Timothy West died ‘peacefully' at care home after three-month hospital stay

Western Telegraph

22-05-2025

West, who was married to actress Prunella Scales for more than 60 years, starred in TV shows such as comedy drama Brass, sitcom Not Going Out and soaps Coronation Street and EastEnders.
His family announced last November that he had died aged 90 with his friends and family around him, some of whom attended a hearing into his death at Westminster Coroner's Court on Thursday by videolink.
Sir Ian McKellen, Prunella Scales and Timothy West during a reception for the Rose Theatre (Ian West/PA)
Assistant coroner Ellie Oakley said: 'Timothy West had an unwitnessed fall near his home on 11 August 2024 which resulted in a significant traumatic brain injury.
'It is not possible to determine how the fall happened and there is no evidence of others being involved.
'He was treated in hospital for around three months before being discharged to a care home on 5 November 2024 for palliative care.
'Unfortunately he was not well enough to be discharged to his home despite receiving appropriate care in the care home.
'He died on 12 November 2024.'
West had been living at Wandsworth Common Care Home in the days leading up to his death.
All of us will miss him terribly Timothy West's children
The home's general manager, Thomas Holden, said in a statement read out at Thursday's inquest: 'On 12 November his family were with him all day.
'They continued to stay with him in his room during the evening and he passed away peacefully with his family around him at 19:20.'
In a statement announcing his death last year, West's children Juliet, Samuel and Joseph said: 'After a long and extraordinary life on and off the stage, our darling father Timothy West died peacefully in his sleep yesterday evening. He was 90 years old.
'Tim was with friends and family at the end.
'He leaves his wife, Prunella Scales, to whom he was married for 61 years, a sister, a daughter, two sons, seven grandchildren and four greatgrandchildren. All of us will miss him terribly.'
West and Scales, 92, who played Sybil Fawlty in Fawlty Towers, appeared in the documentary series Great Canal Journeys between 2014 and 2021, which saw them travelling on narrowboats.
Timothy West with wife Prunella Scales (Ian West/PA)
The couple married in 1963 and had two sons, Samuel and Joseph.
West was also married to actor Jacqueline Boyer from 1956 to 1961, and they had a daughter, Juliet.
In Brass the Bradford-born actor played ruthless self-made businessman Bradley Hardacre from 1982 to 1984 before returning for a third series in 1990, while in Not Going Out he played Geoffrey, the father of Lucy Adams, played by Sally Bretton.
He appeared as Eric Babbage in seven episodes of Coronation Street in 2013, and in EastEnders he played Stan Carter from 2014 to 2015.
His film roles included Commissioner Berthier in The Day Of The Jackal (1973), King Francis in From Ever After: A Cinderella Story (1998), and Nazi physician and war criminal Karl Gebhardt in Hitler: The Last Ten Days (1973).
On stage, he was a regular performer of Shakespeare, playing Lear in 2016 and 2002.
In 1984, West was appointed a CBE for his services to drama in the Queen's Birthday Honours List.
Before acting, West attended the John Lyon School and Bristol Grammar School, and worked as an office furniture salesman and a recording technician before becoming an assistant stage manager at Wimbledon Theatre in 1956.