On stage, on screen, on canal boat... just the best

Over a 60-year career on stage and screen, Timothy West has taken on many titles - King, Prime Minister, Professor, Private. He was a captain of industry, a father figure and a love interest.

- JANINE YAQOOB

But what became clear in his later years is that one role meant more to him than any other: Husband.

Timothy, who has died aged 90, was the main carer to his wife of 61 years, Fawlty Towers star Prunella Scales, 92, who is living with dementia.

After her diagnosis in 2013, the pair threw open the doors to their lives for documentary series Great Canal Journeys, in which the veteran actors won over a new generation of fans touched by their love story and stoicism.

Over 10 series, keen narrowboaters Tim and Pru sailed waterways as far afield as Venice, Argentina, Canada and Cambodia as well as some closer to home. They spoke frankly about Pru's vascular dementia, earning praise from Alzheimers Research UK for helping to destigmatise the condition.

Even after their last series ended in 2019, Timothy kept raising awareness of what was happening to his beloved wife before his eyes.

"Pru doesn't have much awareness of time so when she joins me in the living room, her face lights up as if we've been apart for days," he wrote in Pru and Me last year.

"The look on her face makes me realise how much I love her."

Gyles Brandreth, who alongside Sheila Hancock took over the boat show after Tim and Pru, said: "On stage, on screen, on a canal boat, on the end of a pier... in the garden with a glass of wine, he was just the best."