User:Herz123/Mason Radcliffe

Mason Radcliffe, is a fictional character from the ITV soap opera Coronation Street, played by Luca Toolan, first appeared in September 2023. Toolan announced his casting on social media saying: "There’s a new kid joining the cobbles - Mason Radcliffe. It’s an honour to be a part of a show that I’ve grown up on that has some of the warmest and most talented people." He was introduced as part of a bullying story line and first appeared when he first targeted Ruby Dobbs (Billie Naylor) before recruiting others to help him bully her more. For his role as Mason, Radcliffe was longlisted for "Best Villain" at the 2024 Inside Soap Awards.

Storylines
Mason catches the attentions of Dylan Wilson (Liam McCheyne) and Ryan's adoptive cousin Liam Connor (Charlie Wrenshall). Mason, Dylan and Liam witnessed Tyrone Dobbs (Alan Halsall) talking to a police officer about his car being stolen and used in a hit and run which injured Eliza Woodrow. A shocked Mason fled and later told Dylan and Liam that he was the one who stole Tyrone's car and had caused the accident and tells them to give him an alibi.

At Weatherfield High, Mason and his friends teased Ryan Connor (Ryan Prescott) over his scars (which he got after being involved in an acid attack) but backed away when Ryan shouted at them. Daniel Osbourne (Rob Mallard) intervenes and makes Mason and his friends leave. Mason later encouraged Dylan and Liam to smoke a disposable vape pen, which makes Dylan feel sick and Liam suffer a severe asthma attack. Mason runs off, leaving Dylan to call an ambulance. Mason and his friends later mocked Amy Barlow (Elle Mulvaney) and her fellow protesters placards. This resulted in Amy nearly hitting Mason with one of the placards before police intervened and sent Mason and his friends on their way.

After learning that Dylan's father Sean Tully (Antony Cotton) had disposed of their remaining vapes, Mason demanded that Dylan give him his designer trainers, which Sean had got him, as compensation for the lose of the vapes. After Sean discovered that Dylan's trainers were missing, he planned to go to the school about it. This caused Dylan to inform Mason of Sean's intentions. Not wanting to get into trouble, Mason framed Liam by placing the trainers in his school locker. Later, Mason was confronted by Liam's stepfather Gary Windass (Mikey North), who guessed that Mason had framed Liam. Gary warned Mason to stay away from Liam or else he would see more of him and next time, he would not be so friendly. Mason later sent a threatening voicemail to Liam in retaliation. At school, Mason warned Liam not to tell on him again or else his mother Maria Connor (Samia Longchambon) would suffer.

Mason and his friends later confronted Liam and threw rubbish on him and called him a rat. Dylan witnessed the event, but did not intervene out of fear of Mason. When Mason started filming Liam on his phone, the latter retaliated and knocked the phone out of Mason's hand. This resulted in Mason threatening Liam with a knife. Mason was later approached by local police officer Craig Tinker (Colson Smith) and another police officer, who searched Mason for the knife, but did not find it on him. It was later revealed that Mason had Dylan hide the knife. Mason believed that Liam was the one who reported him to the police and sent him a vile picture of a rat, unaware that it was in fact Liam's stepbrother Jake Windass (Bobby Bradshaw) who had phoned the police.

Mason and Dylan later bunked off school and stole a box of vapes from Simon Barlow and went to Dylan's home. Afterwards, Simon's father Peter Barlow (Chris Gascoyne) arrived outside the House to confront the pair over the theft and threatened to break down the door. Upon learning from Dylan that Peter killed Stephen Reid (Todd Boyce), Mason challenged Peter to run him and Dylan over with his car. Outraged, Peter kicked open the door, causing Mason to flee the house in fear whilst Peter restrained Dylan. Later, Dylan tells Mason that he had hidden the vapes and the knife in a bin, to which Mason tells him to sell the vapes at Prima Doner and that he will collect the money whilst Dylan can keep the knife. After Liam got Dylan into trouble at school by questioning him about selling vapes, which was overheard by their headteacher, Mason confronted Liam and opened his bag and threw the contents to the ground before throwing the bag on top of a van as a warning to Liam to not interfere with his business again. Mason also videoed Liam struggling to retrieve his bag, which Liam later saw footage of.

In January 2024, Mason stole Liam's phone at school and made him to beg in front of other students order to have it back. After Liam does this, Mason changes his mind and refuses to return the phone. Mason later pinned Liam to a wall, but Liam manages to escape by setting off the school's fire alarm. Mason reports what Liam did to the school's deputy headmistress Orla Crawshaw (Carla Mendonça) and later contacts Jake on his PlayStation 4 and tells him to tell Liam that if he wants his phone back, he will have to meet him at school the following day. Liam tells Jake to ignore the message as he thinks that meeting with Mason would lead to a fight, but following a talk with Gary about how bullies only understand violence, Liam decides that he will stand up to Mason. The following day, Mason gives Liam back his phone but then goads him into fighting Dylan, who had referred to Liam as a loser. Mrs Crawshaw arrives and breaks up the fight. Mason claims that Liam attacked Dylan for no reason, to which Liam agrees, out of worry of what the outcome would be if he told the truth. This results in Liam getting suspended from school.

