![\"Prunella](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/SEI_259022743-19d0.jpg\")
\n\t\tPrunella Scales played the iconic role of Sybil Fawlty (Picture: Regis Martin\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n
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\n\t\tPrunella Scales played the iconic role of Sybil Fawlty (Picture: Regis Martin\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n
Fawlty Towers<\/a> legend Prunella Scales has died aged 93, her sons have shared in a statement. <\/p>\n Tributes have started to pour in for the late actress, including from her Fawlty Towers<\/a> co-star John Cleese<\/a>, who described her as a \u2018wonderful comic actress\u2019.<\/p>\n Scales was best known for her role as Sybil Fawlty, the domineering wife of incompetent Basil Fawlty (Cleese), in the iconic BBC<\/a> sitcom.<\/p>\n She was watching Fawlty Towers the day before she died on Monday, according to her sons, Samuel and Joseph West.<\/p>\n They said in a statement: \u2018Our darling mother Prunella Scales died peacefully at home in London<\/a> yesterday.<\/p>\n \u2018She 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.\u2019<\/p>\n \t\t \t\t The statement to PA continued: \u2018Pru was married to Timothy West for 61 years. He died in November 2024.<\/p>\n \u2018She is survived by two sons and one stepdaughter, seven grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.<\/p>\n \u2018We would like to thank all those who gave Pru such wonderful care at the end of her life: her last days were comfortable, contented and surrounded by love.\u2019<\/p>\n In his tribute, Cleese, 86, said of Scales: \u2018Scene after scene she was absolutely perfect.\u2019<\/p>\n Gyles Brandreth remembered her as \u2018a funny, intelligent, interesting, gifted human being\u2019, while Sir Keir Starmer<\/a> said she was \u2018part of a golden era for British comedy\u2019.<\/p>\n The Prime Minister described her as \u2018someone whose talent was beamed into people\u2019s homes over many years and gave many people a huge amount of enjoyment\u2019.<\/p>\n The director of comedy at the BBC Jon Petrie said: \u2018She was a national treasure whose brilliance as Sybil Fawlty lit up screens and still makes us laugh today.\u2019<\/p>\n Fawlty Towers was only 12 episodes in length, but has been hailed as \u2018the British sitcom by which all other British sitcoms must be judged\u2019.<\/p>\n \t\t \t\t The show was set in the chaotic foyer of a fictional hotel in Torquay, Devon, and went on to win numerous accolades, including\u00a0the British Academy Television Award for Best Scripted Comedy<\/a>.<\/p>\n After the sitcom came to an end, Scales was a small screen regular with roles in After Henry,\u00a0Mapp and Lucia, Smelling of Roses\u00a0and\u00a0Ladies of Letters. <\/p>\n She also featured in many films, including\u00a0Lord of Misrule, Emma, and Wolf, as well as a now-lost screen adaptation of Pride and Prejudice from 1952. <\/p>\n On the stage, Scales played Queen Victoria over 400 times in An Evening With Victoria. She was nominated for a Bafta in 1992 for A Question of Attribution, based on Alan Bennett\u2019s one-act stage play.<\/p>\n Alongside her husband Timothy West, Scales appeared on Celebrity Gogglebox and also presented 10 series of\u00a0Great Canal Journeys\u00a0for Channel 4 from 2014 until 2020<\/a>, which saw the couple take charming trips on narrowboats across the UK and beyond.<\/p>\n Scales was\u00a0diagnosed with vascular dementia in 2013<\/a>. The couple often discussed her Alzheimer\u2019s\u00a0on the travelogue show and it was eventually the reason they quit the programme in 2020<\/a>.<\/p>\n \t\t \u2018I\u2019m unable to have the same in-depth conversation about stage productions with Pru that I used to enjoy. But we continue to do the things we have always done, as it\u2019s important to continue to live,\u2019 actor Timothy told the charity\u00a0Alzheimer\u2019s Society<\/a> at the time.<\/p>\n Writing in his memoir,\u00a0Pru and Me, he said: \u2018[We] have exactly the same conversation every day of the week and it\u2019s something I never tire of.<\/p>\n \u2018Repetition doesn\u2019t really exist in Pru\u2019s world and the look on her face when she enters the room and sees me sitting there on the sofa waiting for her makes me realise just how much I love her.\u2019 West, who appeared in dramas such as Bleak House and Gentleman Jack, died last year after a fall.<\/p>\n In recent years, Scales said she found fielding repeated questions about Fawlty Towers \u2018boring<\/a>\u2019. There had been no reports that she was set to reprise her role in Cleese\u2019s long-gestating revival of the show, which he announced in 2023.<\/p>\n Got a story?<\/p>\n If you\u2019ve got a celebrity story, video or pictures get in touch with the Metro.co.uk<\/a> entertainment team by emailing us celebtips@metro.co.uk, calling 020 3615 2145 or by visiting our Submit Stuff<\/a> page \u2013 we\u2019d love to hear from you.<\/p>\n Arrow Arrow Arrow![\"Television](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/AD_132140938-4132.jpg\")
\n\t\tScales played the domineering wife of Basil Fawlty (Picture: BBC)<\/p>\n![\"(FILE](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/SEI_229427377-4af0.jpg\")
\n\t\tThe actress lost her husband Timothy West in November (Picture: Keystone\/Hulton Archive\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n![\"RYE,](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/SEI_204433300-f683.jpg\")
\n\t\tScales is survived by two sons (Picture: Arthur Edwards \u2013 WPA Pool\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n![\"File](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/SEI_229425100-433e.jpg\")
\n\t\tShe and her husband presented 10 series of\u00a0Great Canal Journeys (Picture: Martin Hayhow\/PA Wire)<\/p>\n![\"HD6XHG](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/SEI_133612899-54c8.jpg\")
\n\t\t(Picture: Alamy Stock Photo)<\/p>\n
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