
Prunella Scales
Actor · 1932 – 2025 · Sutton Abinger, Surrey, England, UK
Prunella Margaret Rumney West Scales CBE (née Illingworth; 22 June 1932) was an English former actor, best known for playing Sybil Fawlty, wife of Basil Fawlty (John Cleese), in the BBC comedy Fawlty Towers; for her portrayal of Queen Elizabeth II in A Question of Attribution (Screen One, BBC 1991) by Alan Bennett (for which she was nominated for a BAFTA award); and for the documentary series Great Canal Journeys (2014–2021), in which she travels on canal barges and narrowboats with her husband, fellow actor Timothy West.
Series24
TV7.5CrimeDramaThe peacefulness of the Midsomer community is shattered by violent crimes, suspects are placed under suspicion, and it is up to a veteran DCI and his young sergeant to calmly and diligently eliminate the innocent and ruthlessly pursue the guilty.
Midsomer Murders
1997 · 374 votes
TV6.2DramaSoapDrama series about the staff and patients at Holby City Hospital's emergency department, charting the ups and downs in their personal and professional lives.
Casualty
1986 · 88 votes
TV3.4Talk ShowA panel of four women discuss topical issues, ranging from daily politics and current affairs to celebrity gossip.
Loose Women
1999 · 19 votes
TV7.6CrimeDramaA team of exceptional forensic pathologists and scientists investigate heinous crimes and use their skills to catch the people responsible.
Silent Witness
1996 · 113 votes
TV6.0DramaComedyThe BBC Television Shakespeare is a series of British television adaptations of the plays of William Shakespeare, created by Cedric Messina and produced by BBC Television. It was transmitted in the UK from 3 December 1978 to 27 April 1985 and spanned seven series. Development of the series began in 1975 when Messina saw that Glamis Castle would make a perfect location for an adaptation of Shakespeare's play As You Like It. On returning to London, he envisioned an entire series devoted exclusively to the dramatic works of Shakespeare. After encountering numerous problems trying to produce the series, Messina eventually pitched the idea to the BBC’s departmental heads and the series was greenlighted. The series as a whole received generally negative reviews from critics.
The BBC Television Shakespeare
1978 · 6 votes
TV5.2DramaA BBC television anthology series featuring productions of classic and contemporary stage plays usually broadcast on BBC1. Each production featured a different work, often using prominent British stage actors in the leading roles. The series was transmitted from October 1965 to September 1983.
BBC Play of the Month
1965 · 8 votes
TV7.8DramaCrimeThe adventures of Miss Jane Marple, an elderly spinster living in the quiet little village of St Mary Mead. During her many visits to friends and relatives in other villages, Miss Marple often stumbles upon mysterious murders which she helps solve. Although the police are sometimes reluctant to accept Miss Marple's help, her reputation and unparalleled powers of observation eventually win them over.
Agatha Christie's Marple
2004 · 149 votes
TV5.3Talk ShowAn Audience with... is a British entertainment television show produced by London Weekend Television, in which a host, usually a singer or comedian, performs for an invited audience of celebrity guests, interspersed with questions from the audience, in a light hearted revue/tribute style.
An Audience with...
1978 · 3 votes
TV7.0DramaJim Bergerac is a detective sergeant in The Foreigners Office who likes to do things his own way. While dealing with his own personal demons Bergerac has a knack of finding trouble, and sometimes causing it.
Bergerac
1981 · 25 votes
TV7.0DramaA one-hour anthology television series of one-off contemporary and classic dramas produced by the BBC.
Playhouse
1974 · 1 votes
- TV5.1
The BBC's flagship cinema review TV program featuring reviews of new releases, news items and interviews. The title of the program changes each year to incorporate the year of broadcast.
Film '72
1971 · 8 votes
TV6.4MysteryCrimeIn the fictional Yorkshire town of Wetherton, the unlikely duo of politically incorrect elephant-in-a-China-shop-copper DS Andrew Dalziel (pronounced Dee-ell) and his more sensitive and university educated sidekick DS, later DI, Peter Pascoe is always on hand to solve the classic murder mystery, while maintaining down-to-Earth wit and humour.
