Slaves to passion

A WOMAN scorned can be a terrifying thing. Even more worrying is when thieves fall out. Footman Thomas and lady’s maid O’Brien have established themselves as Downton Abbey’s terrible twosome, forever plotting and scheming against those both upstairs and downstairs.

Things are changing in the third series. This pair of plotters have a falling out. “Yes, we’ve turned on each other and there’s no honour among thieves,”

says Rob James Collier, the former Coronation Street actor who plays Thomas.

The cause is the arrival of O’Brien’s nephew Alfred as a new footman. “Thomas sees a young man moving along the chain faster than he did, without having to jump over the obstacles he did. He’s jealous and resents it,” says Collier. “He sets about a series of things to undermine Alfred, to humiliate him and essentially make him look inept at his job so he gets the sack.”

O’Brien (played by Siobhan Finneran, in a very different guise to her Benidorm role) works this out and decides to get Thomas back. “We have this oneupmanship which turns into something quite nasty towards the end, and drags in other members of the downstairs fraternity,” he says.

So who’s the nastiest? “I don’t know, you tell me.

I think O’Brien is the cleverest. I wouldn’t want to face her. Doing scenes with Siobhan when she gives you an O’Brien look is quite scary. She’s brilliant,” says Collier.

He’s pleased that their dynamic is changing.

Long-term they needed to change the relationship or it would just be the same old, same old, he says.

“To have us going against each other is a natural progression. It was only a matter of time before one p***ed the other off and then to see them going at each other claws-out is great.”

Thomas’s sexuality – he’s gay – will be explored after he thinks he’s in love. “It takes him on a very emotional journey and for the first time we look at Thomas’s sexuality and how that affects him in Edwardian times.

“What a burden it must be keeping a secret like that, not being able to allow yourself to be who you are because you’d be put in prison or chastised for being against God, for being evil. In those times, unfortunately, that’s how it was perceived.

“It shows a side of Thomas we haven’t seen. I hope the viewers get upset and feel sorry for him. They might not, which means I’m a s*** actor. We’ll just have to wait and see.”

Jim Carter would like butler Mr Carson to have a life outside Downton too. A romantic liaison with head housekeeper Mrs Hughes (Phyllis Logan) is surely on the cards.

“We don’t have quite as many of our sherry moments as we used to. I miss those, it would be nice to get those back in. There’s a professional understanding between them, but also a little twinkle I like to think,” says Harrogate -born Carter.

“Carson is always on display, buttoned up and on duty. The mask doesn’t slip. You see a little more humanity or vulnerability when he’s with Mrs Hughes. They’ve known each other for so long they can be slightly more honest.”

Carter would like writer Julian Fellowes to investigate what Carson does on his afternoons off.

“Does he have hobbies or is he always on duty? He can’t go to bed in his stiff collar, can he?” asks Carter.

“There are hardly any moments when he’s offduty.

He must do something after church on Sunday.

I would be really interested to find out, it’s time to get under the skin a little bit more.”

Phyllis Logan isn’t so sure about romance between Mrs Hughes and the butler. “I like the relationship the way it is,” she says. “I would like maybe to see them outside Downton Abbey, not necessarily as a romantic couple but maybe go on a long walk. A walk – how racy. But that would be exciting compared to what we do.

“There are moments we meet up in his sitting room or her place, we have a wee sherry and discuss what’s going on upstairs. It’s like us encapsulating the situation for viewers at home who’ve missed it while making a cup of tea.”

Absent from downstairs is Brendan Coyle, whose valet Mr Bates is languishing behind bars for killing his wife. His imprisonment has sparked a Free Bates campaign around the world with T-shirts and mugs produced. Prison scenes are filmed in a Victorian prison in Lincoln which means he sees little of his Downton co-stars except Joanne Froggatt who plays his wife, lady’s maid Anna.

THE couple can take comfort from being the “most loved couple on Downton”, although Froggatt acknowledges they’re an unlikely pair. “We’re not young and glamorous like Mary and Matthew. We’re not beautifully dressed and all the rest of it,” she says.

“They’ve had their fair share of trials and tribulations but I hope people think they’re really decent people, striving to live good lives.”

Coyle attributes it to Fellowes’ writing. “There was so much against them and it’s been a slow blossoming of the romance. People wanted it to happen.

The pay-off is people’s reactions. I think it’s great storytelling,” he says.

Mr Bates has become something of a heartthrob.

“The ladies certainly love Mr Bates, I can vouch for that,” says Scarborough-born Froggatt. Coyle plays down the pin-up aspect but does talk about reaction to Bates having a limp, the result of a war wound.

“My favourite fan letter was from a guy who had a disability and had had nicknames all his life, which invariably upset him. His nickname now is Mr Bates, and he wrote and said thank you for giving him such a cool nickname.”

• Downton Abbey: Sundays, ITV1, 9pm