exploring Gozo went viral after being shared on Facebook. 

The idea of adapting Welsh's iconic monologue came to Mr Chini as he was watching the Trainspotting sequel recently, he said.

"I've loved that monologue from the day it came out," the filmmaker said, adding that he found it hard to fit his long list of Maltese quirks to the video.

"My list was five times longer than that I ended up including in the video. Timing, tempo and metric meant I had to drop a few."

Mr Chini said he found it hard to pick one particular aspect of Maltese culture he treasured more than others. 

"It's hard to choose. Using imma, mela, iva, and għaliex in English sentences
is great, so Maltese. I also love the 'chatting on your doorstep all night long' aspect of the culture too."