Fawlty Towers actress, Prunella Scales, sadly passed away aged 93 on 28 October after a decade-long battle with dementia. During this time, she was cared for by her husband and fellow actor, Timothy West, before his own passing in November 2024. The couple were married for 61 years after initially meeting one another on the set of a BBC drama. During that time, they welcomed two sons, starred alongside each other, cared for each other in retirement and kept alive an utterly romantic relationship ritual.
Prunella and Timothy's love story
The two actors first met on the set of the period TV drama, She Died Young, back in 1961. They quickly took a liking to one another with Timothy explaining back in 2023 that when he and Prunella weren't filming scenes for the show, they would spend their time off playing crosswords and writing letters to each other.
"Pru and I had certain amounts of time off," the star said, speaking on Loose Women. "We spent a lot of time doing crosswords and writing letters to each other. This is something that has gone on all our lives. We love writing letters about something that the other person might have missed or not quite understood. We would make each other laugh and make each other find out about things."
After two years of letter-writing and getting to know one another, the thespians got married in 1963 – opting for a lowkey celebration at the Chelsea Registry Office in London. Years later, a picture from the special day was shared online and showed the couple dressed smartly for the affair.
© Ron Stilling/ANL/ShutterstockPrunella swapped the traditional bridal white gown for an ultra-chic tailored houndstooth coat with black gloves, black bag and black heels. The actress polished off the seriously chic look with a fur hat and her hair perfectly coiffed. Timothy, meanwhile, opted for a simple smart suit with a plain black tie and white shirt for the big day. Just three years later, British style icon, Pattie Boyd, would take notes and also shun the traditional bridal gown in favour of a fur coat for her 1966 registry office wedding to George Harrison.
The couple's acting careers continued to crossover, including when they jointly presented Great Canal Journeys together. Beginning in 2014 and finishing in 2021, the programme aired for 13 seasons and followed Prunella and Timothy through some of the world's most picturesque canals. Prunella's dementia diagnosis coincided with the beginning of the series, but the actress continued to appear despite her symptoms progressing. "She can't remember things very well, but you don't have to remember things on the canal. You can just enjoy things as they happen — so it's perfect for her," Timothy said on the show.
Prunella and Timothy's family life
Shortly after their 1963 wedding, Prunella and Timothy's career trajectories both skyrocketed with Prunella originating the role of Sybil in Fawlty Towers in 1975. During this time, the couple welcomed two children, Samuel and Joseph. "I am famous for playing unfortunate wives, but I have been a very lucky wife – it will be 50 years of marriage next year," she later recalled in an interview with The Guardian.
© Mirrorpix, Getty"Tim was brilliant when I was in labour… Sam, our elder son, popped out, and Tim said, 'very good, no retakes', and I laughed so much that I had to have stitches." Their son, Samuel West, followed in his famous family's footsteps becoming an acclaimed actor just like his parents. He is best known for his role in Channel 5's All Creatures Great and Small as well as parts in Slow Horses, The Crown, and Mr Selfridge.
© Radio Times via Getty Images1. Love letters
One of the traits which first made Prunella fall in love with Timothy West was his letter writing: ''He writes lovely letters. Marvellous letters. And when we were first together, that was one of the things that fascinated me about him.'' Timothy said they would write to each other in the early stages of their relationship, sometimes two or three times a day.
2. Christening a cruise
In 2005, Prunella named a luxury P&O cruise ship, Artemis, and became its godmother.
3. Cambridge worthy
When Prunella was accepted into Bristol Old Vic Theatre School to pursue her love of acting, her headmistress wrote to the director of the school and said: ''Are you sure this girl should be an actress? We wanted her to try for Cambridge.'' Luckily, the director didn’t change his mind!
4. Spoken word
As an established actress, Prunella spoke passionately about her love of the spoken word and once revealed she even encouraged schoolchildren to read Pride and Prejudice aloud: ''The text came alive, and you saw an irony in the writing that you simply couldn’t see on the page.''
5. Dotty's days at Tesco
One of Prunella's acting roles was as the character Dotty in a series of adverts for the supermarket chain Tesco from 1995 to 2004. Dotty was a demanding, eccentric character who always put Tesco store initiatives to the test, and her daughter Kate was played by Jane Horrocks (Absolutely Fabulous).
The couple's younger son, Joseph, did not follow suit with an acting career but he did join his famous parents on their programme, Great Canal Journeys a handful of times. Joseph is now a teacher, having always wanted to pursue a career in the profession. After achieving a first-class degree in French at Manchester University, he married a French lector and settled down in France.
© Getty ImagesPrunella previously said of the pair: "I'm very proud and happy that they are teachers as we need good teachers. They have three children who speak very good English but it's a little bit posh, actor's English – I think they'll have to modify it if they work over here. I love being a grandmother."
© Dave Benett/Getty ImagesTimothy is also a father to Juliet, whom he shares with actress Jacqueline Boyer. Juliet is a hairdresser and worked on her step-mum's hair for Great Canal Journeys. Samuel told The Times about her appearance on the programme: "Juliet was amazing on the series. There are clips of her talking and she's by far the most natural and funny of all of them. She spent a wonderful time on it and saw a lot of my dad. And her daughter and her daughter's partner and their children until very recently lived in the flat below my parents' house," he added.
