Prunella Scales
Dementia has hit Fawlty Towers actress Prunella Scales.
The actress, who played hot-headed hotel manager Basil Fawlty's patient wife Sybil in the classic sitcom, has been struggling with the degenerative memory loss illness, her husband of 50 years Timothy West has revealed.
Speaking in new TV documentary 'Great Canal Journeys', he explained: "When you think this person that I loved and enjoyed this and that and the other with doesn't really exist anymore, that's quite painful.
"Prunella can't remember things very well but you don't have to remember things on the canal. You can just enjoy things as they happen - so it's perfect for her."
The More4 show follows the couple as they take four canal trips across the UK, enjoying the beauty of the British countryside.
Timothy, who stars as Stan Carter on 'EastEnders', admitted that while Prunella, 81, "doesn't really exist anymore", her sense of humour is still the same.
Prunella insisted the condition wouldn't stop her from acting and she intended to keep performing on stage.
She said: "I always say I want to die on the eighth curtain call. Eight will mean the show's been rather a success. I just hope I'm somewhere near the middle and have been reasonably good in the part."