Timothy West, 89, reveals surprising secret to the success of his 60-year marriage to Prunella Scales, 91 – as he opens up about her dementia diagnosis
Timothy West has revealed the surprising secret behind the success of his 60-year marriage to Prunella Scales.
The EastEnders actor, 89, met Prunella, 91, while they were working on a play together.
Last month the couple celebrated their diamond wedding anniversary after tying the knot in 1963.
In Tuesday morning’s episode of Loose Women, Timothy sheds light on how he and Prunella made their marriage work – and how they dealt with her devastating dementia diagnosis.
The actor revealed that part of the success of their marriage involves doing crossword puzzles together and writing hundreds of letters over the course of their relationship.
Sweet: Timothy West revealed the surprising secret of the success of his 60-year marriage to Prunella Scales on Loose Women on Tuesday morning
Longtime: Timothy, 89, and Fawlty Towers actress Prunella, 91, celebrated their 60th birthday last month
About how they met, he said: ‘Luckily it was a very bad play! No one really wanted to do it.
‘Pru and I had a lot of free time. We spent a lot of time doing the crossword and writing letters to each other.
‘This is something that has been happening all our lives. We love writing letters about something the other person may have missed or not fully understood.
“We made each other laugh and made each other discover things.”
In a very romantic gesture, Timothy and the Fawlty Towers actress have kept all their letters to each other, with the Corrie actor admitting Pru has ‘trunks full’ of them.
Prunella has been showing symptoms of vascular dementia for over twenty years and was formally diagnosed ten years ago.
Providing an update on his wife’s condition, Timothy continued, βShe is doing well. It’s a situation that I fear will rarely get better. We’ll just have to learn to live with it.’
‘She lives like us: we talk about what’s going on at the moment. It’s very similar to our normal lives.
‘But we all have moments when someone says, “Oh, remember so-and-so?” and think “who do you mean?”.
Happy couple: Timothy and Prunella shared a kiss in an interview to mark their wedding anniversary on BBC Breakfast
At the time: the couple pictured with one of their two sons in the first decade of their marriage; West reflected ‘we did well’ during interview
Regarding pet names, Timothy said, “I just call her Pru!” And when asked if she has a nickname for him, he joked: “God knows!”
Prunella and Timothy share two sons: the eldest is actor and director Samuel West, and they also have a youngest son, Joseph.
Timothy also has a daughter, Juliet, from his first marriage to Jacqueline Boyer.
The couple first dealt with her condition when Pru began struggling with her lyrics on stage in the early 1990s.
But it wasn’t until ten years later that they received a formal diagnosis, with Timothy explaining that the progression of her disease “took a very long time.”
In a moving interview on BBC Breakfast last week to mark their 60th anniversary, Prunella told her husband: ‘Thank you for sticking with me for so long.’
He replied, “Well, we did a good job,” before asking her, “It wasn’t really hard work, was it?”
She replied, ‘No! He is a person I love, love, and enjoy being around.β
Series: Their Great Canal Journeys series for Channel 4 β which was candid about Prunella’s dementia β won the pair legions of new fans
Coping: Prunella and Timothy were forced to leave their Channel 4 TV show, Great Canal Journeys, in January 2020 due to her ill health
In the interview, broadcaster Paterson also revealed that Prunella, who continues to live in her family home with care, had a more hilarious response off camera.
In an article for BBC News, the journalist said: ‘Interview over, the cameraman goes to Scales and asks if he can take the clip microphone from her.
“Oh beautiful,” she says, a twinkle in her eye. “Now I can say…”
He added: ‘And out of her mouth comes a four-letter word completely unsuitable for broadcast on BBC Breakfast.’
West recently published a book, Pru and Me: The Amazing Marriage of Prunella Scales and Timothy West, which discussed the couple’s decades of marriage and how they have dealt with the progression of Prunella’s disease.
In September, West, who shares a home in Wandsworth with his wife, admitted he misses the “company” of his “best friend” as her dementia battle continues.
The actor, who appeared in EastEnders and Coronation Street, says he can no longer discuss plays or concerts with his wife because she doesn’t remember.
The 89-year-old admitted that he longs for her “creative energy” and the brilliant ideas she had and parties she would like to go to with people she had recently met.
Prunella, best known for her role as Sybil Fawlty (pictured) in Fawlty Towers, ended her 67-year acting career in early 2020
West says he spends a lot of time reassuring her during periods of confusion: βShe doesn’t have much sense of time, so when she comes to me her face lights up as if we’ve been apart for days. The look on her face makes me realize how much I love her.β
He added: ‘She seems to be coping incredibly well, as I try, but she must sometimes wonder whether she can end her days in this home that has been so dear to us.
“It’s no problem not to recognize me, but that will happen, I’m sure.”
Timothy, who says he first noticed changes in his wife in 2001, says the condition has now become “part of their lives” as they adapt to her needs.
Prunella ended her 67-year acting career in early 2020.