Prunella Scales
Born: 1932-06-22 in Sutton Abinger, Surrey, England, UK
Died: 2025-10-27
Known For: Acting
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.
Filmography
2014
- Great Canal Journeys as Self
- Sub Rosa as Madame
- 50 Years of BBC Two Comedy as Self
2013
- The Phone Call as Joan
2012
- Run For Your Wife as Woman in Pub
2011
- Horrid Henry: The Movie as Great Aunt Greta
2009
- Fawlty Towers: Re-Opened as Self / Sybil Fawlty
2007
- The Shell Seekers as Dolly Keeling
- What the Pythons Did Next... as Self
- Think as Customer
2006
- Mr. Loveday's Little Outing as Lady Moping
2005
- The Funny Blokes of British Comedy as Sybil Fawlty (archive footage) (uncredited)
- Fawlty Towers Revisited as Herself
2004
- Agatha Christie's Marple as Mrs Mackenzie
2003
- The Royal as Red Admiral
2002
- Dickens as Elizabeth Dickens
- A Day In The Death Of Joe Egg as Grace
2001
- Station Jim as Queen Victoria
2000
- The Ghost of Greville Lodge as Sarah
1999
- Loose Women as Self
- Mad Cows as Dr. Minny Stinkler
- An Ideal Husband as Lady Markby
1998
- Stiff Upper Lips as Aunt Agnes
1997
- Midsomer Murders as Eleanor Bunsall
- Keeping Mum as Marjorie
- An Audience with Alf Garnett
1996
- Silent Witness as Anne Parker
- Dalziel and Pascoe as Edith Disney
- Emma as Miss Bates
- Dennis the Menace and Gnasher as Mrs. Duffel
- Breaking the Code as Sara Turing
- Lord of Misrule as Shirley
1995
- Look at the State We're In! as Storyteller
- The World of Lee Evans as Mother
- An Awfully Big Adventure as Rose
- Signs and Wonders as Elizabeth Palmore
1994
- Wolf as Maude Waggins
- The Rector's Wife as Marjorie Richardson
- Second Best as Margery
- Fair Game as Marjorie
- The World of Peter Rabbit and Friends: The Tale of Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle and Mr. Jeremy Fisher as Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle (voice)
1992
- Howards End as Aunt Juley
- Freddie As F.R.O.7. as Queen (voice)
- My Friend Walter as Aunt Ellie
1991
- A Question of Attribution as H.M.Q.
1990
- The Tale of Little Pig Robinson as Fleecy Flock
- Dirty Beasts as Narrator
- Revolting Rhymes as Narrator
1989
- A Chorus of Disapproval as Hannah Ap Llewellyn
- Bosses From Hell
- Communicators From Hell
- Beyond The Pale as Milly
1988
- After Henry as Sarah France
- Thompson
- Consuming Passions as Ethel
- Natural Causes as Celia Bryce
1987
- The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne as Moira O'Neill
- When We Are Married as Annie Parker
- What the Butler Saw as Mrs Prentice
1986
- Casualty as Jocelyn Anderson
- Unnatural Causes as Judith
- Home Cooking as Judith
1985
- Theatre Night as Mrs. Prentice
- Mapp & Lucia as Miss Elizabeth Mapp
- Absurd Person Singular as Marion Brewster-Wright
1984
- Slimming Down as Mrs. Shrigley
1983
- The Wicked Lady as Lady Kingsclere
- Singles as Gail
1982
- The Merry Wives of Windsor as Mistress Page
- Outside Edge as Miriam
1981
- Bergerac as Gloria Gibbins
- Never the Twain as Susan Peel
1978
- An Audience with... as Self
- The Boys from Brazil as Mrs. Harrington
- The Hound of the Baskervilles as Glynis
- Doris and Doreen as Doris Rutter
1977
- Target as Diana Blake
- The Achurch Letters as Florence Farr
1976
- Lucky Feller
- The Littlest Horse Thieves as Mrs. Sandman
1975
- Fawlty Towers as Sybil Fawlty
- The Apple Cart as Queen Jemima
1974
- Playhouse as Florence Farr
1973
- Seven of One as Marion Joyce
- The Ring of Truth as Babs Pickard
1972
- Country Matters as Babs Pickard
1965
- BBC Play of the Month as Queen Jemima
- Thirty-Minute Theatre as Marie
1962
- Waltz of the Toreadors as Estella Fitzjohn
1961
- Faces of Jim as Laura Morrell
- Marriage Lines as Kate Starling
1958
- Room at the Top as Council Office Worker (uncredited)
1954
- Hobson's Choice as Vicky Hobson
- What Every Woman Wants as Mary
- The Crowded Day as Customer
1953
- Laxdale Hall as Morag McLeod
1952
- Pride and Prejudice as Lydia Bennet