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Fawlty Towers creator John Cleese paid a moving tribute to his co-star Prunella Scales, describing her as “absolutely perfect”. The beloved actress was widely known for her iconic role as Sybil Fawlty, the long-suffering wife of Basil Fawlty, played by Cleese. Her co-star Cleese paid tribute, calling her “a really wonderful comic actress” and adding: “Scene after scene she was absolutely perfect.” Cleese said in a statement: “How very sad. Pru was a really wonderful comic actress. I’ve recently been watching a number of clips of Fawlty Towers whilst researching a book. Scene after scene she was absolutely perfect.” He added: “She was a very sweet lady, who spent a lot of her life apologising. I used to tease her about it. I was very, very fond of her.” Downing Street passed on its condolences to Scales’s family, with Sir Keir Starmer’s official spokesperson saying: “Clearly Prunella Scales was part of a golden era for British comedy, someone whose talent was beamed into people’s homes over many years and gave many people a huge amount of enjoyment. “The prime minister, of course, passes all his condolences to her family.” Scales had been diagnosed with vascular dementia in 2013. She also played Queen Elizabeth II in Alan Bennett’s A Question of Attribution, a role which earned her a Bafta nomination, and in 1973, Scales teamed up with Ronnie Barker in the series Seven Of One, also for the BBC. Jon Petrie, director of comedy at the BBC, paid tribute, saying: “All of us at BBC Comedy are so sorry to hear of Prunella Scales’s passing. “She was a national treasure whose brilliance as Sybil Fawlty lit up screens and still makes us laugh today. We send our love and condolences to her family and friends.” Her husband Timothy West, who died in November 2024, starred in TV shows such as comedy drama Brass, sitcom Not Going Out and soaps Coronation Street and EastEnders. Together the couple filmed 10 series of the Channel 4 programme Great Canal Journeys, which saw them travel across the UK and other parts of the world exploring different waterways, and the couple also talked openly about Scales’s diagnosis. Their last journey for the programme was broadcast in June 2019. In 2023, the couple did a joint interview with BBC Breakfast where West spoke about first noticing signs of his wife’s illness while she was performing on stage at the Greenwich Theatre in 2001. Scales’s big career break was starring in the early 1960s sitcom Marriage Lines, and she also featured in many BBC Radio 4 sitcoms. Her diverse credits ranged from Long Day’s Journey Into Night on stage in the West End in 1991, which also starred West, to playing the widow Sarah in the gentle TV and radio comedy After Henry. She also appeared in films including 1987’s The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne and Consuming Passions, which also starred Dame Vanessa Redgrave and Sir Jonathan Pryce. Corinne Mills, interim chief executive at the Alzheimer’s Society, said: “We are deeply saddened by the news that Prunella Scales – a true British icon – has died. “Prunella was an inspiration not just for her achievements on screen, but because she spoke so openly about living with dementia, shining an important light on the UK’s biggest killer. “We are profoundly grateful for the awareness she helped to raise and send our heartfelt condolences to her loved ones.”
