Editing Prunella Scales (section)

==Career==
===Early works and career break===
Scales started her career in 1951 as an assistant stage manager at the [[Bristol Old Vic]], but has stated that she has always wanted to be an actor.<ref>{{cite book|last=Ransom|first=Teresa|title=Prunella: The Authorised Biography of Prunella Scales|publisher=John Murray|year=2005|isbn=9780719556975|location=London, UK|page=237}}</ref> Throughout her career, she has often been cast in comic roles. Her early work included the (now believed to be lost) [[Jane Austen in popular culture#Pride and Prejudice (1813)|second UK adaptation]] of ''[[Pride and Prejudice]]'' (1952), ''[[Laxdale Hall]]'' (1953), ''[[Hobson's Choice (1954 film)|Hobson's Choice]]'' (1954), ''[[The Matchmaker]]'' on [[Broadway theatre|Broadway]] (1955), ''[[Room at the Top (1959 film)|Room at the Top]]'' (1959) and ''[[Waltz of the Toreadors (film)|Waltz of the Toreadors]]'' (1962).

Her career break came with the early 1960s sitcom ''[[Marriage Lines]]'' starring opposite [[Richard Briers]]. She played her most famous role, Sybil Fawlty in the sitcom ''[[Fawlty Towers]]'', over two series in 1975 and 1979. In addition to this, she has had roles in [[BBC Radio 4]] [[sitcom]]s, and comedy series including ''[[After Henry (radio series)|After Henry]]'', ''[[Smelling of Roses]]'' and ''[[Ladies of Letters]]''; on television she starred in the [[London Weekend Television]]/[[Channel 4]] series ''[[Mapp & Lucia (1985 TV series)|Mapp & Lucia]]'' based on the novels by [[E. F. Benson]]. 

In 1973, Scales was cast with [[Ronnie Barker]] in ''One Man's Meat'' which formed part of Barker's ''[[Seven of One]]'' series, also for the BBC. Her later film appearances include ''[[Escape from the Dark]]'' (1976), ''[[The Hound of the Baskervilles (1978 film)|The Hound of the Baskervilles]]'' (1978), ''[[The Boys from Brazil (film)|The Boys From Brazil]]'' (1978), ''[[The Wicked Lady (1983 film)|The Wicked Lady]]'' (1983), ''[[The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne]]'' (1987), ''[[Consuming Passions]]'' (1988), ''[[A Chorus of Disapproval (film)|A Chorus of Disapproval]]'' (1989), ''[[Howards End (film)|Howards End]]'' (1992), ''[[Wolf (1994 film)|Wolf]]'' (1994), ''[[An Awfully Big Adventure]]'' (1995) and ''[[Stiff Upper Lips]]'' (1997). For the [[BBC Television Shakespeare]] production of ''[[The Merry Wives of Windsor]]'' (1982) she played Mistress Page and in the ''[[Theatre Night]]'' series (BBC) she appeared with her husband [[Timothy West]] in the [[Joe Orton]] farce ''[[What the Butler Saw (play)|What the Butler Saw]]'' (1987) playing Mrs Prentice.

