- "All my life they've pushed me around just cos I'm different."
- —Thomas to Edward Courtenay.[src]
Thomas Barrow is under butler at Downton Abbey. He arrived at Downton in 1910, indicating in 1920 he had worked there for ten years.[1]Before the First World War he was first footman, later enlisting in the army as a medic in an attempt to save himself from the active duty on the front.
Background
Little is known of Thomas' family but he does tell Sarah O'Brien and later Jimmy Kent that his father was a clockmaker. As a result, he apparently has a natural affinity with clocks, saying that he grew up with them and "understands" them. O'Brien calls him the clock expert. He has worked in Downton for 10 years and as a footman used to wind all the clocks in the house. He also appears to be quite talented at cricket, Lord Grantham stating as much, noting he got most of the house team's runs in the 1919 match. He mentions having a cousin in Bombay to Bates.
He is gay, and has had an affair with the Duke of Crowborough, while the Crawleys were in London.
Season One
At the beginning of the series Thomas the footman has been working toward being a valet and the position of valet to Lord Robert looks like it will be his, when suddenly Lord Robert hires John Bates who has not been a valet before and walks with a cane. Thomas and Sarah O'Brien The two begin plotting to get John Bates fired, and they try to sabotage his work.
Thomas with the Duke.
The Duke of Crowborough Has come to Downton, ostensibly to pay his condolences for the deaths of James and Patrick Crawley on the Titanic. In actuality, Thomas has written to the Duke to advise him that Robert Crawley will contest the entailment and Mary Crawley will be a wealthy heiress. The Duke wants a wealthy wife, and Thomas wants to be hired as his personal valet. When this information proved inaccurate and did not work, he tried to resort to blackmail, with letters the Duke had sent him. It is revealed that they had an affair (what the Duke calls a summer dalliance), when the Crawleys were staying in London. However, the Duke stole his letters back from Thomas and destroyed them.
The new heir Matthew Crawley arrives and local man, Molesley, is hired to be his valet. Thomas is furious that he was not offered the job.
Thomas later makes an advance on Kemal Pamuk, a Turkish envoy who is staying as a guest for a hunt, but Kemal slaps his hand away and says he will tell Lord Grantham if Thomas does not tell him where Mary Crawley's room is. Thomas agrees and takes him her room that night. The next day he is shocked to find Kemal dead in his own bed. He is one of the few people who knew that Kemal was in Mary's room the night he died, but it is uncertain if he knows that he died there. He does relate what he knows to O'Brien.
Thomas realizes that his fellow footman William has feelings for kitchen maid Daisy and is planning to ask her to go to the fair. Thomas maliciously asks her first. He shows her how to do the latest dances. Daisy has a chrush on Thomas, and Mrs. Patmore tries to tell her that Thomas isn't a ladies man, but naive Daisy doesn't understand why that isn't a good thing. Thomas also makes a comment about William's mother who has died, which results in a fight.
Thomas remains extremely annoyed that he had been passed up for the position of Lord Grantham's valet by "Long John Silver", which is what he calls John Bates when talking with Ms O'Brien about the new valet. He is always at odds with John. Bates catches him stealing wine and threatens to tell Mr. Carson, unless Thomas stops insulting William. Thomas and O'Brien attempt to get him fired for theft by planting one of Robert's snuff boxes in his room, but Anna warns him, and he replaces it without informing on them. They later try accusing him of being the one who has been stealing wine. He and Ms O'Brien get Daisy to lie to Mr Carson. But Daisy feels guilty and admits that she lied, and then later when Molesley sees Thomas "replacing" Carson's wallet, that he found, back into his jacket, Carson tells Lord Robert, and they agree to fire Thomas.
Thomas realizes that his days are numbered, so he has preemptively asked Dr. Clarkson about joining the army medical corp., to train as a medic, which will also keep him out of active military service as war is looming. He hands in his notice and everyone is happy to not have the drama of dismissing him.
Season Two
The First World War (called the Great War) is going on and Thomas who has enlisting in the army as a medic is in the trenches, alongside Matthew Crawley.
Despite being a medic, Thomas finds himself still under fire on the front lines. He sees a fellow medic, just beside him, get shot in the head and die. He holds a lighter above the trench wall one night in order to get his hand shot, thus effectively removing himself from the front lines. Through this action, he gets sent back to Downton Abbey, where he begins to work in the local hospital alongside Lady Sybil who is working as a nurse.
