Fawlty Towers star Prunella Scales has died aged 93 after a years-long battle with dementia.

The celebrated actress was best-known for her role as the bossy Sybil Fawlty – wife of John Cleese‘s Basil – in BBC comedy Fawlty Towers.

Although the programme ran for just 12 episodes across two seasons, Prunella’s performance cemented her status as a household name.

Her death comes just under a year after her husband, the legendary actor Timothy West passed away aged 90.

As seen on their TV programme Great Canal Journeys, Prunella endeared themselves to millions of fans with her stoicism in the face of her illness, which she was diagnosed with in 2013 after years of symptoms.

It was in 2001 that Timothy first noticed signs of his wife’s condition, when he saw her perform in a play and realised she was ‘not completely in character’.

Timothy movingly told in his 2023 memoir: ‘One thought in particular almost floored me: what if it’s Alzheimer’s?’

Besides her most famous role, Prunella had parts in hundreds of television, theatre, film and radio productions.