Is there a double act as beloved as Wallace and Gromit?

Certainly not the plasticine ones. The most British of British institutions, the inventor of the North and his faithful dog have been a cultural mainstay for decades now – since the release of their first film in 1989. Since then, their creator Nick Park has won Oscars, built a Shaun the Sheep Empire and send the pair to battle thieving penguins, were-rabbits, and Wallace’s own inventions.

With the newest (titled Vengence Most Fowl) set to debut on our screens this Christmas, what better time to put the Wallace and Gromit oeuvre away once and for all? Here they are, in descending order – and naturally including the Shaun the Sheep spinoffs.

Okay, it’s not so much a movie as it is a series of animated sketches, but it’s still pretty adorable. Released in the run-up to Curse of the Were-Rabbit, these ten shorts essentially feature a series of Wallace inventions gone wrong. There’s an automated scorer (with cool old football boots), a malfunctioning Autochef, and an “anti-bullying vest” with a spring-loaded glove so hitting does nothing. There’s no plot, but hey, it’s fun to watch.

The Shaun franchise moves forward relentlessly – and with animals this cute, who can blame Aardman for making the most of them? The sequel to the (far superior) film Shaun sees a blue and purple alien rabbit named Lu-La crash-land on Soggy Bottom Farm. Naturally, the Farmer creates a whole new theme park (Farmageddon) to capitalize on the notoriety of his new guests, and soon after, the Feds get involved. It’s harmless fun, if a little toothless.

The very first Wallace-verse film, and hoo boy, it shows. Created by Nick Park fresh out of film school, it ultimately lost to Aardman’s Creature Comforts at the 1991 Oscars – but A Grand Day Out is every bit as good as its zoo-based counterpart. The plot is simple (the duo takes off for the moon and confronts a gas stove), but from the start, all the hallmarks are there. Wallace is an inventor, Gromit his faithful (and smarter) dog; the cinematic references are subtle and clever, and the Northern location and humor are integral to the film. And while the figures are a little more roughly cut than the polished plasticine models of years past, that’s part of the charm.

Although it’s only 29 minutes long, this little gem packs a punch. Once again, Wallace is looking for love – and his turn to baking leads him to the door of Piella Bakewell, a former Bake-O-Lite company pin-up. Unfortunately, their budding romance is doomed from the start: it turns out that Piella is actually a serial killer who preys on all the other bakers in the area. With his new business, Wallace is next in line. The gags never stop coming in this one – a scene showing an unexploded bomb being placed on Wallace’s pants and filled with paste is a highlight. It’s Aardman’s take on the murder-mystery genre, and it’s utterly delightful.

After Shaun stole the nation’s hearts in A Close Shave – and went on to star in his own spin-off TV show – is it any surprise that a movie will soon follow? Sweet and good-natured, he sees Shaun and the herd heading to the big city to save their farmer, who has had a bump on the head and lost his memory. What’s even more impressive is that it manages to capture and hold our attention for a full 90 minutes, even though there are only one or two lines of dialogue in the whole thing. Watch out for the quartet of baa-baa boutiques.

Scariest Wallace and Gromit offering? I definitely remember cowering behind the couch while we watched this. The first film to introduce us to the concept of Wallace’s love life, A Close Shave also introduces us to Shaun, the cute little sheep who steals the show and runs away with him. We also get an iconic sequence featuring a truck, a motorcycle (and a flying sidecar), and the truly terrifying robot dog Preston. And yet, there’s still plenty of heart here, and the ending is surprisingly tragic for an upbeat animation. Naturally, he won an Oscar.

The best of the old Wallace offerings – even if there’s not much between them. But how do you argue with the wonderfully evil Feathers McGraw: a diamond-stealing penguin who wears a rubber glove on his head? Or Wallace stuck in pneumatic pants, much to Gromit’s dismay? And that fever dream sequence that is the final scene, with Gromit setting the trail during a model train chase sequence with the villain at the film’s climax. Pure cinematic perfection.

The best of the best. It took them decades to create Aardman’s first feature film, and the result is 85 minutes of delirious joy. A parody of classic monster movies, Were-Rabbit sees Wallace’s brain fused with that of a rabbit when an experiment goes wrong. Suddenly he has a taste for carrots and tends to turn into a huge rabbit monster when the moon is out. Of course, it’s up to Gromit to save the day, via wonderfully inventive chase scenes and “24 carrot” bullets. The voice acting – with appearances from Ralph Fiennes and Helena Bonham-Carter – is top-notch. And the rate of gags is truly astonishing: perfection.