She was absolutely perfect...

AS Sybil Fawlty, she was the acid-tongued foil to John Cleese's manic Basil in the finest example of the classic sitcom couple - in separate beds, at each other's throats, bouncing off each other to brilliant effect.

- BY MARTIN PHILLIPS

A young Prunella in her first feature film, Laxdale Hall, in 1953

Prunella Scales managed to portray all of this in just 12 episodes, but what a legacy they leave after her death this week at the age of 93.

She played many roles in a 67-year career notably as herself, a real wife in a real marriage as blissful as the Fawltys' was unhappy.

But it is as Sybil that she will be remembered, rolling her eyes, tutting and sighing as she once again sets out to clean up after another of Basil's madcap schemes goes hilariously wrong.

And she watched Fawlty Towers episodes the day before she died, according to her family.

Fittingly, it was her costar John, now 86, who led the tributes to Prunella.

He said: "Pru was a really wonderful comic actress. I've recently been watching clips of Fawlty Towers whilst researching a book. Scene after scene, she was absolutely perfect.

"She was a very sweet lady, who spent a lot of her life apologising. I used to tease her about it. I was very, very fond of her."

It's hard to imagine Sybil ever apologising to Basil. But it's clear that behind the scenes Prunella was as well-loved as she was talented.

That shone through in 10 series of Great Canal Journeys alongside her husband, Timothy West, a fellow actor who died last year aged 90.

The charming shows gently explored their joint love of narrowboating and Timothy's absolute devotion to the woman he married in 1963, even as her dementia was worsening following a diagnosis in 2013.

Prunella's last days were "comfortable, contented and surrounded by love", said her sons Samuel and Joseph.