When Liam returns to school, Mason destroys a puppet he brought into school whilst Dylan films the scene on his phone. Mason later learns from Dylan that Maria had seen abusive messages they had sent Liam online, resulting in them deleting the messages in order to avoid punishment. Mason and Dylan are later confronted by Maria, who was returning a laptop Liam borrowed from school. She tells them that Liam would be moving schools because of them. Dylan began to feel bad about his actions whilst Mason treated the situation like a joke. After Mrs Crawshaw learnt that Liam used the laptop to search about suicide, she tells Maria, Gary and Liam that she would put Mason and Dylan into isolation for their actions towards Liam. Mason and Dylan later had a confrontation with Gary in the local playground with Mason warning Gary that Liam needs to watch his back. This causes Gary to lash out at Mason and throw him to the ground. Sean witnesses this and intervenes by threatening to report Gary to the police. Mason later visits Dylan and learns that Sean is now aware that Liam is being bullied. Mason warns Dylan not to mention him to Mrs Crawshaw.

Mason later came across a remorseful Dylan about knock on Liam to apologise for his behaviour. Dylan claims that he was pressured by Sean into going to Liam. Mason tells Dylan not to speak to Liam and has him leave with him. Mason later texts Dylan and tells him not to mention his name to Mrs Crawshaw. However, this results in Dylan getting suspended from school by Mrs Crawshaw after he blamed only himself for Liam getting bullied and would not say who was also involved. Mason later visits Roy's Rolls where Liam, Maria and Gary are. Mason tries to act friendly towards Liam, only for Maria to confront him and tell him to stay away from them. Gary then tells Mason to leave, which he does. Liam later witnesses Mason bullying another boy at school.

When the police learn about Mason threatening Liam with the knife, they search both Mason and Dylan's homes, but the searches are unsuccessful as Dylan had hidden the knife in Tyrone's garden. Mason later tells Dylan to meet him at a precinct with the knife. Dylan goes to the precinct and waits for Mason, only to approached by Craig and other police officers, who find the knife in Dylan's possession and arrest him. This makes Dylan realise that Mason set him up. Dylan tells the police about Mason giving him the knife and decides to plead guilty after learning that the bullying nearly caused Liam commit suicide. Mason attempts to visit Dylan at his home, but is sent away by Sean and Eileen Grimshaw (Sue Cleaver). Mason later meets Dylan at Victoria Gardens and is pleased when Dylan speaks of his intentions to plead guilty for possession of the knife. Dylan then reveals that he had told the police about the hit and run Mason did, but Mason stated that the police had to prove he did it. Unbeknownst to the two, their conversion is overheard by Gary, who passes on the information to Sean and Eileen. Maria and Gary are later told by the police that Mason had been charged after his fingerprints were found on the knife and that he could face a custodial sentence if he is found guilty.

In April 2024 on the lead up to his court hearing, Mason has a girl named Bella lure Dylan to him under the claim of wanting to make peace with him. Bella agrees and invites Dylan in meet her for ice cream at the precinct. However, Bella is horrified when Mason along with his friends, confronts Dylan and warns him to retract his statement and pull out of giving evidence at the hearing under the threat of Mason's two older brothers coming after Dylan. At Mason's hearing, both Liam and Dylan make statements. At first, Dylan, after being threatened earlier by one of Mason's friends, denies that Mason had the knife, but is later convinced to be truthful. Mason is declared guilty by the judge in part because of Mason's unwillingness to give a testimony in his defence, but also says that she would not have come to her decision without Liam and Dylan's statements, though the judge delayed his sentencing for a week until she could hear from his youth justice worker, but as this had been Mason's second knife crime offence, the judge warned him that as a matter of law, the only sentence available would be a sentence of imprisonment.

In July 2024 Maria tells Sean and Dylan that Mason has been let out. Later Stu Carpenter (Bill Fellows) walked past an alley and he saw Mason sat by himself.

Casting and characterisation
On 11 September 2023, Luca Toolan made his debut. Digital Spy said Mason would be part of a bullying storyline. Actor Luca Toolan described Mason as "a bad guy", revealing that the storyline will "get dark" as it goes on. Toolan said "He's a very angry and disturbed soul. People are like that for reasons. Hopefully in the future, we might be able to explore a little bit more of why he's become the way he's become."

Amy Jones from OK! suggested the story line was impactual by saying: "Coronation Street star Luca Toolan certainly made an impact when he joined the ITV soap earlier this year as bad boy Mason Radcliffe. Recently we've watched Mason rule the cobbles as he continues to influence those around him by leading them astray, particularly when it comes to young Dylan Wilson (Liam McCheyne). Just last month, we saw Dylan, Mason and Liam Connor picking on Ruby Dobbs in the heartwrenching school bullying storyline."

Reception
For his role as Mason, Radcliffe was longlisted for "Best Villain" at the 2024 Inside Soap Awards.