Dalziel and Pascoe
1996 · 28 votes
TV4.3DramaAn anthology of short plays shown on BBC Television between 1965 and 1973, used in part at least as a training ground for new writers, on account of its short length, and which therefore attracted many writers who later became well known.
Thirty-Minute Theatre
1965 · 8 votes
TV6.0DramaScreenplay was a drama anthology television series, broadcast on BBC between 1986 and 1993. Numerous episodes were produced including one named "Boswell and Johnson's Tour of the Western Islands" starring Robbie Coltrane as English writer Samuel Johnson who in the autumn of 1773, visits the Hebrides off the north-west coast of Scotland. That episode was directed by John Byrne and co-starred John Sessions and Celia Imrie.
ScreenPlay
1986 · 2 votes
TV8.3ComedyOwner Basil Fawlty, his wife Sybil, a chambermaid Polly, and Spanish waiter Manuel attempt to run their hotel amidst farcical situations and an array of demanding guests.
Fawlty Towers
1975 · 846 votes
TV7.2DramaAnthology drama series.
Screen One
1989 · 5 votes
TV7.0DramaCrimeA crime drama set in Southampton following a team of detectives and the cases they solve.
Target
1977 · 4 votes
TV6.3MysteryCrimeAn anthology of seven psychological dramas, each with a different cast and crew, exploring deaths in unusual circumstances.
Unnatural Causes
1986 · 3 votes
TV7.0ComedyNever the Twain is a British sitcom that ran for eleven series from 7 September 1981 to 9 October 1991. It was created by Johnnie Mortimer, and was the only sitcom he ever created without his usual writing partner, Brian Cooke. Mortimer wrote the entirety of the first two series and four episodes out of six of the eighth, with the rest being mainly written by Vince Powell and John Kane. It starred Windsor Davies and Donald Sinden as rival antique dealers, and also starred Derek Deadman, Zara Nutley, Robin Kermode, Tacy Kneale, Julia Watson, Honor Blackman, Teddy Turner and Maria Charles. The title is taken from the Rudyard Kipling poem; The Ballad of East and West.
Never the Twain
1981 · 11 votes
TV6.3AnimationDennis and Gnasher is an animated British TV series based on characters from The Beano comic, It features the daily adventures of the rebellious schoolboy Dennis the Menace and his dog Gnasher.
Dennis the Menace and Gnasher
1996 · 20 votes
TV6.7ComedyAfter Henry is a British sitcom written by Simon Brett, and starring Prunella Scales and Joan Sanderson. Originating as a radio programme on BBC Radio 4 from 1985 to 1989, it was adapted for television by Thames Television. Sarah is the 42-year-old widow of GP Henry France. She lives in an often volatile family situation with her elderly mother Eleanor Prescott, and her daughter, 18-year-old Clare, with both of whom she shares a house. Following Henry's death, the family have to find a way to cope with each other as best they can. The BBC was initially hesitant to produce a series but after three successful runs on BBC Radio 4, it was commissioned for the small screen. The series was surprisingly popular, attracting over 14 million viewers. Four seasons were made, with the last transmitted after the death of Sanderson, who died on 24 May 1992.
After Henry
1988 · 6 votes
- TVComedy
An anthology of half-hour standalone situation comedies starring British comedian Jimmy Edwards in various roles alongside guest stars.
Faces of Jim
1961
TV6.3ComedyMapp & Lucia is a British television comedy, based on E. F. Benson's novels, beginning with the eponymous 1931 entry for series 1, with Lucia's Progress and Trouble for Lucia for series 2. Mrs Emmeline Lucas (nicknamed Lucia) has just moved to the small English town of Tilling where she comes into conflict with the social ambitions of Miss Elizabeth Mapp. Until now, Miss Mapp has led (and controlled) the social life of Tilling, but that was before they met Lucia.
