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.

Known For

Midsomer Murders

Silent Witness

Casualty

Agatha Christie's Marple

Bergerac

BBC Play of the Month

Thirty-Minute Theatre

Playhouse

All Movies (64)

• The Cancellation Of Fawlty Towers2025
• 50 Years of BBC Two Comedy2014 · as Self
• Sub Rosa2014 · as Madame
• The Phone Call2013 · as Joan
• Run For Your Wife2012 · as Woman in Pub
• Horrid Henry: The Movie2011 · as Great Aunt Greta
• Fawlty Towers: Re-Opened2009 · as Self / Sybil Fawlty
• The Shell Seekers2007 · as Dolly Keeling
• Think2007 · as Customer
• What the Pythons Did Next...2007 · as Self
• Mr. Loveday's Little Outing2006 · as Lady Moping
• Fawlty Towers Revisited2005 · as Herself
• The Funny Blokes of British Comedy2005 · as Sybil Fawlty (archive footage) (uncredited)
• A Day In The Death Of Joe Egg2002 · as Grace
• Station Jim2001 · as Queen Victoria
• The Ghost of Greville Lodge2000 · as Sarah
• Mad Cows1999 · as Dr. Minny Stinkler
• An Ideal Husband1999 · as Lady Markby
• Stiff Upper Lips1998 · as Aunt Agnes
• An Audience with Alf Garnett1997
• Emma1996 · as Miss Bates
• Breaking the Code1996 · as Sara Turing
• Lord of Misrule1996 · as Shirley
• An Awfully Big Adventure1995 · as Rose
• Second Best1994 · as Margery
• Wolf1994 · as Maude Waggins
• Fair Game1994 · as Marjorie
• The World of Peter Rabbit and Friends: The Tale of Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle and Mr. Jeremy Fisher1994 · as Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle (voice)
• Freddie As F.R.O.7.1992 · as Queen (voice)
• My Friend Walter1992 · as Aunt Ellie
• Howards End1992 · as Aunt Juley
• A Question of Attribution1991 · as H.M.Q.
• The Tale of Little Pig Robinson1990 · as Fleecy Flock
• Dirty Beasts1990 · as Narrator
• Revolting Rhymes1990 · as Narrator
• Beyond The Pale1989 · as Milly
• A Chorus of Disapproval1989 · as Hannah Ap Llewellyn
• Bosses From Hell1989
• Communicators From Hell1989
• Natural Causes1988 · as Celia Bryce
• Consuming Passions1988 · as Ethel
• When We Are Married1987 · as Annie Parker
• The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne1987 · as Moira O'Neill
• What the Butler Saw1987 · as Mrs Prentice
• Home Cooking1986 · as Judith
• Absurd Person Singular1985 · as Marion Brewster-Wright
• Slimming Down1984 · as Mrs. Shrigley
• The Wicked Lady1983 · as Lady Kingsclere
• Singles1983 · as Gail
• The Merry Wives of Windsor1982 · as Mistress Page
• Outside Edge1982 · as Miriam
• Doris and Doreen1978 · as Doris Rutter
• The Boys from Brazil1978 · as Mrs. Harrington
• The Hound of the Baskervilles1978 · as Glynis
• The Achurch Letters1977 · as Florence Farr
• The Littlest Horse Thieves1976 · as Mrs. Sandman
• The Apple Cart1975 · as Queen Jemima
• The Ring of Truth1973 · as Babs Pickard
• Waltz of the Toreadors1962 · as Estella Fitzjohn
• Room at the Top1958 · as Council Office Worker (uncredited)
• The Crowded Day1954 · as Customer
• What Every Woman Wants1954 · as Mary
• Hobson's Choice1954 · as Vicky Hobson
• Laxdale Hall1953 · as Morag McLeod

All TV Shows (39)

• Great Canal Journeys2014 · as Self
• Agatha Christie's Marple2004 · as Mrs Mackenzie
• Looking for Victoria2003 · as Self / Victoria
• The Royal2003 · as Red Admiral
• Dickens2002 · as Elizabeth Dickens
• Loose Women1999 · as Self
• Keeping Mum1997 · as Marjorie
• Midsomer Murders1997 · as Eleanor Bunsall
• Dennis the Menace and Gnasher1996 · as Mrs. Duffel
• Dalziel and Pascoe1996 · as Edith Disney
• Silent Witness1996 · as Anne Parker
• The World of Lee Evans1995 · as Mother
• Look at the State We're In!1995 · as Storyteller
• Signs and Wonders1995 · as Elizabeth Palmore
• The Rector's Wife1994 · as Marjorie Richardson
• Screen One1989 · as H.M.Q.
• Thompson1988
• After Henry1988 · as Sarah France
• Unnatural Causes1986 · as Judith
• Casualty1986 · as Jocelyn Anderson
• ScreenPlay1986 · as Milly
• Theatre Night1985 · as Mrs. Prentice
• Mapp & Lucia1985 · as Miss Elizabeth Mapp
• Weekend Playhouse1984 · as Olive Dodd
• Bergerac1981 · as Gloria Gibbins
• Never the Twain1981 · as Susan Peel
• The BBC Television Shakespeare1978 · as Mistress Page
• An Audience with...1978 · as Self
• Target1977 · as Diana Blake
• Lucky Feller1976
• Fawlty Towers1975 · as Sybil Fawlty
• Playhouse1974 · as Florence Farr
• Seven of One1973 · as Marion Joyce
• Country Matters1972 · as Babs Pickard
• BBC Play of the Month1965 · as Queen Jemima
• Thirty-Minute Theatre1965 · as Marie
• Faces of Jim1961 · as Laura Morrell
• Marriage Lines1961 · as Kate Starling
• Pride and Prejudice1952 · as Lydia Bennet