Samuel West
Rosebud with Gyles Brandreth
Gyles Brandreth / Plain Jaine Media
4.6 • 2.2K Ratings
🗓️ 31 October 2025
⏱️ 68 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
The actor Samuel West is our guest today, and we recorded this episode earlier this month, not long before his mother, Prunella Scales's death on 27 October, and not long after his father, Timothy West's memorial service in London (Timothy West died in November 2024). In this conversation, Sam talks about his parents, Timothy West and Prunella Scales, and what it was like to grow up immersed in the theatrical world. Timothy was often away on tour, and Sam talks about missing him - but being inspired by his work ethic and by the life of the classical touring actor. He talks about his mother's talent and about her famous portrayal of Sybil Fawlty. He talks about his own university days, and how winning a bottle of champagne in a first year drama competition was a turning point. He talks about Stanislavsky and the craft of acting. And finally he talks about his parents' love of barge holidays, and the joy their TV barging brought to so many.
This episode is a celebration of a great theatrical family, and we're delighted and honoured that Sam recorded a Rosebud conversation with Gyles.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Hello, I'm Giles Brandreth, welcoming you to another episode of Rosebud. |
| 0:26.6 | Every week, I say it's a special edition of Rosebud, and I like to think that every week it is. |
| 0:32.4 | But this week's is very special and very poignant too, because in this week's episode of Rosebud, |
| 0:39.5 | we are celebrating a theatrical family. And we're doing it this week because one of the members |
| 0:45.6 | of that family died on Monday of this week. I'm talking about, of course, Prunella Scales. |
| 0:52.5 | Great actress, most famous, of course, for playing the part of |
| 0:56.1 | Sybil in the celebrated sitcom Faulty Towers, but there was so much more to her. Prunella Scales, |
| 1:03.0 | born 22nd of June 1932, she died on the 27th of October 2025. Well, we're here today with her son, Sam West, another wonderful |
| 1:16.0 | actor currently to be seen in all creatures great and small on Channel 5. I first saw him on stage, |
| 1:24.1 | I think, in Richard II at the Royal Shakespeare Company, and he was wonderful. |
| 1:29.3 | I first saw him on screen when he was a very little boy playing a young prince in a production |
| 1:35.4 | of Edward V. Seventh on television, which starred his father, Timothy West. So this is a conversation |
| 1:42.7 | that I recorded only a week or two ago with Sam West. |
| 1:46.7 | I'd been last month to a celebration, a memorial service for Tim West, who died a year ago. |
| 1:54.6 | And it was a beautiful celebration, not just of the life of Timothy West, but also of the life of Brunella Scales. |
| 2:02.9 | She couldn't be there. She was frail. She was at home. |
| 2:06.0 | We were told she was at home having a cup of coffee and waving her favourite biscuit in our direction. |
| 2:12.3 | So everyone there very much thought of both of them that day. |
| 2:15.9 | And I'm thinking of both of them today. And this conversation, |
| 2:19.7 | which we're playing with Sam's permission, as I say, was recorded just a week or two ago |
| 2:25.5 | when his mother was still alive. So it is a tribute to Purnela Scales, to Timothy West, |
| 2:37.1 | to their marriage, which was remarkable, |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Gyles Brandreth / Plain Jaine Media, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of Gyles Brandreth / Plain Jaine Media and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.