In Pictures: Prunella Scales was an actress, campaigner and documentary maker

Prunella Scales began working as an actress in 1951 but was still performing as dementia took its hold alongside husband Timothy West during their popular travel series Great Canal Journeys.

With West often at the helm of the vessel, Scales and her husband would explore the places they visited while she assisted him with tasks such as operating locks as well as musing on life, sometimes acknowledging that her intellectual powers were slowly being dimmed.

For many, her career-defining role was that of Sybil Fawlty, the wife of hotel owner Basil Fawlty, whose less-than-exemplary customer service would often attract fervent and ferocious responses from his spouse.

But Scales had been treading the boards for a quarter of a century with distinction before her role as the wife of a Torquay hotel manager made her a household name.

Prunella Scales – who played Sybil in Fawlty Towers – enjoys a drink to celebrate the £1 million relaunch of Hotel Gleneagles in Torquay which was believed to have inspired the series (Barry Batchelor/PA) (PA Archive)

Prunella Scales, John Cleese, Connie Booth (centre) and Andrew Sachs (right) are seen promoting two Fawlty Towers specials created to commemorate the 30 years Fawlty Towers anniversary (Ian West/PA) (PA Archive)

Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II greets actress Prunella Scales during a reception at St James Palace, London, for the Campaign to Protect Rural England (Chris Young/PA) (PA Archive)

Then London transport minister Glenda Jackson (right) with actress Prunella Scales outside a shut-down community hall in Norwood, south-east London (Fiona Hanson/PA) (PA Archive)

Scales was a passionate campaigner, a political woman who promoted the environment and did what she could to make the arts accessible to all.

Prunella Scales and Richard Briers do some billposting in Rupert Street in the Save Piccadilly campaign (Archive/PA) (PA Archive)

Sybil Fawlty actress Prunella Scales waves as she arrives in a red Austin 1100 outside the Hotel Gleneagles in Torquay (Barry Batchelor/PA) (PA Archive)

Sir Ian McKellen (left), Prunella Scales and her husband Timothy West during a reception for the Rose Theatre (Ian West/PA) (PA Archive)

Film director John Schlesinger with Bafta awards host Michael Aspel and Bafta nominees Alan Bates, Alan Rickman, Prunella Scales, Haydn Gwynne, Patricia Routledge and Lindsay Duncan (PA) (PA Archive)

(l to r) Barry Jackson (as Petey); Steven Pacey (Stanley) and Prunella Scales (Meg) sample domestic bliss during rehearsal’s for Harold Pinter’s play The Birthday Party (Sean Dempsey/PA) (PA Archive)

Prunella Scales and Timothy West (left) at the Guildhall, London, during celebrations to mark the bicentenary of the birth of Charles Dickens (Geoff Pugh/Daily Telegraph/PA) (PA Archive)

Scales and West had two sons but their venture into the world of travel documentaries proved a big hit with viewers.

The two explored Britain’s canals, later expanding their horizons to travel abroad, sampling the cultural, culinary and other attractions of the places while meandering along the waterways.

Their affection for each other moved viewers, although Scales wore her declining health lightly as she continued to enjoy her times with her husband.

Prunella Scales and Timothy West arrive at St George’s Chapel, for the blessing of the marriage of the then prince of Wales to the then Duchess of Cornwall (Fiona Hanson/PA) (PA Archive)

Actors Sam West, his father Timothy West and his mother Prunella Scales during a photocall in London to launch BBC Radio 3’s four-year project of Shakespeare broadcasts (Michael Crabtree/PA) (PA Archive)

Timothy West and Prunella Scales attending the gala opening of the new London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art centre, London (Ian West/PA) (PA Archive)