Fawlty Towers actor Prunella Scales dies aged 93

Actor portrayed Sybil Fawlty and later charmed viewers with her canal boat journeys alongside husband Timothy West

Prunella Scales as Sybil Fawlty with John Cleese as husband Basil in the sitcom Fawlty Towers. Photograph: BBC1

Prunella Scales, the actor best known for playing Sybil Fawlty in the classic comedy series Fawlty Towers, has died aged 93.

Scales, who was married to fellow actor Timothy West , was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease in 2013.

The actor died peacefully at home in London on Monday, her sons, Samuel and Joseph, said.

A statement to the PA Media news agency 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. Pru was married to Timothy West for 61 years. He died in November 2024.

“She is survived by two sons and one stepdaughter, seven grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.

Prunella Scales with Timothy West in Great Canal Journeys. Photograph: Channel 4 Television/Channel 4

Following a number of film roles, including in a now-lost screen adaptation of Pride and Prejudice from 1952, Scales broke into the mainstream in the television sitcom The Marriage Lines, which aired in the early 1960s, starring alongside Richard Briers. As well as roles in the BBC Radio 4 adaptation of Rumpole of the Bailey and TV’s Mapp and Lucia, Scales was best known for playing Sybil Fawlty in the John Cleese and Connie Booth-penned sitcom Fawlty Towers, in which she appeared between 1975 and 1979. In it, Scales memorably played the domineering Sybil, the wife of Cleese’s incompetent hotel boss Basil.

My arm: *barely wants to move, hard to type, shoulder hates that angle*