O’Brien (Siobhan Finneran) and Thomas (Rob James-Collier) were thick as thieves — until this season. (
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The evolution of Thomas the footman from villain to sympathetic character is one of the surprises of the third season of “Downton Abbey.” Played from the outset as a sometimes cruel rascal by British actor Rob James-Collier, Thomas Barrow is the kind of handsome man even Edwardian women sense is off-limits — he’s gay. And he lets down his guard to reveal the frightened man underneath when a fetching lad named Jimmy Kent (Simon Baker look-alike Ed Speleers) gets a job at the manor house. As if being gay in England isn’t enough of a headache — homosexuality was a criminal offense at the time — Thomas has a nemesis in O’Brien (Siohban Finneran), the witchy lady’s maid.
One wouldn’t expect James-Collier to look like Thomas out of his “Downton” livery, but the actor, who is visiting New York, has done a 180-degree turn. Wearing khaki shorts that show off toned, hairy calves, and a blue crew-neck sweater that matches the sky outside the lobby of the Essex House, the 36-year-old actor betrays one element that would remind you of his character: a sense of mischief.
“I’m quite flirtatious with anyone,” says James-Collier. “Some people, because I’m playing a gay character, get quite nervous. And I have to reassure them. I’m like, ‘I’m not gay. I’m not coming on to you. Yet.’ ”
Thomas’ story line has made viewers stop the actor on the streets of London. “I had people going, ‘You made us cry for him, and that made us hate him even more.’ They empathize with him, so maybe I’ve turned a corner.”
James-Collier lives outside London with his partner, Lauren, who is half-British and half-Sri Lankan. They have a son, Milo, age 3. The actor speaks in a thick accent — when he says “doesn’t,” it comes out “duzzint” — that he’s happy to identify.
“I’m from Manchester. Second biggest city in England,” he says. “We brought the Stone Roses to you. And Oasis. And Joy Division. At one point, it was the most culturally significant city in the world, in 1988. For about two minutes.”
Unlike some storied members of the “Downton” cast, James-Collier didn’t put an acting career together by traditional means. Although he studied economics at Hubs University in Newcastle, he says, “I got into acting by accident. I was too lazy for real work.” The chiseled jawline and vaguely feline blue eyes did what years of projecting Shakespeare to the second balcony could not. After filling in for someone who didn’t show up to appear in a friend’s film, he found an acting coach by looking in the phone book. He has appeared on the British soap “Coronation Street” and been voted sexiest male two years in a row at the British Soap Awards.
The bulk of James-Collier’s “Downton” scenes are filmed far away from Highclere Castle — in Ealing Studios, location of the show’s “downstairs,” where the camaraderie is infectious. “Brendan Coyle (Mr. Bates) is hilarious. Allen Leech (Tom Branson) is hilarious. Siobhan Finneran is the opposite of the way O’Brien is. Phyllis Logan, who plays Mrs. Hughes, and Jim Carter, who’s Carson, they’ve got the C.V. They’ve got nothing to prove. It’s rare.”
The “downstairs” cast spends so much time in the kitchen, eating food, he says, “After 10 takes of eating pork pie, half-seven in the morning, you can get a bit nauseous. You start having the pork sweats, the beef sweats. It’s not good.”
Now that viewers are feeling sorry for Thomas, and “Downton” is preparing to shoot its fourth season, James-Collier is already thinking spinoff. “It’s Thomas as he opens the first Edwardian gay bar. But Julian’s not returning my e-mails,” he says. “He doesn’t seem that interested.”
DOWNTON ABBEY
Today, 9 p.m., PBS