"Acting is pretending to be someone else. We don't think it is about presenting yourself.'' The statement may seem curiously modest coming from two actors who are at the top of their profession, both in their native Britain and abroad, but it doesn't take long in their company to realise that, despite their enormous success, Prunella Scales and husband Timothy West remain two very down-to-earth, intelligent and caring people, who are passionate about their craft and the pleasure it brings to others. "The biggest buzz I know is hearing people falling about at a 300-year-old joke and knowing that you have helped,'' Miss Scales says. "I don't want to be `me'. I think it is a privilege to interpret really good writing, and to serve well an author whom you revere. "But it is not only good writing that is the excitement. It is also about being able to transmit magical writing, be it classical or modern, to a modern audience. It is very touching to share it with them.'' Turning to what they both feel is "a really distressing lack of emphasis on the classics'' in Britain at the moment, Mr. West says he and his wife are actively involved in trying to redress the imbalance by going into schools and teaching students a broader perspective. As President of the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (LAMDA), Mr. West explains: "We are teaching our students to acquit themselves in all the different kinds of contexts in which they will be required to perform if they want to make choices in their lives.

It is relatively easy to teach someone how to be in a TV soap, but they may get bored with that and want to do some straight or classical theatre.

Therefore, we think it is our responsibility to train them for all eventualities. A lot of drama, as taught at school and university, does not take that responsibility.'' In fact, they question the wisdom of teaching drama as a subject. "What is it for?'' Mr. West asks. "Are you training people as practitioners, or is it a soft option, and slightly more fun than mathematics or geography?'' "If you are truthful, as an actor you need to know about history, architecture, literature, costumes, languages, music and more -- to know about life, and also to develop one's ear,'' Miss Scales concurs. "These will help you to be a better actor than just studying drama. "Acting is pretending to be somebody else. We don't think it is about presenting yourself, but presenting a writer through your performance. Your body and your skills are in the service of the writer -- to deliver the writer to the people who have paid that night.'' Certainly, the actors know whereof they speak for, in addition to achieving their own fame, they are descendants and parents of thespians. "Our poor children have two parents, three grandparents and two great-grandparents in the business,'' they note.

So it comes as no surprise to learn that one of their two sons, Samuel West, is currently playing Richard II with The Royal Shakespeare Company (Stratford), and has been offered the plum role of Hamlet next season.

"We are torn between parental pride and terror,'' they confess. Having both played with the same world-famous Company themselves makes the parental pride understandable, but terror? "That poor old Sammy is playing the most famous role in the world of drama in front of many critics who have seen the play God knows how many times is quite a frightening experience, but one which must be faced and accepted,'' his mother explains.

So does Miss Scales fear critics, then? "I don't read critiques on principle because it destroys me if they are hostile, (and if) they are too adulatory they might make you cocky,'' she responds.

Her husband, on the other hand, feels that one can learn from critics "providing they are constructive''. And on this the couple agree: "Critics have a responsibility to create and pass on, rather than destroy.'' They do acknowledge, however, that the scribes' ability to keep their minds fresh must be difficult, given that many of them have been with their papers for a long time, and have seen certain plays produced endless times.

"Unless you do something very surprising they are not going to take much notice,'' Mr. West believes. "Acting is not just about being surprising, it is very often about being truthful. If you give a truthful performance the critics are not looking for that.'' He cites the example of a fellow actor who regularly inserted something extra into his opening night performance simply for the benefit of critics! Come October, Miss Scales and Mr. West will have been married for 38 years.

They first met when they were cast in "a dreadful television play'' only to discover when they turned up at the studio that it was cancelled due of an electrician's strike, so they went to the cinema instead.

"We had had a `Polo mints and Times' flirtation during the rehearsal, but after the film, we went our separate ways,'' Miss Scales relates. "Then the play was done again and I was in it, but to my slight sadness Tim was not because he was on tour with Brian Rix, so I wrote him a postcard saying he was missed, and we started a correspondence.'' Little did the young man realise then that the letters he would write to his beloved Prunella over the next 30 years would become material for a book of which she is clearly enormously proud. "Tim is a brilliant letter writer, and the book -- `I'm Here I Think, Where are You?' -- is an edited compilation of letters from a touring actor over 30 years,'' Miss Scales explains.

It will doubtless make fascinating reading, since the duo have enjoyed a wealth of experiences and accomplishments in splendid careers which embrace theatre, cinema and directing, and also include work at and with some of Britain's most prestigious theatrical institutions and personalities.

Names like the National Theatre, the Old Vic, the Royal Shakespeare Company, the English Touring Theatre and the Aldwych are just some of the prestigious venues with which their names are linked. Both have also been involved in television and films. In Mr. West's case, the latter have included "The Day of the Jackal, Thirty-Nine Steps, Cry Freedom,'' and most recently "Joan of Arc'', while several of Miss Scales' television series have become classics -- none less than "Fawlty Towers'', in which she played Sibyl, the wife of John Cleese's Basil Fawlty. No doubt asked repeatedly about her role in this much-loved, 12-part series, Miss Scales shows no sign of boredom in talking about it again.

Even today she defends the character of Sibyl. While admitting that, in "in the shape of the series she is a villain, a scourge'', her personal view is that the maligned woman was "a heroine''.

That people perceived Sibyl as a dragon is due in part, Miss Scales believes, to the British philosophy of women in comedy.

"It worries me a little that if you are in American comedy you can be female, dumb and funny, or intelligent, unattractive and funny; in French comedy you can be female and intelligent, or attractive and funny; but in British comedy you are not allowed to be funny unless you are post-menopausal, or so ugly as not to be a sexual threat,'' she says. "It is a very broad and crude generalisation. People pounce on Sibyl as a dragon, but when you look at it I had some pretty dashing clothes, and I looked quite chi-chi, but because I was funny and the scourge of the hero, everybody said, `Oh, God'. I think it is something to do with British chauvinism.'' Chauvinism or not, through repeats and video sales the role continues to bring Miss Scales international recognition, and a universal public longing for more "Fawlty Towers'' episodes -- something she says will never happen. "John Cleese and his then-wife became extremely anxious about 12 aspects of hotel management and wrote episodes on each one of them,'' she explains. "They expiated their anger, and therefore resisted any pressure to do more, for which I admire them.'' Nonetheless, the actress still regards the series as "excellent,'' and says John Cleese was "absolutely lovely'' to work with. "I love him, I admire him, I respect him,'' she enthuses."He is a dear friend of both of us.'' Although Miss Scales and Mr. West have shared similar careers for most of their adult lives, and clearly retain great respect for each other's talents, they accept each other's differences of opinion amicably. While the actress "absolutely adores'' long runs in plays, her husband prefers touring, not least because he feels that there is a greater likelihood of turning regional audiences on to an unknown work than their counterparts in cities like London or New York, where people are more apt to know the play and compare productions.

As deep as their passion for the theatre is, it is by no means the couple's.

Among other things, they are concerned about the environment. As president of the Council for the Protection of Rural England, Miss Scales is dedicated to "the practical issue'' of urban regeneration and the protection of greenfield (undeveloped) sites throughout rural Britain. She is also interested the concept of harnessing her country's offshore waves to power generation.

Whatever the future may hold for this busy and talented pair, one thing is certain: they will continue to enjoy a very warm and special bond.

Asked what the secret of their long and successful marriage is, Mr. West says: "The fact that we are interested in something else, other than each other, although we do respect each other. Travelling and frequent separations maintain our relationship at fever pitch.'' For her part, Miss Scales smiles, bats her huge blue eyes, crosses the room to gently caress and kiss the head of her hero, and says simply: "Luck.''