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

Although her most famous role was Sybil Fawlty, she charmed many with travelogues detailing her canal journeys with actor and husband Timothy West.

Prunella Scales (Yui Mok/PA) (PA Archive)

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.

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

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.