Famous dad pays tribute to young Coronation Street star Luca Toolan

Mike Toolan, the father of Coronation Street’s Luca Toolan, has paid tribute to his son and co-stars following their award nominations.

Mike is a radio DJ. He currently presents a show on Hits radio every weekday afternoon working alongside the likes of Coronation Street’s Brooke Vincent and Hollyoaks’ Gemma Atkinson.

The presenter is father to Corrie newcomer Luca Toolan. He has portrayed Mason Radcliffe since September last year and took centre stage in a storyline that highlighted bullying.

When this plot kicked off, Mason manipulated student Dylan (Liam McCheyne) into joining his gang so they could target Liam Connor (Charlie Wrenshall). Over the course of many months, Mason and Dylan were responsible for making Liam’s life hell by humiliating him in online videos, throwing rubbish at him and sending abusive messages.

The situation changed dramatically for Liam when he reached the point of googling ways to end his life. Liam couldn’t see a way out of the pain he was experiencing, and believed this was the only option.

Thankfully, Liam was saved by Maria (Samia Longchambon) and Gary (Mikey North). With time, the young man opened up about the ordeal Mason and Dylan put him through and when he revealed Mason had threatened him with a knife, he was arrested.

Following this powerful storyline, stars Charlie Wrenshall, Luca Toolan and Liam McCheyne have now all been nominated for an Inside Soap Award.

Charlie and Liam are up for the Best Young Performer award, while Luca sits alongside the likes of Coronation Street’s Calum Lill and EastEnders’ Matt Di Angelo for Best Villain.

Taking to Instagram, Mike was full of praise for the young stars in a heartwarming post. Sharing some pictures of the trio, Mike wrote alongside: ‘Well done to these 3 champs for all being nominated for various awards at the Inside Soap Awards. (Luca up for Best Villain, Charlie and Liam up for Best Young Performer) They’re the best of mates and have done a great job with a harrowing storyline.’

In recent episodes of the ITV soap, Maria learnt that Mason was being released from prison.

Speaking about his upcoming return, Luca, 20, said: ‘It’s beautiful to be back. It was quite a long break, it was 3 months, which was fun for the first week or two but then my head started to go a bit crazy!

‘So being back and digging into a storyline that now I feel is really important for my character because I can delve into Mason’s backstory is really nice to do.’

Addressing how Mason’s return will affect Dylan, he added: ‘I think with Dylan specifically it depends on how he reacts towards Mason.

‘I think Mason will come in with an open mind and won’t close the relationship off with Dylan entirely. Deep down I think he wants to keep a little bit of the door open for him and if Dylan comes forth and tries to make amends then Mason could be receptive towards that.’

He continued: ‘As for everyone else on the street, I think he’s just trying to do right now especially after having a tough time in jail and experiencing a tough life so far. Mason is trying to keep his head above water and do anything he can to survive, if that means playing the nice guy or changing his life around then I hope he will do it.’

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