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Alfred Hitchcock, one of the UK's most celebrated directors, has been honoured in a permanent way - in the area of London where he began his film career.

A giant sculpture of the creator of movies Psycho and Vertigo has been unveiled at Gainsborough studios in New North Road, east London.

It was here that Hitchcock took his first steps in a long and illustrious career, working primarily in the medium of silent, black and white film.

On this page you can contrast the director's portrait, above, with the finished bust in our pictures below - and hear from the sculptor himself and one of Hitch's long-term Gainsborough associates:

Although his best-known films were made in Hollywood, the famous director began his career at the Gainsborough Studios.

During his time at Gainsborough Hitchcock made films such as Rope, The Lady Vanishes and the classic The Lodger (pictured above).

Cinematographer Jack Cardiff worked with the master on some of his earliest films. "He would be very serious about what he wanted... then in-between times he would tell the most awful dirty jokes, it was this extraordinary double personality that he had."

Anthony Donaldson, the sculptor who created the bust, said: "I would like to make him as a 38-year-old... As a man who left here to go to Hollywood, and the sculpture faces Hollywood."

The original Gainsborough red brick building has been maintained and revived as a modern film studio.

More news, interviews and previews of London's film scene, plus audio and trailers here

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