Prunella Scales
- Known for
- Acting
- Born
- June 22, 1932
- Died
- October 27, 2025 (aged 93)
- Birthplace
- Sutton Abinger, Surrey, England, UK
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.
Known For
Photos
Filmography
The Cancellation Of Fawlty Towers
Movie
50 Years of BBC Two Comedy
Movie · as Self
Sub Rosa
Movie · as Madame
Great Canal Journeys
TV · as Self · 34 eps
The Phone Call
Movie · as Joan
Run For Your Wife
Movie · as Woman in Pub
Horrid Henry: The Movie
Movie · as Great Aunt Greta
Fawlty Towers: Re-Opened
Movie · as Self / Sybil Fawlty
The Shell Seekers
Movie · as Dolly Keeling
What the Pythons Did Next...
Movie · as Self
Think
Movie · as Customer
Mr. Loveday's Little Outing
Movie · as Lady Moping
Fawlty Towers Revisited
Movie · as Herself
The Funny Blokes of British Comedy
Movie · as Sybil Fawlty (archive footage) (uncredited)
Agatha Christie's Marple
TV · as Mrs Mackenzie · 1 ep
The Royal
TV · as Red Admiral · 1 ep
Looking for Victoria
TV · as Self / Victoria · 2 eps
A Day in the Death of Joe Egg
Movie · as Grace
Dickens
TV · as Elizabeth Dickens · 1 ep
Station Jim
Movie · as Queen Victoria
The Ghost of Greville Lodge
Movie · as Sarah
An Ideal Husband
Movie · as Lady Markby
Mad Cows
Movie · as Dr. Minny Stinkler
Loose Women
TV · as Self · 1 ep
Stiff Upper Lips
Movie · as Aunt Agnes
An Audience with Alf Garnett
Movie
Midsomer Murders
TV · as Eleanor Bunsall · 1 ep
Keeping Mum
TV · as Marjorie · 1 ep
Emma
Movie · as Miss Bates
Breaking the Code
Movie · as Sara Turing
Lord of Misrule
Movie · as Shirley
Dennis the Menace and Gnasher
TV · as Mrs. Duffel · 1 ep
Silent Witness
TV · as Anne Parker · 2 eps
Dalziel and Pascoe
TV · as Edith Disney · 1 ep
An Awfully Big Adventure
Movie · as Rose
The World of Lee Evans
TV · as Mother · 1 ep
Signs and Wonders
TV · as Elizabeth Palmore · 4 eps
Look at the State We're In!
TV · as Storyteller · 1 ep
Searching
TV · as Mrs. Tilston · 7 eps
Wolf
Movie · as Maude Waggins
Second Best
Movie · as Margery
Fair Game
Movie · as Marjorie
The World of Peter Rabbit and Friends: The Tale of Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle and Mr. Jeremy Fisher
Movie · as Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle (voice)
The Rector's Wife
TV · as Marjorie Richardson · 3 eps
Freddie As F.R.O.7.
Movie · as Queen (voice)
Howards End
Movie · as Aunt Juley
My Friend Walter
Movie · as Aunt Ellie
A Question of Attribution
Movie · as H.M.Q.
Dirty Beasts
Movie · as Narrator
Revolting Rhymes
Movie · as Narrator
The Tale of Little Pig Robinson
Movie · as Fleecy Flock
A Chorus of Disapproval
Movie · as Hannah Ap Llewellyn
Beyond The Pale
Movie · as Milly
Bosses From Hell
Movie
Communicators From Hell
Movie
Screen One
TV · as H.M.Q. · 1 ep
Consuming Passions
Movie · as Ethel
Natural Causes
Movie · as Celia Bryce
Thompson
TV · 1 ep
After Henry
TV · as Sarah France · 38 eps
The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne
Movie · as Moira O'Neill
What the Butler Saw
Movie · as Mrs Prentice
When We Are Married
Movie · as Annie Parker
Home Cooking
Movie · as Judith
Casualty
TV · as Jocelyn Anderson · 1 ep
Unnatural Causes
TV · as Judith · 1 ep
ScreenPlay
TV · as Milly · 1 ep
Absurd Person Singular
Movie · as Marion Brewster-Wright
Theatre Night
TV · as Mrs. Prentice · 1 ep
Mapp & Lucia
TV · as Miss Elizabeth Mapp · 10 eps
Slimming Down
Movie · as Mrs. Shrigley
Weekend Playhouse
TV · as Olive Dodd · 1 ep
The Wicked Lady
Movie · as Lady Kingsclere
Singles
Movie · as Gail
Outside Edge
Movie · as Miriam
The Merry Wives of Windsor
Movie · as Mistress Page
S.W.A.L.K.
TV · as Patti · 6 eps
Bergerac
TV · as Gloria Gibbins · 1 ep
Never the Twain
TV · as Susan Peel · 1 ep
Doris and Doreen
Movie · as Doris Rutter
The Boys from Brazil
Movie · as Mrs. Harrington
The Hound of the Baskervilles
Movie · as Glynis
An Audience with...
TV · as Self · 2 eps
The BBC Television Shakespeare
TV · as Mistress Page · 1 ep
Pickersgill People
TV · as Mavis Blackhead · 1 ep
The Achurch Letters
Movie · as Florence Farr
Target
TV · as Diana Blake · 1 ep
Mr Big
TV · as Dolly · 13 eps
The Littlest Horse Thieves
Movie · as Mrs. Sandman
The Apple Cart
Movie · as Queen Jemima
Fawlty Towers
TV · as Sybil Fawlty · 12 eps
Playhouse
TV · as Florence Farr · 1 ep
The Ring of Truth
Movie · as Babs Pickard
Seven of One
TV · as Marion Joyce · 1 ep
Country Matters
TV · as Babs Pickard · 1 ep
Film '72
TV · as Self · 1 ep
Thirty-Minute Theatre
TV · as Marie · 1 ep
BBC Play of the Month
TV · as Queen Jemima · 1 ep
Waltz of the Toreadors
Movie · as Estella Fitzjohn
Faces of Jim
TV · as Laura Morrell · 1 ep
Marriage Lines
TV · as Kate Starling · 43 eps
Room at the Top
Movie · as Council Office Worker (uncredited)
Hobson's Choice
Movie · as Vicky Hobson
What Every Woman Wants
Movie · as Mary
The Crowded Day
Movie · as Customer
Laxdale Hall
Movie · as Morag McLeod
Pride and Prejudice
TV · as Lydia Bennet · 4 eps