Prunella Scales, who has died today aged 93, was interviewed before her husband Timothy West’s own death in November 2024 as she gave an insight into their relationship
Fawlty Towers legend Prunella Scales, who has passed away aged 93, spoke movingly about her devotion to late husband Timothy West just months before his own death in November 2024.
Calling herself “a very lucky lady” the celebrated actress revealed to The Times: “I’m married to a very interesting person and I love him very much and I’m interested in him. So it’s not a problem.
“If I had an unhappy marriage and was married to somebody I didn’t get on with, I’d be a different person.””
Prunella starred alongside her beloved husband in Channel 4’s Great Canal Journeys across 10 series, until her declining health forced her to step back from television.
She received a vascular dementia diagnosis in 2013, yet refused to let her condition stop her from pursuing her passion and launched into her hugely popular TV collaboration with her husband the year after.
Timothy spoke to the BBC in 2023 following their diamond wedding anniversary celebrations, explaining that her progressing dementia had simply become woven into their daily existence: “Somehow we have coped with it and Pru doesn’t really think about it.”
Despite her illustrious and lengthy career, Prunella confessed that pre-performance jitters never left her: “You go to a different place and you think: ‘Oh God, these people won’t like me.’ You have to cope with that every time.”
Prunella Scales, who had a long and varied acting career, will always be remembered for her role as Sybil Fawlty, the wife of the hilariously unbearable Basil in John Cleese’s legendary sitcom, Fawlty Towers.
Despite only running for two series in 1975 and 1979, the show was hailed as one of the greatest sitcoms ever made.
In 2007, she reprised her role as Sybil for a Children In Need sketch, where she was portrayed as a potential new manager keen to take over Hotel Babylon.
The on-screen relationship between Sybil and Basil was often depicted as deeply unhappy, a stark contrast to Prunella’s real-life marriage. She and her husband enjoyed over 60 years of wedded bliss, raising three children together.
Their son, Samuel West, followed in his parents’ footsteps into the world of acting, earning multiple BAFTA nominations and landing the role of Siegfried Farnon in Channel 5’s enduring drama series, All Creatures Great and Small.
Samuel shared an insight into the family’s light-hearted approach to Prunella’s declining health in an interview with The Times, saying: “I often ask her how old she thinks I am. And she generally puts me at about 27 – only 30 years out of date.”
He added: “We saw them on Sunday and I said: ‘How old do you think I am?’ and she said, ‘How old am I?’ and I said, ‘You’re 91, mum.’ And she said, ’91? F***!'”.
Speaking in 2023, he commented: “The great joy of her now is that although she’s . . . not exactly a ghost, but more insubstantial than she was, the bit that we’ve been left with is very definitely her and also quite happy. So I was wrong about that.”