Prunella Scales

Biography

Prunella Margaret Rumney West Scales CBE (née Illingworth) is 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

Eleanor Bunsall

Silent Witness

Anne Parker

Playhouse

Florence Farr

BBC Play of the Month

Queen Jemima

Thirty-Minute Theatre

Marie

Agatha Christie's Marple

Mrs Mackenzie

Bergerac

Gloria Gibbins

An Audience with...

Self

Filmography

Year	Movie	Role
2025	Fawlty Towers: A Very British Comedy
2014	50 Years of BBC Two Comedy	Self
2014	Sub Rosa	Madame
2013	The Phone Call	Joan
2012	Run For Your Wife	Woman in Pub
2011	Horrid Henry: The Movie	Great Aunt Greta
2009	Fawlty Towers: Re-Opened	Self / Sybil Fawlty
2007	The Shell Seekers	Dolly Keeling
2007	What the Pythons Did Next...	Self
2006	Mr. Loveday's Little Outing	Lady Moping
2005	Fawlty Towers Revisited	Herself
2002	A Day In The Death Of Joe Egg	Grace
2001	Station Jim	Queen Victoria
2000	The Ghost of Greville Lodge
1999	An Ideal Husband	Lady Markby
1999	Mad Cows	Dr. Minny Stinkler
1998	Stiff Upper Lips	Aunt Agnes
1997	An Audience with Alf Garnett
1996	Emma	Miss Bates
1996	Breaking the Code	Sara Turing
1996	Lord of Misrule	Shirley
1995	An Awfully Big Adventure	Rose
1994	Wolf	Maude Waggins
1994	Second Best	Margery
1994	Fair Game	Marjorie
1992	Freddie as F.R.O.7.	Queen (voice)
1992	Howards End	Aunt Juley
1992	My Friend Walter	Aunt Ellie
1991	A Question of Attribution	H.M.Q.
1990	Dirty Beasts	Narrator
1990	Revolting Rhymes	Narrator
1990	The Tale of Little Pig Robinson	Fleecy Flock
1989	A Chorus of Disapproval	Hannah Ap Llewellyn
1989	Beyond The Pale	Milly
1989	Bosses From Hell
1989	Communicators From Hell
1988	Consuming Passions	Ethel
1988	Natural Causes	Celia Bryce
1987	The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne	Moira O'Neill
1987	What the Butler Saw	Mrs Prentice
1987	When We Are Married	Annie Parker
1986	Home Cooking	Judith
1985	Absurd Person Singular	Marion Brewster-Wright
1984	Slimming Down	Mrs. Shrigley
1983	The Wicked Lady	Lady Kingsclere
1982	Outside Edge	Miriam
1982	The Merry Wives of Windsor	Mistress Page
1978	Doris and Doreen	Doris Rutter
1978	The Boys from Brazil	Mrs. Harrington
1978	The Hound of the Baskervilles	Glynis
1977	The Achurch Letters	Florence Farr
1976	The Littlest Horse Thieves	Mrs. Sandman
1975	The Apple Cart	Queen Jemima
1962	Waltz of the Toreadors	Estella Fitzjohn
1958	Room at the Top	Council Office Worker (uncredited)
1954	Hobson's Choice	Vicky Hobson
1954	What Every Woman Wants	Mary
1953	Laxdale Hall	Morag McLeod

Year	TV Show	Role
2014	Great Canal Journeys	Self
2004	Agatha Christie's Marple	Mrs Mackenzie
2003	The Royal	Red Admiral
2002	Dickens
1999	Loose Women	Self
1997	Midsomer Murders	Eleanor Bunsall
1997	Keeping Mum	Marjorie
1996	Dalziel & Pascoe
1996	Dennis the Menace and Gnasher	Mrs. Duffel
1996	Silent Witness	Anne Parker
1995	Look at the State We're In!	Storyteller
1995	The World of Lee Evans	Mother
1995	Signs and Wonders	Elizabeth Palmore
1994	The Rector's Wife	Marjorie Richardson
1988	After Henry
1988	Thompson
1986	Unnatural Causes	Judith
1986	Casualty	Jocelyn Anderson
1985	Mapp & Lucia
1985	Theatre Night	Mrs. Prentice
1981	Bergerac	Gloria Gibbins
1981	Never the Twain	Susan Peel
1978	An Audience with...	Self
1977	Target	Diana Blake
1976	Lucky Feller
1975	Fawlty Towers	Sybil Fawlty
1974	Playhouse	Florence Farr
1973	Seven of One
1965	Thirty-Minute Theatre	Marie
1965	BBC Play of the Month	Queen Jemima
1961	Marriage Lines
1952	Pride and Prejudice	Lydia Bennet