Coronation Street star 'working six days a week at Tesco' when she got soap call

She's gone from selling soap one moment to being in one the next – and it’s been a dream come true for Coronation Street star Sydney Mason.

The 22-year-old was working six days a week in Tesco when she landed the role of feisty teenager Betsy in the ITV show. But while ditching her supermarket job was a no-brainer for Sydney, her dad was less convinced. The actress said: “I went to Tesco and handed in my notice, then told my parents. My dad was like, ‘No, you shouldn’t have handed your notice in’. He asked me, ‘Are you sure? Have you signed the contract?’ He even said I wouldn’t get a reference from Tesco now.”

Sydney was shocked when her agent called to say she had landed her first TV job on one of the world ’s longest-running soap operas. Recalling the moment the phone rang, Sydney said: “I was with my flatmates, watching Pitch Perfect 3 – it was the opening credits. I said, ‘It’s going to be a no, so just keep watching’. And then my agent said, ‘Go hand in your notice!’ My flatmate picked me up and we just cried together. We didn’t finish Pitch Perfect.”

In her Tesco uniform before landing Corrie gig

Sydney originally had very different career plans, until she caught the acting bug in her late teens. “Randomly, I wanted to be a zookeeper when I was younger,” she said. “I didn’t really know anything about acting. I loved doing shows when I was a kid – I was shy but when I got on the stage, I loved it.

“I never knew it was a career and something you could go into, which sounds silly. But in sixth form, I had the most amazing drama teacher – who I owe everything to – so I thought, ‘Why not give it a shot?’” Sydney does understand her dad’s trepidation. She said: “It can be worrying for parents, for someone to say they want to go into acting. It’s such an uncertain career.”

But now she says her folks are her “biggest fans”, adding: “They’re over the moon. I think I had my first little picture in a magazine and they bought 10 of them.” The role of Betsy was not the first Corrie part Sydney tried to land. She initially auditioned for two smaller roles, without success. But she said: “Two weeks later, they called and asked if I wanted to audition for a series regular. I was like, ‘Yeah, that would be great!’

“I got the audition through for Betsy in February. It was a two-month process… an initial self-tape and then a read-through and screen tests. I didn’t know what I was doing but I was loving it. I just saw it as great experience – I didn’t take it I was going to get it.” But she did.

Sydney with on screen mum Vicky Myers

Sydney started working on Corrie two months ago and arrived on the cobbles as Betsy this week – and it is already clear her character is going to make her mark. The daughter of the show’s DS Lisa Swain, played by Vicky Myers, will play a key role in the explosive storyline of Lauren’s disappearance.

We see her blackmailing Joel (Calum Lill) who, it will be revealed, had been grooming Lauren. Sydney said: “Betsy’s been brought up by two female detectives but seems to have contempt for the law. “She lost her other mum when she was on duty so she has some disrespect for the career. But if she gets in trouble she’s, like, ‘Mum, you can get me out of it’. There’s this sort of playfulness there… she’s a bit naive and thinks the law doesn’t apply to her.

“She’s like my alter ego. She’s so confident and so feisty. I’d have loved to have been that confident at her age.” Despite being 22, baby-faced Sydney easily pulls off being a 16-year-old, but she joked: “I’ve been layering on moisturiser.” She is also full of praise for her co-star Vicky, saying: “In another universe, we were definitely mother and daughter. On my first day, Vicky got me flowers. It’s such a fast-paced environment but she really went out of her way to make sure I was OK.

“To come into a show like Corrie and have someone so supportive, it’s really touching. Sometimes you need a mummy figure.” Sydney added: “It’s so fun coming in every day. I truly am loving it.” And when she got her first pay cheque, she couldn’t help ignoring her father’s advice again. She admitted: “My dad was, like, ‘Save it!’ But I’ve just booked a holiday to Rome.”