Thomas developed feelings for a patient, Lieutenant Edward Courtenay, while Edward was recovering from gas-blindness. This is one of the first times Thomas is seen with a very kind and caring side. After being told that he was to be moved out of the hospital to make room for newer, wounded patients Thomas and Sybil are both concerned for him and try to persuade Dr. Clarkson to allow Edward to stay. Edward committed suicide with a razor he sneaked into his bed. Thomas is devastated, and is left crying, alone again. It is this incident which prompts Isobel Crawley to persuade Cora to turn Downton Abbey into a convalescence hospital for the duration of the war.
As Cora is at odds with Isobel, who is trying to run the place, O'Brien suggests that Thomas be made the manager of Downton, as he knows medicine, knows the house, and will automatically hold Cora in respect. Carson is not pleased as this makes Thomas his superior.
After the war Thomas tries to make it as a black market businessman, but he foolishly spent all of the money he had saved buying from a man he had only briefly met in a bar. He bought high-end food stuffs that looked like quality goods, but turned out to be fake or adulterated. He gives samples to Daisy to cook a cake for Mrs. Patmore. She will test it to judge the quality of Thomas' goods before they place orders with him, but the results are disastrous. Thomas goes to where he is keeping the goods and destroys them in a fit of rage. He realizes that he will be forced to return to Downton abbey as a footman.
John Bates is imprisoned for his wife's murder, and Lord Robert needs a replacement valet. He is not convinced that Thomas should get the job, because of the past, even though he served well in the war, and seems to have reformed. O'Brien advises Thomas to take something of his lordship and then find it and return it, to prove his trustworthiness. Thomas lures Lord Grantham's dog Isis away and puts her in a shed. There is a reward and Thomas anticipates that as well as the glory of "being a hero by finding her". However, in the Christmas Special, when he goes out that evening looking for her, he finds that Isis has gone missing from where he'd hidden her, he spends all night looking for her, getting muddied and frustrated; but it turns out that she was found and has been returned by a child from the village. Lord Grantham, walking out early in the morning with Isis, is so impressed by Thomas' effort to find his dog that he decides Thomas has changed and is convinced to give Thomas a trial at being his valet, until John can be released from his incarceration. So, Thomas finally has his dream job. Much to Mr. Carson's surprise and doubt.
Season Three
By 1920 Thomas is working as valet to Lord Grantham and he is angry when he is told by Molesley that Matthew will not be bringing a valet to Downton. He worries that he will have to do all the work as Robert will allow no new hires. Thomas instigates Daisy to go on strike over the fact that a new kitchen maid hasn't been hired, but tells her not to say that he put her up to it.
Sarah O'Brien gets her nephew Alfred Nugent hired at Downton to work as a footman. Thomas and Carson have refused to have anything to do with Tom Branson so Alfred has been helping him as well, taking care of his clothes and checking that he has everything. Later Alfred is being valet for Matthew, and, despite the fact that Thomas hadn't wanted the extra work, he is angry that he wasn't asked to do it. Sarah O'Brien is fond of her nephew, and wants to see him succeed. She has considered Thomas a friend, and even told her secrets to him. She asks Thomas to teach Alfred to be a valet to Matthew Crawley. Thomas absolutely refuses. Thomas had struggled, worked and schemed for 9 years to rise to the level of valet in a noble house. Alfred is a barely experienced footman, and Thomas sees it as an insult that he could just fall into the job in a matter of weeks. In Thomas' hearing, O'Brien tells Alfred that he is not vain like Thomas.
Thomas then sabotages Alfred's efforts to clean a spot off of Matthew's tailcoat, resulting in a hole being burned through it. Thomas convinces Lord Robert that this is proof of Alfred's being not ready for the job. Thomas repeatedly insults Alfred, and Sarah and Thomas each repeatedly try to damage the reputation of the other. O'Brien hides all of Lord Grantham's dress shirts and Thomas gets blamed for losing them. When he confronts her about it, she tells him to keep his histrionics to himself, and later when the shirts mysteriously are returned, she just tells him to go and get his lordship into his pajamas and dismisses Thomas' threats about if anything like this happens again (Thomas after this hides a couple so as not to be caught out again). Thomas knows it was O'Brien or Alfred. He starts a rumor by telling Molesley that Sarah is going to leave Lady Grantham's service.
When Mr. Carson tells her of the rumor, she later learns from Molesley that Thomas started it, she knows it wasn't a mistake. She confronts Thomas and threatens him that someway she is going to make sure that nothing is right for him.
In 1920 a handsome new footman, James, is hired and Thomas feels an immediate attraction to him. Sarah sees this. She has been acting as if their feud is now in the past. John Bates has been released from prison. Thomas is still hoping to remain valet, as he is told that Carson is "sorting things out", but Robert just wants Bates to rest before he comes back to his job.
