Prunella Scales
Acting
106
Acting Credits
Biography
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,...
Known For
Filmography
The Cancellation Of Fawlty Towers
2025
50 Years of BBC Two Comedy
2014
as Self
Sub Rosa
2014
as Madame
Great Canal Journeys
2014
as Self
The Phone Call
2013
as Joan
Run For Your Wife
2012
as Woman in Pub
Horrid Henry: The Movie
2011
as Great Aunt Greta
Fawlty Towers: Re-Opened
2009
as Self / Sybil Fawlty
The Shell Seekers
2007
as Dolly Keeling
What the Pythons Did Next...
2007
as Self
Think
2007
as Customer
Mr. Loveday's Little Outing
2006
as Lady Moping
Fawlty Towers Revisited
2005
as Herself
The Funny Blokes of British Comedy
2005
as Sybil Fawlty (archive footage) (uncredited)
Agatha Christie's Marple
2004
as Mrs Mackenzie
The Royal
2003
as Red Admiral
Looking for Victoria
2003
as Self / Victoria
A Day in the Death of Joe Egg
2002
as Grace
Dickens
2002
as Elizabeth Dickens
Station Jim
2001
as Queen Victoria
The Ghost of Greville Lodge
2000
as Sarah
An Ideal Husband
1999
as Lady Markby
Mad Cows
1999
as Dr. Minny Stinkler
Loose Women
1999
as Self
Stiff Upper Lips
1998
as Aunt Agnes
An Audience with Alf Garnett
1997
Midsomer Murders
1997
as Eleanor Bunsall
Keeping Mum
1997
as Marjorie
Emma
1996
as Miss Bates
Breaking the Code
1996
as Sara Turing
Lord of Misrule
1996
as Shirley
Dennis the Menace and Gnasher
1996
as Mrs. Duffel
Silent Witness
1996
as Anne Parker
Dalziel and Pascoe
1996
as Edith Disney
An Awfully Big Adventure
1995
as Rose
The World of Lee Evans
1995
as Mother
Signs and Wonders
1995
as Elizabeth Palmore
Look at the State We're In!
1995
as Storyteller
Wolf
1994
as Maude Waggins
Second Best
1994
as Margery
Fair Game
1994
as Marjorie
The World of Peter Rabbit and Friends: The Tale of Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle and Mr. Jeremy Fisher
1994
as Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle (voice)
The Rector's Wife
1994
as Marjorie Richardson
Freddie As F.R.O.7.
1992
as Queen (voice)
Howards End
1992
as Aunt Juley
My Friend Walter
1992
as Aunt Ellie
A Question of Attribution
1991
as H.M.Q.
Dirty Beasts
1990
as Narrator
Revolting Rhymes
1990
as Narrator
The Tale of Little Pig Robinson
1990
as Fleecy Flock
A Chorus of Disapproval
1989
as Hannah Ap Llewellyn
Beyond The Pale
1989
as Milly
Bosses From Hell
1989
Communicators From Hell
1989
Screen One
1989
as H.M.Q.
Consuming Passions
1988
as Ethel
Natural Causes
1988
as Celia Bryce
Thompson
1988
After Henry
1988
as Sarah France
The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne
1987
as Moira O'Neill
What the Butler Saw
1987
as Mrs Prentice
When We Are Married
1987
as Annie Parker
Home Cooking
1986
as Judith
Casualty
1986
as Jocelyn Anderson
Unnatural Causes
1986
as Judith
ScreenPlay
1986
as Milly
Absurd Person Singular
1985
as Marion Brewster-Wright
Theatre Night
1985
as Mrs. Prentice
Mapp & Lucia
1985
as Miss Elizabeth Mapp
Slimming Down
1984
as Mrs. Shrigley
Weekend Playhouse
1984
as Olive Dodd
The Wicked Lady
1983
as Lady Kingsclere
Singles
1983
as Gail
Outside Edge
1982
as Miriam
The Merry Wives of Windsor
1982
as Mistress Page
S.W.A.L.K.
1982
as Patti
Bergerac
1981
as Gloria Gibbins
Never the Twain
1981
as Susan Peel
Doris and Doreen
1978
as Doris Rutter
The Boys from Brazil
1978
as Mrs. Harrington
The Hound of the Baskervilles
1978
as Glynis
An Audience with...
1978
as Self
The BBC Television Shakespeare
1978
as Mistress Page
Pickersgill People
1978
as Mavis Blackhead
The Achurch Letters
1977
as Florence Farr
Target
1977
as Diana Blake
Mr. Big
1977
as Dolly
The Littlest Horse Thieves
1976
as Mrs. Sandman
The Apple Cart
1975
as Queen Jemima
Fawlty Towers
1975
as Sybil Fawlty
Playhouse
1974
as Florence Farr
The Ring of Truth
1973
as Babs Pickard
Seven of One
1973
as Marion Joyce
Country Matters
1972
as Babs Pickard
Film '72
1971
as Self
Thirty-Minute Theatre
1965
as Marie
BBC Play of the Month
1965
as Queen Jemima
Waltz of the Toreadors
1962
as Estella Fitzjohn
Faces of Jim
1961
as Laura Morrell
Marriage Lines
1961
as Kate Starling
Room at the Top
1958
as Council Office Worker (uncredited)
Hobson's Choice
1954
as Vicky Hobson
What Every Woman Wants
1954
as Mary
The Crowded Day
1954
as Customer
Laxdale Hall
1953
as Morag McLeod
Pride and Prejudice
1952
as Lydia Bennet