22 Jun 1932 - 27 Oct 2025 (93 years)

Prunella Margaret Rumney West Scales (née Illingworth) was an English actress, best known for her portrayal of Sybil Fawlty in the BBC television sitcom Fawlty Towers (1975–1979) and for her performance as Queen Elizabeth II in Alan Bennett's A Question of Attribution (1991), which earned her a BAFTA nomination.

She later appeared in the documentary series Great Canal Journeys (2014–2019), travelling waterways in the UK and abroad with her husband, actor Timothy West.

Scales was married to actor Timothy West from 1963 until his death in 2024. Their marriage produced two sons; the elder is actor and director Samuel West. Scales also had a step-daughter, by West's first marriage. Scales and West shared a common hobby of narrowboating.

Scales's husband first noticed signs of her memory difficulties in 2001 while she was performing at the Greenwich Theatre. She was eventually diagnosed with vascular dementia in 2013. In 2015, West said in an interview: "the sad thing is that you just watch the gradual disappearance of the person that you knew and loved and were very close to". The diagnosis did not prevent her from taking part in Great Canal Journeys, in which she and her husband spoke openly about her illness. Her declining health led the couple to leave the series in 2019. Interviewed for the BBC in 2023, soon after celebrating their diamond wedding anniversary, West said, with reference to Scales's dementia: "Somehow we have coped with it and Pru doesn't really think about it."

Scales died at her home in London, on 27 October 2025, aged 93.