PRUNELLA Scales has sadly died at the age of 93 after a decade-long battle with dementia.
The Fawlty Towers legend was diagnosed with vascular dementia in 2014, which saw the end of her stella acting career.
Before his death in 2024, the late Timothy West spoke of his wife’s diagnosis.
He told how he spent “a lot of time” reassuring Prunella, 91, when she was confused.
Timothy said at the time: “I miss Pru’s companionship as my best friend.
“She doesn’t have much awareness of time so when she joins me, her face lights up as if we’ve been apart for days.
“The look on her face makes me realise how much I love her.”
He added: “She seems to manage incredibly well with things, as I try to, but surely she must sometimes wonder whether she is going to be allowed to end her days in this house that has been so dear to us.
“Not recognising me hasn’t been a problem but it will come, I’m sure.”
He revealed he had consulted the couple’s GP about her memory a year before her diagnosis – but had been told not to worry.
Speaking to the BBC soon after the couple’s diamond wedding anniversary in 2023, Timothy said: “Somehow we have coped with it and Pru doesn’t really think about it.”
Timothy also told the Alzheimer’s Society in 2023 that he didn’t know much about the disease before Prunella’s diagnosis.
“I’m 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’s important to continue to live,” he explained.
“I appreciate that everyone’s experience of dementia can be different. I’m very sympathetic to anybody who has difficulty, either on their own or having to cope with relatives or friends with dementia.”
Prunella told The Times in September 2024 her memory was “less good” but added that not being able to work would make her “very depressed”.
She added: “If we’re out of work, we get very depressed. As one gets older, one’s memory and living from minute to minute changes, doesn’t it? You get less efficient.”
The couple’s son Sam revealed in October 2024 Prunella was “fine” and “enjoying a cruise”.
He added: “I’m not sure if she knew where she was but she enjoyed getting there.”
The actress was best known for playing Sybil Fawlty, the stern wife of John Cleese’s Basil Fawlty in classic Seventies sitcom Fawlty Towers.
The show ran for two series of six episodes each in 1975 and 1979 and is considered one of the best British comedy series ever made.
She appeared in soap Coronation Street between January and February 1961 as bus conductress Eileen Hughes.
And played Queen Victoria more than 400 times in a play written for her by Katrina Hendrey in 1979.
And as recently as August 2024 she reprised the role again aged 92 to provide voice over for the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.
The production, Queen, saw Prunella voice an 81-year-old Victoria, reading out her letters.
Julian Machin, a stage manager on the original production, said Prunella’s acting was impressive even despite her dementia.
He told The Telegraph: “Although Prunella has vascular dementia, which greatly affects her in many ways, she absolutely retains longer-term memory of herself and her working experience.”
Prunella sees recording machinery and “just goes into it,” he revealed in another interview with The Guardian, adding: “It just took her back into herself. It was quite astonishing.”
Asked in September 2024 if she liked playing royals, Prunella told The Times: “I don’t. When you say ‘like playing queens’ there aren’t any queens that I want to play.
“But the queens I have played have all been interesting people with interesting jobs and interesting lives.
“And that’s why I like playing them. I don’t like playing queens as such.”
In later life, between 2014 and 2019, Prunella filmed Great Canal Journeys, a Channel 4 series celebrating their love of narrow boating.
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