The actress, 77, who plays Evelyn Plummer in the soap, is quoted by The Sun as telling an event at the London Centre for the Study of Contemporary Antisemitism that she found the offer "a real surprise" before adding "this is where we are now".

ITV told the newspaper: "The well­being of all our cast and crew is of utmost importance.

"Everyone should feel safe to come to work, and Maureen has the full support of the entire Coronation Street family."

Fellow actress Tracy-Ann Oberman told the same event that extra security was also deployed at her version of The Merchant of Venice by William Shakespeare.

The former EastEnders actress said: "For the last week, the production has had to have security men around keeping an eye on things. It's like a dystopian nightmare.

"A Jewish actress putting on a play about antisemitism which needs to be made secure because of Jew-hating extremists.

"As one reviewer said, 'written in 1600, set in 1936, as relevant today in 2023'. Ain't that the truth."

Dame Maureen had earlier been critical of the group Artists for Palestine UK who had published a letter accusing Israel of war crimes in Gaza.

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"When babies were garrotted, women dragged by their hair and a family had eyeballs gouged out and fingers chopped off in front of their children - do they really think that Israeli blockades on the border with Gaza area justification for such acts of violence?" she had said.

"Those bigoted signaturists, do they have no soul as well as no judgment?"