Prunella Scales, the 92-year-old actress best known for her role as Sybil Fawlty in Fawlty Towers, has recently reprised her lifelong role as Queen Victoria.
Despite being diagnosed with vascular dementia in 2014, Scales continues to work, recording new voiceovers for a production at the Tabard Studio Theatre in West London.
Scales first stepped into the role of Queen Victoria 44 years ago, performing it in An Evening with Queen Victoria both in London and around the world until 2007.
The veteran actress, who has played Queen Victoria over 500 times, admits she still worries about being liked in new roles.
Speaking to The Times, she said: “You go to a different place and you think, ‘Oh God, these people won’t like me.’ You have to cope with that every time.”
The 92-year-old and her husband, actor Timothy West, 89, remain active in their careers, with Scales explaining that not working would leave them “very depressed”.
She candidly discussed the effects of ageing on her memory and daily life, adding to the same publication: “As one gets older, one’s memory and living from minute to minute changes, doesn’t it? You get less efficient.
“My memory is less good. I mean, I forget to do things and, that’s age, the same as everybody else,” however, the actress still has a pragmatic outlook on her condition.
The actress has also portrayed the monarch in various television productions, including the children’s TV show Station Jim in 2001 and the BBC drama Victoria: An Intimate History in 2003.
The show’s writer, Julian Machin, praised Scales’ performance and told The Telegraph: “Although Prunella has vascular dementia, which greatly affects her in many ways, she absolutely retains longer-term memory of herself and her working experience.
Machin noted that Scales’ extensive experience with the role made directing her easier than anticipated and added: “Her memory of having said the lines so many times over the years made it much easier to direct her than even I’d hoped for.”
Scales and West explored their relationship and careers during their Channel 4 show, Our Great Canal Journeys, with the 92-year-old penning a foreword about her diagnosis in the book which runs alongside the series.
She wrote: “How do I feel about being in this situation? Well, angry of course. I hate the idea that the world is going on around me, but that so much of it is closed off.
“I soon forget my anger, though, as I forget nearly everything else.”
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Scales and West recently celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary last year, discussing her worsening health in a BBC interview.
The couple first addressed her condition after she began struggling with lines on stage in the early 2000s with West admitting he misses the “companionship” of his “best friend” as her dementia progresses.
In a touching moment, Scales told her husband: “Thanks for sticking with me for so long,” to which West responded: “Well, we’ve done all right. It hasn’t really been hard work, has it?”
The couple, who “fell in love over crosswords and packets of Polo mints”, continue to support each other through Scales’ journey.
