Prunella Scales
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.
Gallery
Known For
Acting History
2025
The Cancellation Of Fawlty Towers
201450 Years of BBC Two Comedy as Self
2014Great Canal Journeys as Self
2014Sub Rosa as Madame
2013The Phone Call as Joan
2012Run For Your Wife as Woman in Pub
2011Horrid Henry: The Movie as Great Aunt Greta
2009Fawlty Towers: Re-Opened as Self / Sybil Fawlty
2007The Shell Seekers as Dolly Keeling
2007What the Pythons Did Next... as Self
2006Mr. Loveday's Little Outing as Lady Moping
2005Fawlty Towers Revisited as Herself
2004Agatha Christie's Marple as Mrs Mackenzie
2003The Royal as Red Admiral
2002Dickens as Elizabeth Dickens
2002A Day In The Death Of Joe Egg as Grace
2001Station Jim as Queen Victoria
2000The Ghost of Greville Lodge
1999Mad Cows as Dr. Minny Stinkler
1999Loose Women as Self
1999An Ideal Husband as Lady Markby
1998Stiff Upper Lips as Aunt Agnes
1997Keeping Mum as Marjorie
1997An Audience with Alf Garnett
1997Midsomer Murders as Eleanor Bunsall
1996Emma as Miss Bates
1996Breaking the Code as Sara Turing
1996Lord of Misrule as Shirley
1996Dennis the Menace and Gnasher as Mrs. Duffel
1996Dalziel & Pascoe
1996Silent Witness as Anne Parker
1995The World of Lee Evans as Mother
1995Look at the State We're In! as Storyteller
1995An Awfully Big Adventure as Rose
1995Signs and Wonders as Elizabeth Palmore
1994Second Best as Margery
1994Wolf as Maude Waggins
1994Fair Game as Marjorie
1994The Rector's Wife as Marjorie Richardson
1992Freddie As F.R.O.7. as Queen (voice)
1992My Friend Walter as Aunt Ellie
1992Howards End as Aunt Juley
1991A Question of Attribution as H.M.Q.
1990The Tale of Little Pig Robinson as Fleecy Flock
1990Dirty Beasts as Narrator
1990Revolting Rhymes as Narrator
1989Beyond The Pale as Milly
1989A Chorus of Disapproval as Hannah Ap Llewellyn
1989Bosses From Hell
1989Communicators From Hell
1988Thompson
1988Natural Causes as Celia Bryce
1988Consuming Passions as Ethel
1988After Henry as Sarah France
1987When We Are Married as Annie Parker
1987The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne as Moira O'Neill
1987What the Butler Saw as Mrs Prentice
1986Home Cooking as Judith
1986Unnatural Causes as Judith
1986Casualty as Jocelyn Anderson
1985Theatre Night as Mrs. Prentice
1985Mapp & Lucia
1985Absurd Person Singular as Marion Brewster-Wright
1984Slimming Down as Mrs. Shrigley
1983The Wicked Lady as Lady Kingsclere
1983Singles as Gail
1982The Merry Wives of Windsor as Mistress Page
1982Outside Edge as Miriam
1981Bergerac as Gloria Gibbins
1981Never the Twain as Susan Peel
1978Doris and Doreen as Doris Rutter
1978The Boys from Brazil as Mrs. Harrington
1978The Hound of the Baskervilles as Glynis
1978An Audience with... as Self
1977Target as Diana Blake
1977The Achurch Letters as Florence Farr
1976Lucky Feller
1976The Littlest Horse Thieves as Mrs. Sandman
1975Fawlty Towers as Sybil Fawlty
1975The Apple Cart as Queen Jemima
1974Playhouse as Florence Farr
1973Seven of One
1965BBC Play of the Month as Queen Jemima
1965Thirty-Minute Theatre as Marie
1962Waltz of the Toreadors as Estella Fitzjohn
1961Marriage Lines
1958Room at the Top as Council Office Worker (uncredited)
1954The Crowded Day as Customer
1954What Every Woman Wants as Mary
1954Hobson's Choice as Vicky Hobson
1953Laxdale Hall as Morag McLeod
1952Pride and Prejudice as Lydia Bennet