Prunella Scales
Profile info
Known forActing
GenderFemale
Birthday22 June 1932
Died27 October 2025 (age 93)
Place of birthSutton Abinger, Surrey, England, UK
Known credits106
Biography
Prunella Margaret Rumney West Scales CBE (née Illingworth; 22 June 1932) was an English former actor, best known for playing Sybil Fawlty, wife of Basil Fawlty (John Cleese), in the BBC comedy Fawlty Towers; for her portrayal of Queen Elizabeth II in A Question of Attribution (Screen One, BBC 1991) by Alan Bennett (for which she was nominated for a BAFTA award); and for the documentary series Great Canal Journeys (2014–2021), in which she travels on canal barges and narrowboats with her husband, fellow actor Timothy West.
The Cancellation Of Fawlty Towers
2025
50 Years of BBC Two Comedy
2014 · Self
Great Canal Journeys
2014 · Self
Sub Rosa
2014 · Madame
The Phone Call
2013 · Joan
Run For Your Wife
2012 · Woman in Pub
Horrid Henry: The Movie
2011 · Great Aunt Greta
Fawlty Towers: Re-Opened
2009 · Self / Sybil Fawlty
The Shell Seekers
2007 · Dolly Keeling
Think
2007 · Customer
What the Pythons Did Next...
2007 · Self
Mr. Loveday's Little Outing
2006 · Lady Moping
Fawlty Towers Revisited
2005 · Herself
The Funny Blokes of British Comedy
2005 · Sybil Fawlty (archive footage) (uncredited)
Agatha Christie's Marple
2004 · Mrs Mackenzie
Looking for Victoria
2003 · Self / Victoria
The Royal
2003 · Red Admiral
Dickens
2002 · Elizabeth Dickens
A Day in the Death of Joe Egg
2002 · Grace
Station Jim
2001 · Queen Victoria
The Ghost of Greville Lodge
2000 · Sarah
Mad Cows
1999 · Dr. Minny Stinkler
Loose Women
1999 · Self
An Ideal Husband
1999 · Lady Markby
Stiff Upper Lips
1998 · Aunt Agnes
Keeping Mum
1997 · Marjorie
An Audience with Alf Garnett
1997
Midsomer Murders
1997 · Eleanor Bunsall
Emma
1996 · Miss Bates
Breaking the Code
1996 · Sara Turing
Lord of Misrule
1996 · Shirley
Dennis the Menace and Gnasher
1996 · Mrs. Duffel
Dalziel and Pascoe
1996 · Edith Disney
Silent Witness
1996 · Anne Parker
The World of Lee Evans
1995 · Mother
Look at the State We're In!
1995 · Storyteller
An Awfully Big Adventure
1995 · Rose
Signs and Wonders
1995 · Elizabeth Palmore
Second Best
1994 · Margery
Wolf
1994 · Maude Waggins
Fair Game
1994 · Marjorie
The World of Peter Rabbit and Friends: The Tale of Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle and Mr. Jeremy Fisher
1994 · Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle (voice)
The Rector's Wife
1994 · Marjorie Richardson
Freddie As F.R.O.7.
1992 · Queen (voice)
My Friend Walter
1992 · Aunt Ellie
Howards End
1992 · Aunt Juley
A Question of Attribution
1991 · H.M.Q.
The Tale of Little Pig Robinson
1990 · Fleecy Flock
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