Mapp & Lucia
1985 · 8 votes
TV4.6DramaAn anthology series adapted from plays and short stories by A.E Coppard and H.E. Bates, depicting English country life and rural romance at the turn of the 20th-century. It presents unsentimental stories of human relationships and raw emotions – heartfelt passions, crippling frustrations, unspoken love and destructive jealousy.
Country Matters
1972 · 5 votes
Movies23
Movie6.1HorrorDramaAn aging publisher becomes a demon wolf and, with this newfound youthful vigor, fights to keep his job.
Wolf
1994 · 1K votes
Movie7.0DramaRomanceA saga of class relations and changing times in an Edwardian England on the brink of modernity, the film centers on liberal Margaret Schlegel, who, along with her sister Helen, becomes involved with two couples: wealthy, conservative industrialist Henry Wilcox and his wife Ruth, and the downwardly mobile working-class Leonard Bast and his mistress Jackie.
Howards End
1992 · 610 votes
Movie6.7DramaMysteryNazi hunter Ezra Lieberman discovers a sinister and bizarre plot, masterminded by Dr. Josef Mengele, to rekindle the Third Reich.
The Boys from Brazil
1978 · 465 votes
Movie6.6ComedyDramaEmma Woodhouse is a congenial young lady who delights in meddling in other people’s affairs. She is perpetually trying to unite men and women who are utterly wrong for each other. Despite her interest in romance, Emma is clueless about her own feelings, and her relationship with gentle Mr. Knightley.
Emma
1996 · 142 votes
Movie6.8DramaFamilyThe difficult relationship between a british postal officer and his adoptive son.
Second Best
1994 · 41 votes
Movie6.9DramaRomanceAn ambitious young accountant schemes to wed a wealthy factory owner's daughter, despite falling in love with a married older woman.
Room at the Top
1958 · 147 votes
Movie5.2AnimationAdventureFrederick is a young medieval French prince with magical powers, turned into a frog by his evil sorceress aunt, who kills his father in a bid to seize the throne. After being pursued by his aunt, the prince is saved by the Loch Ness Monster, who indebts herself to him, and hides out with a colony of anthropomorphic frogs for a time. After ultimately deciding to accept his fate and fight evil using his powers, Freddie grows to the size of an adult human, travels to the future, and becomes a French secret agent with a sentient car.
Freddie As F.R.O.7.
1992 · 35 votes
Movie5.2FamilyComedyWhen Henry fails yet again to hand in his homework for the umpteenth time, he has no idea that this will set off a chain of events which will see him forming an unlikely alliance with Moody Margaret, the infuriating girl next door, and his irritating little brother Perfect Peter, outwitting corrupt school Inspectors and toppling an evil Headmaster, winning a talent contest and facing his ultimate nemesis with no way out.
Horrid Henry: The Movie
2011 · 99 votes
Movie8.0DocumentaryTV MovieDocumentary charting and celebrating five decades of often groundbreaking, boundary-pushing comedy from BBC Two.
50 Years of BBC Two Comedy
2014 · 3 votes
Movie4.4ComedyJohn Smith has been happily involved in a bigamous marriage for five years. He lives with Stephanie in Finsbury and Michelle in Stockwell. Fortunately, for John, he's a taxi driver which involves varying shift work! Simple? Well, when John unwittingly becomes a have-a-go hero and the Finsbury and Stockwell police forces discover something suspicious in their paperwork, John's happy bubble is about to be burst. The action of the movie takes place during the next hectic 24 hours as John, with the assistance of his gullible neighbor Gary, rush between North and South London attempting to thwart the police and prevent the two loving wives coming face to face!
Run For Your Wife
2012 · 11 votes
Movie6.5RomanceDramaLiverpool. 1947. Right after World War II, a star struck naive teenage girl joins a shabby theatre troupe in Liverpool. During a winter production of Peter Pan, the play quickly turns into a dark metaphor for youth as she becomes drawn into a web of sexual politics and intrigue and learns about the grown-up world of the theater.
