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.

Filmography

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

Appearances as themselves (9)

• 201450 Years of BBC Two Comedy — Self
• Great Canal Journeys — Self
• 2009Fawlty Towers: Re-Opened — Self / Sybil Fawlty
• 2007What the Pythons Did Next... — Self
• 2005Fawlty Towers Revisited — Herself
• Looking for Victoria — Self / Victoria
• Loose Women — Self
• An Audience with... — Self
• Film '72 — Self