Sarah O'Brien in an attempt to get Thomas fired is leading him to believe that James has feelings for him. She encourages James to learn from Thomas and to not say anything, when James feels that Thomas is being overly familiar. When James is asked to wind the clocks, O'Brien calls Thomas the clock expert and tells James to get him to show him how. James is uncomfortable with Thomas' familiarity, but he goes along with it, as Sarah leads him to believe his position could be in jeopardy if he doesn't. Sarah also tricks Thomas into believing James has feelings for him, telling him that he won't stop talking to Alfred about him.
Sybil dies in childbirth, and Thomas is reduced to tears, while Anna comforts him outside. He tells her how they worked together during the war, and she was one of the few people that ever cared about him.
Thomas goes into James' room when he is asleep and kisses him, thinking his feelings will be returned. James awakes and is very angry, reacting violently and indicating he feels nothing for Thomas, which leaves Thomas shocked and upset. Alfred witnesses this, but Thomas says that he is nothing and no one will believe him. James through him out and he sees Alfred glaring at him from a doorway.
After misunderstanding with jimmy seems to accept that he has to leave mr. Carson tells him in episode 8 that mr. Bates will be returning the next morning. To make matters worse, Alfred catches Thomas in the act, though Thomas at first thinks no one will believe Alfred. O'Brien encourages him to tell mr Carson.
Mr Carson finds out and says that Thomas will have to leave Downton, but that he will be given a good reference. Thomas defends Jimmy, saying none of this was his fault. Thomas says he felt an attraction to Jimmy and thought Jimmy returned it, but he was wrong. According to Mr Carson, Jimmy has every right to report Thomas to the police. Mr Carson calls Thomas "foul" because of his homosexuality but despite everything, Thomas sticks up for himself saying "I'm not the same as you, but I'm not foul".
Jimmy is satisfied that Thomas will be leaving, but it is not enough for Sarah O'Brien. She tells Jimmy that he must insist that Thomas be made to leave without a reference, otherwise he is to threaten to tell the police of what Thomas has done, and make it almost impossible for him to find another job. She tells Jimmy that unless he insists that someone like Thomas cannot be allowed to go to another respectable position, people will think that he is sympathetic and then they might suspect him of encouraging Thomas' advances. Thomas is devastated and feels he has been "well and truly beaten". Carson sees no option but to refuse a reference as otherwise the intervention of the police would cause gossip and scandal. It is only the intervention of John Bates who not only takes the matter to Lord Grantham, but uses information he gets from Thomas to force Sarah O'Brien to make Jimmy take back his threat. Unexpected intervention of John bates overhears bits of what is going on goes to Mr. Hughes for the whole story. Can't let a man have his life out of control taken away gets Thomas to give him something to pressure O'Brien to make situation right her ladyship soap? Thomas is much surprised at John bates helping.Not pleased when lord Grantham decides to let Thomas stay.
He also appears to be quite talented at cricket, Lord Grantham stating as much, noting he got most of the house team's runs in the 1919 match. He plays extremely well in 1920, again praised by Lord Grantham. He mentions having a cousin in Bombay to Bates. Fortunately, circumstances changed and he was given his current position of under-butler.to begin with Thomas is close friends to O'Brien thick as thieves lord Grantham calls them and surprised they have had a falling out. Lead Thomas lose his job questioned by the police More than a year after these events, in the 2012 Christmas Special, Jimmy at first still appears uncomfortable around Thomas, not wanting to be seen to be alone with him or accept the gift of a drink when Thomas offers to buy everyone one. Thomas is still in love with Jimmy, despite everything that has occurred. Alfred confirms that Thomas won't allow a word to be said against Jimmy. Thomas also lends a hand when Jimmy is doing something difficult. At the fair Thomas follows Jimmy, as he knows that he has had too much to drink. Later, whilst at Thirsk fair, which most of the staff attends, Jimmy wins some money in a bet. Later, whilst Jimmy is walking alone, two men attempt to rob him. Thomas appears and steps in to protect him and is beaten and robbed in his place, after Jimmy runs away and leaves him there. Jimmy fetches Dr. Richard Clarkson and some of the other staff for Thomas and stays silent whilst Thomas fails to say what really happened and so avoids telling everyone that Jimmy left him alone to face the two men and get beaten.
Jimmy later goes to see Thomas alone in his room and ask if he is alright. Jimmy says that Thomas was "brave" and that he feels bad for leaving him. Thomas reveals that he was following Jimmy that day as he had seen that Jimmy had had too much to drink. When Jimmy asks why he was doing this Thomas says that Jimmy "knows why", implying that he still has feelings for Jimmy. Jimmy says that he can never give Thomas what he wants, and Thomas says that he understands that but would like them to be friends. Jimmy says he can do that if it is only being friends and the scene ends on them chatting over a newspaper.
