Prunella Scales
Known For
Acting
Born
1932-06-22 in Sutton Abinger, Surrey, England, UK
Died
2025-10-27
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.
Most Known For
Midsomer Murders
as Eleanor Bunsall
Agatha Christie's Marple
as Mrs Mackenzie
Silent Witness
as Anne Parker
Casualty
as Jocelyn Anderson
BBC Play of the Month
as Queen Jemima
Bergerac
as Gloria Gibbins
Playhouse
as Florence Farr
Loose Women
as Self
Fawlty Towers
as Sybil Fawlty
Dalziel & Pascoe
An Audience with...
as Self
Thirty-Minute Theatre
as Marie
Emma
as Miss Bates
Consuming Passions
as Ethel
Howards End
as Aunt Juley
Dennis the Menace and Gnasher
as Mrs. Duffel
Target
as Diana Blake
Fair Game
as Marjorie
After Henry
as Sarah France
Great Canal Journeys
as Self