Prunella Scales
Acting
Born: June 22, 1932 · Sutton Abinger, Surrey, England, UK
Died: October 27, 2025 (aged 93)
Highest Rated
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
Wolf
1994
Fawlty Towers
1975
Howards End
1992
The Boys from Brazil
1978
Midsomer Murders
1997
Hobson's Choice
1954
Room at the Top
1958
Agatha Christie's Marple
2004
Emma
1996
Silent Witness
1996
Horrid Henry: The Movie
2011
Casualty
1986
Photos (5)
Movies (53)
Wolf
Maude Waggins
The Boys from Brazil
Mrs. Harrington
Howards End
Aunt Juley
Emma
Miss Bates
Hobson's Choice
Vicky Hobson
Sub Rosa
Madame
Second Best
Margery
The Wicked Lady
Lady Kingsclere
Horrid Henry: The Movie
Great Aunt Greta
Room at the Top
Council Office Worker (uncredited)
An Awfully Big Adventure
Rose
Fair Game
Marjorie
Consuming Passions
Ethel
Natural Causes
Celia Bryce
Freddie As F.R.O.7.
Queen (voice)
The Hound of the Baskervilles
Glynis
The Shell Seekers
Dolly Keeling
Dirty Beasts
Narrator
Bosses From Hell
1989
A Chorus of Disapproval
Hannah Ap Llewellyn
The World of Peter Rabbit and Friends: The Tale of Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle and Mr. Jeremy Fisher
Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle (voice)
Home Cooking
Judith
The Merry Wives of Windsor
Mistress Page
Stiff Upper Lips
Aunt Agnes
Revolting Rhymes
Narrator
Run For Your Wife
Woman in Pub
The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne
Moira O'Neill
An Ideal Husband
Lady Markby
Mad Cows
Dr. Minny Stinkler
The Crowded Day
Customer
Breaking the Code
Sara Turing
When We Are Married
Annie Parker
Station Jim
Queen Victoria
The Phone Call
Joan
Waltz of the Toreadors
Estella Fitzjohn
A Question of Attribution
H.M.Q.
My Friend Walter
Aunt Ellie
The Cancellation Of Fawlty Towers
2025
Doris and Doreen
Doris Rutter
The Tale of Little Pig Robinson
Fleecy Flock
The Achurch Letters
Florence Farr
What the Butler Saw
Mrs Prentice
Mr. Loveday's Little Outing
Lady Moping
The Ghost of Greville Lodge
Sarah
The Littlest Horse Thieves
Mrs. Sandman
Outside Edge
Miriam
Absurd Person Singular
Marion Brewster-Wright
Communicators From Hell
1989
What Every Woman Wants
Mary
Slimming Down
Mrs. Shrigley
A Day in the Death of Joe Egg
Grace
Beyond The Pale
Milly
An Audience with Alf Garnett
1997
TV Shows (31)
Midsomer Murders
Eleanor Bunsall · 1 eps
Casualty
Jocelyn Anderson · 1 eps
Silent Witness
Anne Parker · 2 eps
Agatha Christie's Marple
Mrs Mackenzie · 1 eps
BBC Play of the Month
Queen Jemima · 1 eps
Thirty-Minute Theatre
Marie · 1 eps
Dalziel and Pascoe
Edith Disney · 1 eps
Bergerac
Gloria Gibbins · 1 eps
The BBC Television Shakespeare
Mistress Page · 1 eps
Playhouse
Florence Farr · 1 eps
Fawlty Towers
Sybil Fawlty · 12 eps
ScreenPlay
Milly · 1 eps
Screen One
H.M.Q. · 1 eps
Target
Diana Blake · 1 eps
Never the Twain
Susan Peel · 1 eps
Mapp & Lucia
Miss Elizabeth Mapp · 10 eps
Pickersgill People
Mavis Blackhead · 1 eps
Dennis the Menace and Gnasher
Mrs. Duffel · 1 eps
After Henry
Sarah France · 38 eps
Unnatural Causes
Judith · 1 eps
Country Matters
Babs Pickard · 1 eps
Signs and Wonders
Elizabeth Palmore · 4 eps
Theatre Night
Mrs. Prentice · 1 eps
Seven of One
Marion Joyce · 1 eps
Marriage Lines
Kate Starling · 43 eps
Dickens
Elizabeth Dickens · 1 eps
Keeping Mum
Marjorie · 1 eps
Pride and Prejudice
Lydia Bennet · 4 eps
The Rector's Wife
Marjorie Richardson · 4 eps
The World of Lee Evans
Mother · 1 eps
The Royal
Red Admiral · 1 eps
Self / Appearances (7)
Loose Women
Self · 1 eps
An Audience with...
Self · 2 eps
Great Canal Journeys
Self · 34 eps
What the Pythons Did Next...
Self
50 Years of BBC Two Comedy
Self
Fawlty Towers: Re-Opened
Self / Sybil Fawlty
Fawlty Towers Revisited
Herself