Mason, played by Luca Toolan, will be viciously attacked in upcoming scenes in the ITV soap

Coronation Street star Luca Toolan has said he was ‘taken aback’ by his latest storyline which will tackle the horrors of knife crime. Mason Radcliffe has had a rocky start to life in Weatherfield.

Earlier this year (2024), Mason was served justice for his cruel bullying campaign against Liam Connor, roping his friend Dylan Wilson into his sick way, which left the teenager contemplating taking his own life in heartbreaking scenes.

After his initial release from Young Offenders, Mason returned to Weatherfield and was quickly taken under the wing of Stu Carpenter, despite opposition from Sean Tully, Maira and Gary Windass.

His return also saw him grow closer to Betsy Swain, the daughter of DS Lisa Swain. However, the troublemaker soon turned on the bad boy and landed him back inside after stealing a phone from a customer’s bag at Speed Daal and planting it on him so he got into trouble.

But his attempts to since make a new life for himself haven’t been successful due to his troublesome brothers Matty and Logan. They’ve been causing unwanted chaos on the street and with Swain certain they’re behind the death of her partner, Becky, Mason agrees to help.

After helping Swain, Corrie fans will see Mason making plans to leave Weatherfield to escape his brothers, Matty and Logan. When Abi Webster catches Mason in her son Seb Franklin’s memorial garden stealing some heather for Betsy, she tears a strip off him and sends him packing.

Later, Betsy is scathing when Mason says he had nothing to do with the death of Lisa Swain’s late partner, Becky, and after she and her husband, Tim Metcalfe, tried to take Mason under their wing, Sally Metcalfe tries to get through to Betsy about how hard it was for him to call the police on his own family.

Meanwhile, Mason apologises to Liam Connor for the bullying before heading back to the precinct with Dylan Wilson. After being quizzed by DC Kit Green about the WWII Helmet, Matty and Logan come looking for their brother. Finding Dylan and Mason, the brothers give chase and catch Mason before viciously attacking him.

As Dylan makes his escape, he screams at them to stop, but to no avail. Abi then finds Mason bleeding from a stab wound in the children’s play area. She pulls off her scarf and does her best to stem the flow of blood whilst shouting for help. The ambulance arrives and Dylan explains to Asha Alhan how Mason has been stabbed by his brothers, Matty and Logan, using a zombie knife.

Revealing how he felt upon hearing about his latest storyline with Mason, actor Luca said: “To be honest, I was really taken aback when I first heard. I think because for all of Mason’s life, he’s been the one on the other end of it, so I could have seen Mason being the one to carry out the attack rather than Mason being the victim.

“So yeah, it took me by surprise, but a nice surprise from an actor’s perspective because they’ve given me a really juicy script as well as all the resources that are necessary to do a storyline like this, including working closely with The Ben Kinsella Trust who have been an excellent help.”

But it’s an issue-led story he was willing to take on. Luca continued: “It’s so important. I’ve always enjoyed Coronation Street as a viewer, but I completely underestimated the power that it has on its audience until I was involved in the bullying storyline and saw the effect that it has on the viewers. Fingers crossed this storyline will be received the way we are hoping it will be and ultimately, if one person drops a knife and someone is saved, then that would definitely make it all worth it. “