Thomas travels to Duneagle castle in Scotland with the Crawley's and at the Gillies Ball Thomas asks the Dowager Countess of Grantham to dance, which she is quite pleased to do.
Personality
He is a very closeted gay man, this was not an option at the time, homosexuality was a criminal offense punishable by imprisonment. This has made him reserved and aloof. He tells Edward Courtney the blinded wounded soldier that he comes to have feelings for when he works in the hospital during the war that he has been pushed around all of his life because he is different. He tells Carson that one someone is like him they must judge if someone else is interested by signes as no-one dares to speak aloud about it. None of the relationships that we have seen have gone well for Thomas. He had an affair with the Duke of Crowborough, who then refused to hire him as his personal valet. He tried to resort to blackmail, but the Duke stole his letters back from Thomas, and destroyed them. Thomas later makes an advance on Kemal Pamuk, a Turkish envoy, who threatens to tell Lord Grantham if Thomas does not tell him where Mary Crawley's room is. Later, it is implied that he falls in love with Edward Courtenay, who commits suicide. Thomas is misled by O'Brien into thinking that Jimmy is gay, and tries to kiss him while he is sleeping, but Jimmy is horrified (and most certainly does not reciprocate Thomas' feelings.) Still Thomas is not ashamed of what he is. Carson says that he is revolted and that Thomas has been twisted by nature into something foul. Thomas tells him they are not the same, but he is not foul. He has an affinity with clocks and calls them living things.
Thomas and Sarah O'Brien are called "thick as thieves". In the beginning they are close. They both seem to hold people in disdain and enjoy scheming and manipulating others. Thomas creates his own problems with O'Brien by refusing to teach Alfred. She was the closest person he had in Downton to a friend; she had put her job on the line for him trying to oust John Bates and telling him her secrets. Thomas refuses to help Alfred out of pride in his own importance. He has shown himself to be capable of being very cruel, for example, he asked Daisy to go to the fair with him just to upset William Mason who was planning to ask her. And he is capable of telling very nasty insults. Also he later made comments about William's mother after she had died, which resulted in a fight. After John Bates is found guilty of his wife's murder and sentenced to hang, Thomas' first comment to O'Brien is, "Now the'll have to be a new valet won't there?" O'Brien replies that she doesn't often feel selfless, but around him she does. However, as the series progressed Thomas appeared to learn some humility after his set backs trying to speculate in the black market, and his attitude toward working as a footman became much more positive. Fans speculate that Thomas' failed relationships made him bitter. However he is still not above using crooked methods to further his own career, such as when he locked Isis in a shed.
Relationships
Sarah O'Brien
To begin with Thomas is good friends with Sarah, "thick as thieves" according to Lord Grantham. The two of them are constantly plotting to get John Bates thrown out, although none of their schemes are successful.
Thomas and Sarah become bitter rivals when Sarah's nephew Alfred Nugent comes to Downton to work as a footman. Sarah O'Brien is is fond of her nephew, and wants to see him succeed. She has considered Thomas a friend, she plotted with him to get Bates fired, and even told her secrets to him. She asks Thomas to teach Alfred to be a valet to Matthew Crawley. Thomas absolutely refuses. Thomas had struggled, worked and schemed for 9 years to rise to the level of valet in a noble house. Alfred is a barely experienced footman, and Thomas sees it as an insult that he could just fall into the job in a matter of weeks. Thomas then sabotages Alfred's efforts to clean a spot off of Matthew's tailcoat, resulting in a hole being burned through it. Thomas convinces Lord Robert that this is proof of Alfred's being not ready for the job. Thomas repeatedly insults Alfred, and Sarah and Thomas each repeatedly try to damage the reputation of the other. O'Brien takes a stack of Robert's dress shirts and hides them so that Thomas is blamed for losing them, when his lordship cannot dress or dinner. When Lady Edith is left at the altar, Sarah says that she wouldnt be able to handle the shame. Thomas makes the nasty comment that it's a good thing no one has ever asked her.
When Thomas starts a rumor that Sarah is going to leave Lady Grantham's service, it is the last straw, and O'Brien vows to get revenge. She tells Molesley to tell him that she may make some honest mistakes of her own and later threatens Thomas that soon everything will be "all wrong" with him.
