Prunella Scales
Acting

Prunella Scales

Born 22 June 1932 · Sutton Abinger, Surrey, England, UK · Died 27 October 2025

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

Wolf
Fawlty Towers
Howards End
The Boys from Brazil
Midsomer Murders
Hobson's Choice
Emma
Silent Witness
Horrid Henry: The Movie
The Phone Call
An Awfully Big Adventure
Second Best
Sub Rosa
The Phone Call
Run For Your Wife
Horrid Henry: The Movie
The Shell Seekers
Mr. Loveday's Little Outing
A Day in the Death of Joe Egg
Station Jim
The Ghost of Greville Lodge
An Ideal Husband
Mad Cows
Stiff Upper Lips
An Audience with Alf Garnett
Emma
Breaking the Code
An Awfully Big Adventure
Wolf
Second Best
Fair Game
The World of Peter Rabbit and Friends: The Tale of Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle and Mr. Jeremy Fisher
Freddie As F.R.O.7.
Howards End
My Friend Walter
A Question of Attribution
Dirty Beasts
Revolting Rhymes
The Tale of Little Pig Robinson
A Chorus of Disapproval
Beyond The Pale
Bosses From Hell
Communicators From Hell
Consuming Passions
Natural Causes
The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne
What the Butler Saw
When We Are Married
Home Cooking
Absurd Person Singular
Slimming Down
The Wicked Lady
Outside Edge
The Merry Wives of Windsor
Doris and Doreen
The Boys from Brazil
The Hound of the Baskervilles
The Achurch Letters
The Littlest Horse Thieves
Waltz of the Toreadors
Hobson's Choice
What Every Woman Wants
The Crowded Day
Prunella Scales · Midrow