Hitchcock had his first major success with The Lodger (1927), a silent suspense thriller about a serial killer in London. The film was a great critical and commercial success. Hitchcock demonstrated his gift for unforgettable imagery by creating a series of highly original and unusual shots. He described the film as 'the first true Hitchcock movie.'

Hitchcock made The Man Who Knew Too Much twice, first in 1934 and again in 1956. The film concludes in the Royal Albert Hall, where during a concert an assassin is planning to kill a foreign statesman. He waits for the cymbals to crash to mask his gunshot.

The 39 Steps (1935) is arguably Hitchcock's finest British film. Loosely based on John Buchan's novel, this spy chase thriller sees Robert Donat playing a man on the run. In one classic scene, Donat avoids capture by jumping from the Flying Scotsman on the Forth Bridge.

The Lady Vanishes (1938) was Hitchcock's last British masterpiece. On a train travelling across Europe, an elderly lady mysteriously disappears. Michael Redgrave and Margaret Lockwood set out to find out where she has gone. This was the film that brought Hitchcock to the attention of Hollywood. He left for America in 1939.

In 1939, Hitchcock adapted Daphne du Maurier's Jamaica Inn, a period tale of Cornish smugglers. Although not a great success, it was to be the first of three film versions of du Maurier's stories Hitchcock would direct - Rebecca and The Birds followed later.

Hitchcock recognised the visual power of featuring famous landmarks in his films. He used the Statue of Liberty in the dramatic finale of his spy thriller Saboteur (1942).

Based on a John Steinbeck story, Lifeboat (1944) was a very different type of film for Hitchcock. It is set entirely in a lifeboat after a ship has been torpedoed by a Nazi U-boat. Despite the restricted setting, Hitchcock managed to make his regular cameo appearance.

In Rear Window (1954), Jimmy Stewart is confined to a wheelchair in his New York apartment. He spends his time observing his neighbours and soon believes a murder has taken place. Voyeurism and scopophilia collide in this gripping, unbearably tense masterpiece.

Psycho (1960) became a landmark film in cinema history and was arguably Hitchcock's most important film. The famous shower scene, in which Janet Leigh meets a violent, bloody death, remains as shocking today as it did when first released.

Hitchcock followed Psycho with another instant classic. The Birds (1963) tells the story of a small community terrorised by birds. This is one of Hitchcock's darkest and most unflinching films. Here, human vulnerability is exposed in the face of a terrifying and unexplained force of nature.