Exclusive: Coronation Street star Luca Toolan on shocking new Mason scenes
Coronation Street spoilers follow.
Coronation Street explores knife crime in Wednesday's episode (November 22) as new villain Mason Radcliffe threatens Liam Connor.
In emotional scenes, school bully Mason and his cronies humiliate Liam by cornering him in the street and showering him with rubbish.
When Mason takes pictures of Liam's ordeal, the terrified schoolboy knocks the phone from his tormentor's hands. The situation then escalates as Mason pulls out a knife and threatens Liam.
Digital Spy recently caught up with Luca Toolan, who plays Mason, for an exclusive chat about the storyline and what's in store next.
Mason and Liam's story is about to take a dark turn. How did you feel about taking it on?
"It's a massive privilege and a challenge. Knife crime is an incredibly prevalent issue, so I think it's an important story to tell and there's also a pressure to do it right. You don't want to muck it up, but we haven't from what I've seen so far.
"Having such an important issue to explore motivated all of us to get it right. I think that's shown through how much work we put into these scenes, how much time the producers gave us for rehearsals and also us speaking to different people who've been through it."
When you auditioned for Corrie, did you know the extent of the story that you'd potentially be taking on?
"How it works with auditions is that my agent will send me the initial brief, which usually has a paragraph detailing what the character is about. So I knew that Mason would be a wrong'un from the very start, but I didn't know the extent of that or that knife crime would be involved."
How was it to film the scene where Mason and his gang corner Liam and humiliate him?
"That scene was really interesting. Corrie gave us a period to rehearse it with a fight director. The director for these episodes, Penny Shales, was amazing – along with the 1st Assistant Director, Dayle Evans-Kar. We had that space to play around with it.
"On the day of filming, it was great because me and Charlie [Wrenshall, who plays Liam] really have a great trust. That meant we could go to the dark place we needed to for these scenes, but also feel comfortable with it and not worry.
"It did get pretty dark. There were times before the scene where we decided not to speak to each other – we stayed in character because Charlie had to get to a very high emotional place.
"The scene has a rubbish bag, which kept ripping so we had to keep shooting again and again. Me and Charlie had to keep amping ourselves up to this level where my character was screaming and his character was crying. Then they'd say: 'Cut! Go again.'
"In between that, it was special to film this scene and I just felt a really good connection and trust with Charlie. It was a tough day, but at the end of it, we were all hugging."
Do you think fans will be shocked when Mason pulls out the knife?
"I think they will be shocked, because it's quite a quick progression of the story. Mason has been on screen for a month or two and he's already whipping out a knife – he's gone from 0 to 100 really quickly.
"It just shows what an erratic character Mason is. There's a point in the scene where you don't know if Mason is going to stab Liam or not. It gets to that level and hopefully it creates a really interesting scene and character."
Later this week, Peter Barlow confronts Mason and Dylan. How was it to film that scene with Chris Gascoyne, who plays Peter?
"It was class! Although I've not spoken to Chris loads because we've only filmed a few scenes together, he's really taken me and Liam [McCheyne, who plays Dylan] under his wing. He's spoken to us about acting and recommended books to us – he was great. It was an honour to watch what he does.
"In the scene, Peter boots the door down. I've watched Corrie all my life, so it was a surreal moment. You could see the rage in his eyes and it's like: 'Okay, that's how it's done!' It was special and I did learn a lot. Seeing Chris in action was great."
Is Mason intimidated by Peter?
"I think Mason is intimidated by Peter, but he just pretends that he isn't. He's this classic fake bad man. When he's up against someone who has a backbone – a proper adult who can whoop his arse – he's going to be scared. But he fronts it out. He never wants to show any vulnerability."
Should Mason be worried about making an enemy of Liam's stepdad Gary, who's killed people in the past?
"Of course he should! Gary would absolutely destroy Mason. I don't know what Mason is playing at by picking on Liam! He absolutely should be worried, but I don't think he knows how capable Gary is of causing destruction.
"Mason is just naïve and thinks he's the big man. When or if it does kick off, I think you will see a scared Mason."
How is your time on the show going so far?
"It's hard not to settle into a place like Corrie. As clichéd as it sounds, they do really welcome you in. Because you're working with the same people day in, day out, it does feel like a family and it's a warm family.
"For the first month, I was understandably very nervous. Now two or three months in, it becomes a little bit more normal and everything is great now."
Do you enjoy playing the villain?
"In this instance, it is more fun to play the villain because the off-screen relationship I have with Liam and Charlie is so close. It's a very boisterous trio, in the sense that they're always ribbing me and taking the mick out of me, especially because I'm the new kid and they're veterans. So it kind of works!
"Off screen, those two will take the mickey out of me, but then as soon as they call 'action', that's when I get to flip the tables. Because of that dynamic, I've really enjoyed it and there's so much trust between us.
"I don't ever come away from set feeling horrible, because we're all hugging and so tight at the end of the day."
How are fans reacting to you?
"People obviously give you stick, but I think that means you're hopefully doing a good job. The more the fans dislike the character, the more you're ticking the boxes of what's required.
"In real life, it hasn't been too bad. The worst I've had is a few death stares in shops. Sometimes people can't differentiate between the character and the actor, but I think that's part and parcel of the job. I can't sit here and expect people to be nice to me when I play an awful, horrible person on screen."
Have Corrie's team given you advice on how to deal with that?
"Even before I started filming, the press office sat me down and gave me a lot of advice so I was prepared. Corrie is a unique show with a big fanbase, who are incredibly passionate. Sometimes that passion spills into taking it out on the bad guy, but it shows the fans care and they're invested in the show.
"The support Corrie have given me has been great because they warned me and we did an hour sit-down chat going through every scenario, how to deal with it and how to be safe."
Will this bullying storyline run for a long time?
"Corrie have mentioned that it will probably run for at least a few more months, if not more. That's really nice, because it gives the three of us a bit of time to settle into the characters and grow as actors.
"We'll see a different side to the characters involved. The longer the story, the better, because it just means you get more to play with."
The story is exploring how Liam's bullying ordeal follows him onto his phone and social media. Do you think it's important to show that?
"Of course, because then it has an element that hasn't been explored before in Corrie. It is so prevalent – social media consumes all of our lives and that's not going to change.
"If we show Liam being bullied online too, people will be able to relate to that and see a character who might be going through something similar to them. If they then see links of support that have been given by Corrie or the cast, hopefully it can help.
"That's what you want to do – especially on a show like Corrie – when you're raising awareness of these issues. Above all, what's most important is actually making an impact and helping people."
Coronation Street airs on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at 8pm on ITV1 and streams on ITVX.
Read more Coronation Street spoilers on our dedicated homepage
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