Prunella Scales
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.
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Movies (64)
The Cancellation Of Fawlty Towers
2025
50 Years of BBC Two Comedy
2014 · Self
Sub Rosa
2014 · Madame
The Phone Call
2013 · Joan
Run For Your Wife
2012 · Woman in Pub
Henry el terrible
2011 · Great Aunt Greta
Fawlty Towers: Re-Opened
2009 · Self / Sybil Fawlty
Los buscadores de caracoles
2007 · Dolly Keeling
Think
2007 · Customer
What the Pythons Did Next...
2007 · Self
Mr. Loveday's Little Outing
2006 · Lady Moping
Fawlty Towers Revisited
2005 · Herself
The Funny Blokes of British Comedy
2005 · Sybil Fawlty (archive footage) (uncredited)
A Day in the Death of Joe Egg
2002 · Grace
Station Jim
2001 · Queen Victoria
The Ghost of Greville Lodge
2000 · Sarah
Mad Cows
1999 · Dr. Minny Stinkler
An Ideal Husband
1999 · Lady Markby
Stiff Upper Lips
1998 · Aunt Agnes
An Audience with Alf Garnett
1997
Emma
1996 · Miss Bates
Breaking the Code
1996 · Sara Turing
Lord of Misrule
1996 · Shirley
An Awfully Big Adventure
1995 · Rose
Second Best
1994 · Margery
Wolf
1994 · Maude Waggins
Fair Game
1994 · Marjorie
The World of Peter Rabbit and Friends: The Tale of Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle and Mr. Jeremy Fisher
1994 · Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle (voice)
Freddie As F.R.O.7.
1992 · Queen (voice)
My Friend Walter
1992 · Aunt Ellie
Howards End
1992 · Aunt Juley
A Question of Attribution
1991 · H.M.Q.
The Tale of Little Pig Robinson
1990 · Fleecy Flock
Dirty Beasts
1990 · Narrator
Revolting Rhymes
1990 · Narrator
Beyond The Pale
1989 · Milly
A Chorus of Disapproval
1989 · Hannah Ap Llewellyn
Bosses From Hell
1989
Communicators From Hell
1989
Natural Causes
1988 · Celia Bryce
Consuming Passions
1988 · Ethel
When We Are Married
1987 · Annie Parker
The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne
1987 · Moira O'Neill
What the Butler Saw
1987 · Mrs Prentice
Home Cooking
1986 · Judith
Absurd Person Singular
1985 · Marion Brewster-Wright
Slimming Down
1984 · Mrs. Shrigley
The Wicked Lady
1983 · Lady Kingsclere
Singles
1983 · Gail
The Merry Wives of Windsor
1982 · Mistress Page
Outside Edge
1982 · Miriam
Doris and Doreen
1978 · Doris Rutter
The Boys from Brazil
1978 · Mrs. Harrington
The Hound of the Baskervilles
1978 · Glynis
The Achurch Letters
1977 · Florence Farr
The Littlest Horse Thieves
1976 · Mrs. Sandman
The Apple Cart
1975 · Queen Jemima
The Ring of Truth
1973 · Babs Pickard
Waltz of the Toreadors
1962 · Estella Fitzjohn
Room at the Top
1958 · Council Office Worker (uncredited)
The Crowded Day
1954 · Customer
What Every Woman Wants
1954 · Mary
Hobson's Choice
1954 · Vicky Hobson
Laxdale Hall
1953 · Morag McLeod
TV shows (43)
Great Canal Journeys
2014 · Self
Agatha Christie's Marple
2004 · Mrs Mackenzie
Looking for Victoria
2003 · Self / Victoria, Presenter
The Royal
2003 · Red Admiral
Dickens
2002 · Elizabeth Dickens
Loose Women
1999 · Self
Keeping Mum
1997 · Marjorie
Midsomer Murders
1997 · Eleanor Bunsall
Dennis the Menace and Gnasher
1996 · Mrs. Duffel
Dalziel and Pascoe
1996 · Edith Disney
Silent Witness
1996 · Anne Parker
Searching
1995 · Mrs. Tilston
The World of Lee Evans
1995 · Mother
Look at the State We're In!
1995 · Storyteller
Signs and Wonders
1995 · Elizabeth Palmore
The Rector's Wife
1994 · Marjorie Richardson
Screen One
1989 · H.M.Q.
Thompson
1988
After Henry
1988 · Sarah France
Unnatural Causes
1986 · Judith
Casualty
1986 · Jocelyn Anderson
ScreenPlay
1986 · Milly
Theatre Night
1985 · Mrs. Prentice
Mapp & Lucia
1985 · Miss Elizabeth Mapp
Weekend Playhouse
1984 · Olive Dodd
S.W.A.L.K.
1982 · Patti
Bergerac
1981 · Gloria Gibbins
Never the Twain
1981 · Susan Peel
The BBC Television Shakespeare
1978 · Mistress Page
Pickersgill People
1978 · Mavis Blackhead
An Audience with...
1978 · Self
Target
1977 · Diana Blake
Mr Big
1977 · Dolly
Fawlty Towers
1975 · Sybil Fawlty
Playhouse
1974 · Florence Farr
Seven of One
1973 · Marion Joyce
Country Matters
1972 · Babs Pickard
Film '72
1971 · Self
BBC Play of the Month
1965 · Queen Jemima
Thirty-Minute Theatre
1965 · Marie
Faces of Jim
1961 · Laura Morrell
Marriage Lines
1961 · Kate Starling
Pride and Prejudice
1952 · Lydia Bennet