“It was a very hot day when we were filming on the seafront there and an 81-year-old lady who was among the fans watching us fainted. We saw a bit of commotion in the crowd and our crew medics went over.”

Trying to allay Blethyn’s concern, the actor revealed: “When they came back I said, ‘What’s up?’ They said, ‘A lady has passed out in the heat.’ I said, ‘Is she alright?’ They said, ‘Yeah, yeah, yeah, she’s fine. She’s sitting down now but she wants to stay and watch the filming.’

“And so we carried on and then I saw the medic go over there again. I said, ‘Are you sure that lady is alright?’ They said, ‘Yes, stop worrying about it.’

“Then I saw them go back again and it did worry me,” Blethyn confessed before she decided to halt that day’s filming.

Blethyn told ITV: “I said, ‘Sorry. I’m going to have to stop filming. I want to go and make sure that lady is alright.’ So I went over and I chatted to her for a few minutes.

“She was going, ‘Ohhh… it’s Vera!’ And she was alright. Well blow me down, when I got home it was on the TV news that night! They had gone to the lady’s house and interviewed her. She was so sweet and excited!

“So many people come to watch the Vera filming. The fans are just so generous.

“A lady turned up from Australia and gave me a cloth kangaroo. I was also given a crochet replica of Vera, about a foot tall. It’s marvellous. It has pride of place on my mantlepiece.”