===1990s and onwards===
For 10 years,<ref>{{cite web|title=Ad hoc: Tesco thinks again as Dotty takes her leave|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/2891065/Ad-hoc-Tesco-thinks-again-as-Dotty-takes-her-leave.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220112/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/2891065/Ad-hoc-Tesco-thinks-again-as-Dotty-takes-her-leave.html |archive-date=12 January 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|access-date=9 January 2021|website=The Telegraph|date=27 July 2004 }}{{cbignore}}</ref> Scales appeared as "Dotty" Turnbull, together with [[Jane Horrocks]] as her character's daughter, Kate Neall, in advertisements for UK supermarket chain [[Tesco]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Tesco to resurrect 'Dotty' concept in major Christmas TV ad campaign|url=https://www.campaignlive.co.uk/article/tesco-resurrect-dotty-concept-major-christmas-tv-ad-campaign/1367487|access-date=9 January 2021|website=www.campaignlive.co.uk}}</ref> She played [[Queen Elizabeth II]] in [[Alan Bennett]]'s ''[[A Question of Attribution]]'' (1991).<ref name="bbcamerica.com">{{cite web |url=http://www.bbcamerica.com/shows//blog/2012/06/happy-80th-birthday-prunella-scales |title=Happy 80th Birthday, Prunella Scales! – Anglophenia – BBC America |work=BBC America}}</ref>In 1996, Scales starred in the television film ''Lord of Misrule'', alongside [[Richard Wilson (Scottish actor)|Richard Wilson]], [[Emily Mortimer]] and [[Stephen Moyer]]. The film was directed by Guy Jenkins and filming took place in [[Fowey]] in [[Cornwall]]. The same year, she appeared as [[Miss Bates]] in ''[[Emma (1996 TV film)|Emma]]'', a TV-movie adaptation of [[Jane Austen]]'s [[Emma (novel)|novel of the same name]]. In 1997, Scales starred in Chris Barfoot's [[science-fiction]] film [[Short film|short]] ''Phoenix'' which was first aired in 1999 by [[NBCUniversal]]'s [[Sci-Fi Channel]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.spike.com/video-clips/kph5ki/phoenix |title=Phoenix |work=SPIKE |year=2015 |access-date=21 July 2015}}</ref> Scales played The Client, an evil government minister funding inter-genetic time travel experiments. The same year, she played Minny Stinkler in the comedy film ''Mad Cows'', directed by [[Sara Sugarman]]. In 1993, Scales voiced Mrs Tiggy-Winkle in ''[[The World of Peter Rabbit and Friends]]''.

In 2000, Scales appeared in the film ''The Ghost of Greville Lodge'' as Sarah. The same year, she appeared as Eleanor Bunsall in ''[[Midsomer Murders]]''{{'}} "Beyond the Grave". In 2001, she appeared in two episodes of ''[[Silent Witness]]''{{'}} "Faith" as Mrs Parker. In 2003, she appeared as Hilda, "she who must be obeyed", wife of [[Rumpole of the Bailey|Horace Rumpole]], in four BBC Radio 4 plays, with Timothy West playing her fictional husband. Scales and West toured Australia at the same time in different productions. Scales appeared in a one-woman show called ''An Evening with [[Queen Victoria]]'', which also featured the tenor [[Ian Partridge]] singing songs written by [[Albert, Prince Consort|Prince Albert]]. Scales has performed ''An Evening with Queen Victoria'' more than 400 times, in theatres around the world, over the course of 30 years.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ianpartridge.co.uk/victoria.html|title=An Evening with Queen Victoria|website=www.ianpartridge.co.uk}}</ref>

Scales voiced the speaking ("cawing") role of Magpie, the eponymous thief in a 2003 recording of [[Gioachino Rossini]]'s opera ''[[La gazza ladra]]'' (''The Thieving Magpie'').

In 2006, Scales appeared alongside [[Academy Award]] winners [[Vanessa Redgrave]] and [[Maximilian Schell]] in the mini-series ''[[The Shell Seekers (2006 film)|The Shell Seekers]]''.

===Later years===
On 16 November 2007, Scales appeared in ''[[Children in Need]]'', reprising her role as [[Sybil Fawlty]], the new manager who wants to take over [[Hotel Babylon (BBC series)|Hotel Babylon]]. [[John Cleese]] said in an interview on 8 May 2009 that the role of Sybil Fawlty was originally offered to [[Bridget Turner]], who turned down the part, claiming "it wasn't right for her".{{cn|date=July 2024}}

Scales appeared in the audio play ''The Youth of Old Age'', produced in 2008 by the [[Wireless Theatre Company]], and available to download free of charge on their website.<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.wirelesstheatrecompany.co.uk/product/the-youth-of-old-age/ |title=The Youth of Old Age |work=Wireless Theatre Company |year=2015 |access-date=21 July 2015}}</ref> In 2008, she appeared in ''[[Agatha Christie]]'s [[Miss Marple]]'' "[[A Pocket Full of Rye]]" as Mrs Mackenzie.

