Prunella Scales and Timothy West shared one of Britain’s most enduring love stories — a partnership that spanned six decades of devotion, art, and quiet strength. The Fawlty Towers icon passed away at the age of 93, just months after losing her beloved husband Timothy in November 2024.
Their sons confirmed that Prunella “died peacefully at home in London” surrounded by love, adding that she had spent her final day rewatching Fawlty Towers. “Although dementia forced her retirement from a remarkable acting career of nearly 70 years, she continued to live at home,” they said. “Her last days were comfortable, contented and surrounded by love.”
Prunella and Timothy married in 1963 in a low-key ceremony at Chelsea Registry Office. She wore a smart tailored coat, black gloves and heels instead of a traditional white gown — a reflection of their understated style. Four decades later, she confessed her only regret was not marrying in a church. To make it right, they renewed their vows in 2003 in front of their children, reaffirming the love that had never dimmed.
Both achieved remarkable careers — Timothy starred in Dad’s Army, Coronation Street and Gentleman Jack, while Prunella became a household name as Sybil Fawlty. Yet for both, fame was secondary to companionship. “I think I’m a very lucky lady,” she once told The Times. “I’m married to a very interesting person, and I love him very much. If I had an unhappy marriage, I’d be a completely different person.”
When Prunella’s memory began to fade, Timothy became her anchor. By 2014, the couple’s journey with Alzheimer’s became public, but they faced it with grace, continuing to film Great Canal Journeys for Channel 4 — a series that became a love letter to their marriage. Even as her illness progressed, Prunella said tenderly, “I have got to know him better and better and better.”
Timothy, ever the devoted husband, admitted the heartbreak of watching her slip away. “You just watch the gradual disappearance of the person you knew and loved,” he said quietly. “But there’s still a lot of her left. We still enjoy life — there are many things we can still do together.”
Their son, actor Samuel West, has often said that his parents taught him what real love looks like — not just the romantic kind, but the patient, enduring kind that holds steady when memory fades and words are lost.
Now reunited in rest, Prunella and Timothy leave behind not just performances that defined an era, but a story of love that defied time itself.
