Paranoid? You’re not the only one. Conspiracy theories are everywhere, especially in Britain.

All that fluoride in the water supply? Pumped in to keep us docile and stop a revolution (a Summertown dentist told me that one).

Moon landings? Fake! The moon itself is an artificial satellite placed there by our reptilian overlords who include the Royal Family (paraphrased from David Icke).

And of course BMW drivers are mostly empathy-free humanoids on a mission to wipe out our species by sparking road rage whenever possible (OK, that one’s mine).

It’s fun to indulge in a bit of crazy now and again and shows a healthy disrespect for The System. Channel 4’s Utopia, which returned for its second series this week (Monday and Tuesday, both now on 4OD) is in a different league. Utopia grabs you by the neck and shoves you headlong down a toboggan of intrigue, global politics, human extermination plots and violence. Yes, lots of violence.

You get the warning before both of this week’s slabs: “Viewers might find some of these scenes upsetting.” No spoilers here, but Monday’s programme contained a scene with a toddler and a rabbit that was beautifully, brutally done. Brrrr.

Ofcom had 44 complaints about the first series, which caused shockwaves last year, including offensive language and child actors being involved in scenes of adult content, with 37 related to a shooting scene based at a primary school. So, you have been warned.

If you missed the first series of David Kelly’s graphic novel masterpiece, it doesn’t really matter, in spite of what the smug early adopters say, though you might find yourself wanting to start the ride from the beginning. Tune in now and you will be driven along by the hare-brained plot, which has more twists than Cheryl Tweedy’s love life being tweeted at you while you’re on Spaghetti Junction.

You will also miss some of that stomach-turning violence: I asked my boyfriend why one bloke was wearing a patch and he said: “One of the bad guys took it out with a spoon.” Which is as much info as I need, really.

Monday’s prequel episode took us back to 1979, spookily interspersed with real footage of Maggie Thatcher and the Winter of Discontent, in such evocative super-saturated colour that it resembled a Pink Floyd album cover.

At a party, drunk scientist Philip Carvel (Tom Burke) shares his plan for controlling world population before the planet’s natural resources run out, which will mean riots, mass genocide and disaster more horrible than anything imaginable for the human race. This, you see, is the killer character motivation which propels the plot along at breakneck speed. All the horrific events which unfold are For The Greater Good, which is compelling. Carvel creates a drug – Janus – which will switch off reproductive powers and, with his ego flattered by spy Milner (Rose Leslie), he is recruited into the masterplan of helping secretly sterilise 95 per cent of the British population, as a test sample before the drug goes global. Tuesday’s second episode hopped back to the present day where members of the resistance, including his daughter Jessica (Fiona O’Shaughnessy), are fighting the establishment to survive and stop the murder and enforced sterilisation.

Much like 2006 film Children Of God (starring Clive Owen), the drama is not only convincing, but very very British. Some stylish swearing and great performances from all involved (Geraldine James as the maniacal older Milner is mesmerising) mean that the whole shebang is totally believable.