Acting

Prunella Scales

Born 1932-06-22 · Sutton Abinger, Surrey, England, UK

Died 2025-10-27

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.

Credits

Newest first

The Cancellation Of Fawlty Towers
2025
50 Years of BBC Two Comedy
as Self
2014
Great Canal Journeys
as Self
2014
Sub Rosa
as Madame
2014
The Phone Call
as Joan
2013
Run For Your Wife
as Woman in Pub
2012
Horrid Henry: The Movie
as Great Aunt Greta
2011
Fawlty Towers: Re-Opened
as Self / Sybil Fawlty
2009
The Shell Seekers
as Dolly Keeling
2007
Think
as Customer
2007
What the Pythons Did Next...
as Self
2007
Mr. Loveday's Little Outing
as Lady Moping
2006
Fawlty Towers Revisited
as Herself
2005
The Funny Blokes of British Comedy
as Sybil Fawlty (archive footage) (uncredited)
2005
Agatha Christie's Marple
as Mrs Mackenzie
2004
Looking for Victoria
as Self / Victoria
2003
The Royal
as Red Admiral
2003
Dickens
as Elizabeth Dickens
2002
A Day in the Death of Joe Egg
as Grace
2002
Station Jim
as Queen Victoria
2001
The Ghost of Greville Lodge
as Sarah
2000
Mad Cows
as Dr. Minny Stinkler
1999
Loose Women
as Self
1999
An Ideal Husband
as Lady Markby
1999
Stiff Upper Lips
as Aunt Agnes
1998
Keeping Mum
as Marjorie
1997
An Audience with Alf Garnett
1997
Midsomer Murders
as Eleanor Bunsall
1997
Emma
as Miss Bates
1996
Breaking the Code
as Sara Turing
1996
Lord of Misrule
as Shirley
1996
Dennis the Menace and Gnasher
as Mrs. Duffel
1996
Dalziel and Pascoe
as Edith Disney
1996
Silent Witness
as Anne Parker
1996
Searching
as Mrs. Tilston
1995
The World of Lee Evans
as Mother
1995
Look at the State We're In!
as Storyteller
1995
An Awfully Big Adventure
as Rose
1995
Signs and Wonders
as Elizabeth Palmore
1995
Second Best
as Margery
1994
Wolf
as Maude Waggins
1994
Fair Game
as Marjorie
1994
The World of Peter Rabbit and Friends: The Tale of Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle and Mr. Jeremy Fisher
as Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle (voice)
1994
The Rector's Wife
as Marjorie Richardson
1994
Freddie As F.R.O.7.
as Queen (voice)
1992
My Friend Walter
as Aunt Ellie
1992
Howards End
as Aunt Juley
1992
A Question of Attribution
as H.M.Q.
1991
The Tale of Little Pig Robinson
as Fleecy Flock
1990
Dirty Beasts
as Narrator
1990
Revolting Rhymes
as Narrator
1990
Screen One
as H.M.Q.
1989
Beyond The Pale
as Milly
1989
A Chorus of Disapproval
as Hannah Ap Llewellyn
1989
Bosses From Hell
1989
Communicators From Hell
1989
Thompson
1988
Natural Causes
as Celia Bryce
1988
Consuming Passions
as Ethel
1988
After Henry
as Sarah France
1988
When We Are Married
as Annie Parker
1987
The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne
as Moira O'Neill
1987
What the Butler Saw
as Mrs Prentice
1987
Home Cooking
as Judith
1986
Unnatural Causes
as Judith
1986
Casualty
as Jocelyn Anderson
1986
ScreenPlay
as Milly
1986
Theatre Night
as Mrs. Prentice
1985
Mapp & Lucia
as Miss Elizabeth Mapp
1985
Absurd Person Singular
as Marion Brewster-Wright
1985
Weekend Playhouse
as Olive Dodd
1984
Slimming Down
as Mrs. Shrigley
1984
The Wicked Lady
as Lady Kingsclere
1983
Singles
as Gail
1983
The Merry Wives of Windsor
as Mistress Page
1982
Outside Edge
as Miriam
1982
S.W.A.L.K.
as Patti
1982
Bergerac
as Gloria Gibbins
1981
Never the Twain
as Susan Peel
1981
Doris and Doreen
as Doris Rutter
1978