Coronation Street aired its strongest set of episodes in months this week as Mason Radcliffe’s storyline reached a tragic end.

The ITV soap has explored the issue of knife crime with a dark plot that saw Mason lose his life following an altercation with his older brothers Matty and Logan.

Show bosses teamed up with The Ben Kinsella Trust while working on the story, hoping to highlight the dangers of carrying a knife. Mason’s former schoolmate Dylan Wilson was horrified as a zombie knife that he’d purchased for self-protection was used in the fatal attack.

The well-received storyline comes amid a period of difficult headlines for Corrie, with media and fans criticising the recent quality of episodes, cast changes and the on-screen impact of rumoured budget cuts.

So, what lessons can the soap learn from Mason’s plot? Here, we take a balanced look at what’s worked and what hasn’t.

1. Always remember the community feel

Coronation Street has delivered dozens of issue-based storylines in recent years, often to a mixed response from the audience. The soap received acclaim for the coercive control plot centring around Geoff and Yasmeen in 2020, as well as the hate crime story involving Seb and Nina the following year.

Others didn’t quite hit the mark, however. Back in 2023, Corrie was often guilty of telling Max’s far-right extremism storyline in isolation, with terrible things happening on the cobbles but receiving little comment or reaction from the wider Weatherfield community. Key characters like Gail were almost absent from the plot, despite being related to Max.

In contrast, Mason’s storyline is one which has been carefully mapped out to involve multiple characters. The teen crowd are naturally at the centre, but we’ve also seen various mini-strands of the story bring in characters from other age groups like Tim, Sally, Abi, Fiz, Tyrone, Asha, Joseph and Hope.

With Mason’s tragedy causing ripple effects throughout the Street, there’s a genuine sense of community which has been missing from some other plots recently.

2. Stay focused

Corrie dedicated the entirety of Monday’s episode to Mason’s storyline, rather than cutting away to other plots. The early parts of the episode focused exclusively on Mason’s journey throughout the day, leading up to Matty and Logan’s brutal attack on him.

While Corrie has traditionally used humorous side storylines to balance out darker issue-based plots in the past, staying focused on one story can often be more effective when dramatic events like these are unfolding on screen.

A similar technique was used with Seb and Nina’s hate crime storyline in 2021. Episodes surrounding Seb’s death and its aftermath focused almost exclusively on this plot for nearly two weeks before the show started to move onto other stories again.

At Christmas, fans also complained that Gail’s final episode was full of other storylines, distracting them from her emotional send-off after 50 years. We’d never want to lose the breadth of storylines and characters from Corrie, but sometimes it pays off to focus on the main plot.

3. Have a long plan

Mason has been on quite a journey over the past year, from bullying Liam to befriending characters like Stu, Tim and Sally. While at one point it seemed that a horrible thug like Mason could never win over fans, the slow-burn approach to the story helped viewers to gradually warm to him over time.

The plot felt like it had been more tightly crafted than other big storylines recently – especially compared to the long-running Joel Deering saga, which meandered strangely from one ‘murder mystery’ to another last year and sometimes felt like it was being made up as it went along.

A subtle scene in August last year saw Dylan receive the package containing the knife, which only became relevant to storylines months later.

4. Freshen up the existing dynamics

The decision to have Mason move in with Tim and Sally created some brilliant scenes in his final weeks on screen. Luca Toolan struck up a great on-screen chemistry with castmates Joe Duttine and Sally Dynevor and spoke in his interviews about how much he’d enjoyed working with them.

While the Mason/Tim/Sally dynamic was sadly short-lived, it did get us thinking about how it might be worth bringing another character to their doorstep in the not-too-distant future. Could 2025 be the year that Rosie or Sophie return, or another long-lost relative arrives to keep them on their toes?

5. Always remember the past

The Mason story has successfully brought in references to past storylines, from Seb’s death to Alya’s stabbing and (more subtly) Kylie’s exit.

Corrie also belatedly put Liam Connor back at the centre of the plot, as Mason’s final episode saw him try to apologise to his former schoolmate for bullying him so cruelly the previous year.

Liam’s absence from Mason’s redemption plot had seemed glaring at times, with the show moving on from the emotional scenes surrounding his bullying and suicidal thoughts far too quickly.

It was good to see the show address this by at least trying to tie up some of the loose ends before Mason left the show.

6. Interweave the young and older cast’s storylines

Corrie has a talented group of performers in the current young cast. Luca may now be gone, but there are sure to be big plans for the likes of Liam McCheyne (Dylan) and newcomer Sydney Martin (Betsy) in the coming months, and hopefully we’ll see more of Charlie Wrenshall (Liam) too after his moving performances last year.

While teen plots can sometimes be a turn-off for Corrie fans, especially if focused on dull love triangles, the current episodes have worked well by interweaving the younger and older cast’s stories rather than having them each told in isolation.

Sean is the best he’s been in a long time now that he and Dylan are living away from Eileen’s house/TARDIS and featuring in family-based stories, Mason shone with Tim and Sally, and there’s potential for an exciting new dynamic forming with Betsy, Lisa, Carla and Ryan.

7. Provide an element of surprise

Luca Toolan’s departure from Coronation Street wasn’t announced before his final episode aired, keeping fans guessing in the build-up.

Even for those who’d figured out what might happen, the stabbing episode played out in a unique way – showing Mason making his escape from Weatherfield safely before we realised that it was a dream sequence and the rug was pulled from under us.

Even so, a non-traditional storytelling technique like this should only be used sparingly. The show recently announced plans to increase elements of non-linear storytelling this year, but the reality is that many fans think the show needs to do the opposite and cut back from “special episodes”.

It’s always worth remembering that classic storylines like Richard Hillman’s reign of terror and Mad Maya’s antics didn’t rely on time-bending twists or gimmicks, so they should only really feature when they genuinely add value to the episodes.