Scales appeared in a production of ''[[Carrie's War]]'', the [[Nina Bawden]] novel, at the [[West End theatre|West End]] [[Apollo Theatre]] in 2009.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://officiallondontheatre.com/news/scales-joins-carries-war-in-west-end-104621/ |title=Scales joins Carrie's War in West End|date=6 March 2009|publisher=OfficialLondonTheatre.com|access-date=31 October 2017}}</ref> The run was successful despite middling reviews. However, Ben Bradley, writing for ''[[The New York Times]]'' Arts & Beats, stated that Scales was the most memorable thing about the show, "[playing] a rich, Miss Havisham-like eccentric, who trails through her house in evening gowns".<ref>{{cite web | url=https://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/07/08/postcard-from-london-pipsqueaking-at-peter-pan/ | title=Postcard from London: Pipsqueaking at 'Peter Pan' | date=8 July 2009 }}</ref>

Scales starred in the 2011 British live-action [[3D film|3D]] family comedy film ''[[Horrid Henry: The Movie]]'' as the titular character's Great Aunt Greta.<ref name="bbcamerica.com"/> She appeared in a short audio story, ''Dandruff Hits the Turtleneck'', written by John Mayfield, and available for download.<ref>{{cite book |url=http://www.audible.com/pd/Fiction/Dandruff-Hits-The-Turtleneck-Audiobook/B004LNS5H2 |title=Dandruff Hits The Turtleneck Audiobook |via=audible.com |year=2015 |access-date=21 July 2015}}</ref> Scales starred in a short film called "Stranger Danger" alongside Roderick Cowie in 2012.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.strangerdangershort.co.uk/?page_id=2 |title=Credits |work=Strangerdangershort.co.uk |year=2015 |access-date=21 July 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304070643/http://www.strangerdangershort.co.uk/?page_id=2 |archive-date=4 March 2016 |url-status=dead }}</ref> In 2013 she made a guest appearance in the popular BBC radio comedy ''[[Cabin Pressure (radio series)|Cabin Pressure]]'' as Wendy Crieff, the mother of Captain Martin Crieff.

{{Multiple image
| direction         = horizontal
| image1            = Timothy West in 2010.JPG
| total_width       = 400
| caption1          = Scales's husband, actor [[Timothy West]], and she travelled together on [[narrowboats]] for the documentary series ''[[Great Canal Journeys]]''.
| image2            = Samuel West at the London Film Festival screening of Hyde Park on Hudson, October 2012.jpg
| caption2          = Actor [[Samuel West]], Scales and Timothy West's son, played [[Siegfried Farnon]] in the 2020 remake of the veterinary drama series ''[[All Creatures Great and Small (2020 TV series)|All Creatures Great and Small]]''.
}}

Alongside her husband, Scales appeared in ''[[Great Canal Journeys]]'' for Channel 4 from 2014 for 10 series, before her deteriorating health brought her television career to an end. Stuart Heritage, writing for ''[[The Guardian]]'' in November 2016, commented that it "is ultimately a work about a devoted couple facing something huge together. It's a beautiful, meditative programme".<ref>{{cite news|last=Heritage|first=Stuart|url=https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2016/nov/07/great-canal-journeys-prunella-scales-timothy-west|title='It's like glimpsing an old couple holding hands': why I adore Great Canal Journeys|work=The Guardian|date=7 November 2016|access-date=4 December 2016}}</ref> "An emotional but unrooted glimpse of life with dementia" was Christopher Howse's characterization in October 2018, writing for ''[[The Daily Telegraph|The Telegraph]]''.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/tv/2018/10/07/great-canal-journeys-series-9-episode-1-review-emotional-unrooted/ |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220112/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/tv/2018/10/07/great-canal-journeys-series-9-episode-1-review-emotional-unrooted/ |archive-date=12 January 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|title=Great Canal Journeys series 9 episode 1 review: an emotional but unrooted glimpse of life with dementia|first=Christopher|last=Howse|newspaper=The Telegraph |date=7 October 2018|via=www.telegraph.co.uk}}{{cbignore}}</ref> Reviewing Scales's and West's last episode in October 2019 for ''The Guardian'', Jack Seale wrote "Since the first instalment in 2014, the series has charted the long, slow goodbye that is living with dementia, cherishing every moment of precious normality and celebrating how an immersion in nature is the surest way to bring the old Pru back."<ref>{{cite news|date=21 October 2019|title=Great Canal Journeys: how a bittersweet boating show captured viewers' hearts|url=http://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2019/oct/21/great-canal-journeys-timothy-west-prunella-scales-narrowboat|access-date=9 January 2021|newspaper=The Guardian}}</ref>