An Awfully Big Adventure
1995 · 72 votes
Movie4.9DramaAdventureCaroline is to be wed to Sir Ralph and invites her sister Barbara to be her bridesmaid. Barbara seduces Ralph, however, and she becomes the new Lady, but despite her new wealthy situation, she gets bored and turns to highway robbery for thrills. While on the road she meets a famous highwayman, and they continue as a team, but some people begin suspecting her identity, and she risks death if she continues her nefarious activities.
The Wicked Lady
1983 · 26 votes
Movie7.4ComedyDramaA widower refuses to let his three daughters marry in order to avoid paying settlements, so they'll just have to outsmart him.
Hobson's Choice
1954 · 171 votes
Movie5.0Sub Rosa observes the 8 year old Tilda, she lives with her grandmother who runs a flower shop. The young girl roams around freely and discovers a world of indecent activities lurking behind the flower store walls.
Sub Rosa
2014 · 4 votes
Movie5.0DramaTV MovieIt is 1970, there is World Cup and General Election fever. Marco, a wealthy Italian, has come to England to discover his true identity. Carl, a student, is torn between canvassing for the Labour party, watching the World Cup or going on a walking holiday with his girlfriend Ellie. Their paths cross in Preston library and the three take an epic journey across the Pennines.
Fair Game
1994 · 6 votes
Movie8.0ComedyTV MovieWhen Sir John Falstaff decides that he wants to have a little fun he writes two letters to a pair of Window wives: Mistress Ford and Mistress Page. When they put their heads together and compare missives, they plan a practical joke or two to teach the knight a lesson. But Mistress Ford's husband is a very jealous man and is pumping Falstaff for information of the affair. Meanwhile the Pages' daughter Anne is beseiged by suitors.
The Merry Wives of Windsor
1982 · 3 votes
Movie5.4DramaComedyGuy Jones (Irons) moves to a small British town and joins the local amateur dramatics society as a way to meet people. However he soon finds the drama offstage far outweighs those onstage.
A Chorus of Disapproval
1989 · 27 votes
Movie8.3ComedyAdapted from a play written by two Monty Python vets, this toothy satire launches with a tragic accident at Chumley's chocolate factory when hapless manager Ian Littleton accidentally knocks several employees into a huge chocolate vat. The tragic mishap at the chocolate factory results in candy lovers getting an unexpected 'extra' in their sweets.
Consuming Passions
1988 · 3 votes
- Movie6.5Comedy
Movie with some of the greatest brittish comedians such as Rowan Atkinson, John Cleese.
The Funny Blokes of British Comedy
2005 · 2 votes
Movie6.6DramaRomanceA penniless middle-aged spinster scrapes by giving piano lessons in the Dublin of the 1950s. She makes a sad last bid for love with a fellow resident of her rundown boarding house, who imagines she has the money to bankroll the business he hopes to open.
The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne
1987 · 32 votes
Movie7.0ComedyThree married couples discover that, through a legal technicality, they are, in fact, not actually married in the eyes of the law. This was the fifth television film version of this play by J.B. Priestley made by the BBC.
When We Are Married
1987 · 1 votes
Movie5.6ComedyStiff Upper Lips is a broad parody of British period films, especially the lavish Merchant-Ivory productions of the 'eighties and early 'nineties. Although it specifically targets A Room with a View, Chariots of Fire, Maurice, A Passage to India, and many other films, in a more general way Stiff Upper Lips satirises popular perceptions of certain Edwardian traits: propriety, sexual repression, xenophobia, and class snobbery.
Stiff Upper Lips
1998 · 12 votes
Movie4.4ComedyCrimeWhen a nobleman is threatened by a family curse on his newly inherited estate, detective Sherlock Holmes is hired to investigate.
The Hound of the Baskervilles
1978 · 30 votes