Samuel West discusses mother Prunella Scales’ dementia diagnosis

Samuel West has revealed that he is preparing for the day His mother, Prunella Scales, who has dementia, may not remember him or his family anytime soon.

The actor, 56, plays Siegfried Farnon in the Christmas special of All Creatures Great and Small on Channel 5, where Skeldale House will have festive celebrations during the Second World War with a young evacuee.

Samuel revealed that he will tune in to the show on December 24 with his mother, actress Prunella, 90, and his father, actor Timothy, 88.

Prunella and her husband timothy they married in 1963. They were married 12 years before she played Sybil Fawlty in Fawlty Towers, the role for which she is best known.

Sam reflected on his parents’ relationship, saying: ‘I think he misses her a lot. She is difficult. She has lost her wits and the company of her best friend.

For now, despite Sam’s mother’s dementia, which started about 15 years ago and has left her with no short-term memory, Sam says that Prunella will be able to watch and enjoy the episode and recognize her son.

But Sam knows that there will be a day when his mother does not remember him or his family, telling the Mirror: I hope there may be one day, soon, I don’t know.

He said that his mother, whom he described as “quite perky, quite sunny,” will probably be nice about his performance in All Creatures Great and Small, while his father might be jealous of not being in it.

Sam also said that his mom has a picture of him from about 10 years ago, shocked that he’s not blonde anymore and shocked at how big he is.

Prunella and Timothy were forced to leave their Channel 4 television show Great Canal Journeys due to ill health in January 2020.

The legendary actress filmed her last show in October 2019, but the couple appeared in more than 30 episodes of the show.

The show documented the voyages Prunella and Timothy would take on narrow boats through Europe, Egypt and India, and were involved in the campaign to revive the Kennet & Avon Canal in the 1980s.

During the show, she had said, “I don’t always know where I’m going, but I always enjoy getting there,” a wisdom Sam shared with the Mirror.

Despite her condition, Prunella is still cheerful and sunny, but it’s been hard on her husband.

In a 2015 interview with the independentTim revealed his pain at seeing his wife walk away in the midst of their battle, admitting that while he values ​​the time he spends with her, the effects of the disease make communication difficult.

He said: “The sad thing is that you just watch the gradual disappearance of the person you knew and loved and were very close to, if you live from day to day it’s manageable.”

However, the family seizes every present moment, taking the opportunity to make memories with Prunella.

Before his 90th birthday this year, Sam made a Twitter message book of 6,000 people.

One of the most famous faces to wish you a happy birthday was Mark Hamill, the Star Wars actor.

The messages were about the things they remembered and loved about Prunella’s illustrious career.

Describing the book as a special moment, Sam explained that he looks through it, happy to see how he has made people happy through his work.

Their son has been an actor for over 30 years. His first role came right out of college, where he played Prince Caspian in CS Lewis’ The Voyage of the Dawn Treader.

The actor, who is the father of two children with his partner Laura, had studied English Literature at Oxford.

In 1992, he was nominated for a BAFTA for the film Howards End with Helena Bonham Carter.

However, he is now working on All Creatures, a series that makes him very happy.

She also loves her animal co-stars, taking riding lessons to learn how to ride bareback.

Also, Sam talked about the difficulties of working with cows, explaining that they like to know where you are.

He added that they will follow you if you walk away from them, sometimes hurting their foot when they step on you.

Sam is proud of the message All Creatures sends to viewers.