She had been had been watching Fawlty Towers the day before she died.

Prunella Scales, who will forever be known as Sybil Fawlty in Fawlty Towers, has died aged 93.

The actor died ‘peacefully at home in London yesterday,’ her sons Samuel and Joseph said in a statement, adding that their mother had been watching Fawlty Towers the day before she died.

In a statement, they said:  ‘Our darling mother Prunella Scales died peacefully at home in London yesterday. She was 93. Although dementia forced her retirement from a remarkable acting career of nearly 70 years, she continued to live at home. She was watching Fawlty Towers the day before she died. 

‘We would like to thank all those who gave Pru such wonderful care at the end of her life: her last days were comfortable, contented and surrounded by love.’

She had spent her last years living with dementia. Her husband, the late Timothy West,  first noticed that she was having minor difficulties when she was performing in a play in 2001. But it took until 2014 to get her diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease.

It  did not prevent her from taking part in ten series of Channel 4’s Great Canal Journeys, in which she and her husband spoke openly about her illness. The Guardian critic praised the show for charting ‘the long, slow goodbye that is living with dementia, cherishing every moment of precious normality and celebrating how an immersion in nature is the surest way to bring the old Pru back’.

Interviewed for the BBC in 2023, soon after celebrating their diamond wedding anniversary, West held his wife’s hand as he said of the illness: ‘People know about it, so you can't really ignore it," says West holding his wife's hand.

‘It has been something which we bear in mind all of the time, really. It's just something you have to think of. People understand and are very helpful and sympathetic about it. Somehow we have coped with it and Pru doesn't really think about it.’ 

Among those paying tribute today were Gyles Brandreth, who said: ‘runella Scales was a wonderful actress who brought her high intelligence to every part she played - from Sybil Fawlty to Elizabeth II. She was funny, intrepid, interesting, interested, challenging, huge fun. & blessed with a beautiful marriage. All this & the canal journeys too!’

Jon Petrie,  the BBC’s director of comedy, added: ‘All of us at BBC Comedy are so sorry to hear of Prunella Scales’ passing. She was a national treasure whose brilliance as Sybil Fawlty lit up screens and still makes us laugh today. We send our love and condolences to her family and friends.’

Morris Bright, a director of Elstree Studios, posted: ‘God bless the memories of Prunella Scales and Timothy West. What a legacy of joy they left our viewing nation.’

Scales started her career in 1951 as an assistant stage manager at the Bristol Old Vic, while taking on acting roles too. 

Her career break came with the early 1960s sitcom Marriage Lines starring opposite Richard Briers – but she truly became famous across two seasons of Fawlty Towers in 1975 and 1979, as the bossy wife to John Cleese’s hapless Basil.

In 2000, when Fawlty Towers was named the greatest British TV programme in a poll, she told the Daily Mail: 'It is wonderful how it has not dated. I am very proud of Sybil and grateful to her. I still get the odd repeat cheque, which helps to pay for my work in the theatre.'  

Among the hundreds of roles in her decades-long career were BBC Radio 4 sitcoms and comedy series including After Henry – which transferred to TV for four series –  Smelling of Roses and Ladies of Letters. In 2003, she appeared as Hilda, the ‘she who must be obeyed’ wife of Horace Rumpole, in four BBC Radio 4 plays, opposite her husband.

On TV, she starred in  Mapp & Lucia, played  Queen Elizabeth II in Alan Bennett's A Question of Attribution – which earned her a Bafta nomination in 1992 –  as well as TV adaptation of the Merry Wives of Windsor and Jane Austen's Emma.

Her other credits include  the films The Hound of the Baskerville , The Boys From Brazil, Howards End and  Horrid Henry: The Movie. And for a   decade she and  Jane Horrocks starred as mother and daughter in adverts for Tesco.

She was married to  West for 61 years until his death in November last year  following a traumatic brain injury from a fall. 

Their son Samuel West plays Siegfried Farnon in 5's All Creatures Great and Small. As well as him and bother Joseph, Scales leaves one stepdaughter, seven grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.

» Prunella Scales: Seven classic performances

Published: 28 Oct 2025