(see below relationship - Jimmy Kent)
John Bates
To begin with, Thomas is extremely annoyed that he had been passed up for the position of Lord Grantham's valet by "Long John Silver", which is what he calls John Bates when talking with Ms O'Brien about the new valet. Throughout the first series, he is always at odds with John, trying to get him fired for theft so that he could become a valet, then later accusing him of stealing some wine, whilst teaming up with Ms O'Brien and getting Daisy to lie to Mr Carson.
During the second series, the animosity between Thomas and John is not seen much, due to many reasons, one being that Thomas was in the Army Medical Corps for a short time; but by the Christmas Special, set in 1919 and moving through to early 1920, he makes the comment to Ms O'Brien that "There'll have to be a new valet now, won't there?" when everyone finds out that John is sentenced to hang, which causes the lady's maid to reply that "I don't often feel selfless; but when I'm with you, I do." Thomas wins Lord Grantham's favor and Bates' job as valet when he takes Lord Grantham's dog, so that he can be a hero by finding her. Isis has gone missing from where he'd hidden her, and he spends all night looking for her. Lord Grantham, however, is so impressed by Thomas' effort to find his dog that he ends up giving Thomas a trial as his valet.
In Series 3, Thomas still feels animosity toward John. Anna is renting out Vera's residence that was Bates' mother's house, but Thomas says that a murderer shouldn't profit from his crimes. When Bates is released from his wrongful conviction, Thomas is bitter that his former rival has returned. Thomas still hopes that Lord Robert will decide to retain him as valet. He makes the comment that "It's Mr. Barrow now, Mr. Bates. And yes, I'm still here, and busy as a bee." However, it is increasingly obvious that Lord Grantham expects Bates to return to the job.
He is subsequently embroiled in the scandal with James the footman and almost accepts it as inevitable when, during Episode 8, Mr Carson tells him that John will be returning to his former job the next morning. To Thomas' great surprise, John decides to strike up a temporary alliance against Ms O'Brien with him (which Anna heartily disagrees to). John Bates has found out the story from Mrs. Hughes and learned that Thomas could possibly be sent to prison for criminal assault, a fate he would wish on no man. though Thomas has schemed against him for years and plotted to get him fired, he has to help. Bates tells Anna that he knows how it feels to find yourself trapped and feeling your control of your own life slipping away. He gets Thomas to tell him something that will make Sarah O'Brien stop pushing James the footman into threatening to go to the police if Thomas is not dismissed without a reference, due to his homosexuality. When Lord Grantham subsequently decides to keep Thomas at Downton, he discusses it with John. He dislikes that Thomas will be staying on. The dislike between the two appears as John comments "Couldn't Mr. Barrow just stay until after the match, milord, and then go?" and then further saying "He might not want to stay, milord, after the unpleasantness." Later, bates tells Anna that he was a fool, and if he had just stayed out of it Thomas would have been out of their lives forever. Overall, the relationship between Thomas and John is not exactly hate, but it's not a fully-fledged friendship, either. Thomas is amazed that John Bates his long time rival will help him. He says that prison has changed him.
Edward Courtenay
Thomas developed feelings for Lieutenant Edward Courtenay while Edward was recovering from gas-blindness. This is one of the first times Thomas is seen with a very kind and caring side. Edward is despondent and fears that he will never see again. Thomas tells him that he has to fight and get through this. Thomas shares that he himself has always been pushed around, because he was different. He doesn't tell Edward how he is different and it is not shown that Edward shared Thomas' feelings. After being told that he was to be moved out of the hospital to make room for newer, terminal patients. Edward committed suicide with a razor he sneaked into his bed. Thomas is seen crying and is left alone again.
Sybil Branson
Sybil seems to be the one member of the Crawley family whom Thomas likes. They worked together during the war when Downton was a convalescent home and Sybil works there as a nurse. They both like and are concerned about Edward Courtenay and try to convince Dr. Clarkson to let him stay on instead of being transferred. Thomas later tells Anna that she was one of the few people who was kind to him in his life, and is very upset and cries when she dies in childbirth.
Jimmy Kent
In 1920 Thomas develops an attraction to the handsome new footman Jimmy Kent. He begins to behave very uncharacteristically. He goes out of his way to see and talk to him. Thomas also begins smiling a lot more. Thomas comes to his door, while Jimmy is getting dressed. Thomas starts to think that Jimmy has feelings for him. This is partly wishful thinking and mostly Sarah O'Brien's efforts to lead Thomas to believe that Jimmy returns these feelings, in an attempt to get revenge on Thomas by getting him fired. At the same time, O'Brien encourages Jimmy to learn from Thomas, as he has Lord Robert's ear, and can further his career, and to not say anything when Jimmy feels that Thomas is being overly familiar. O'Brien has Jimmy go to Thomas to show him how to wind the clocks. Thomas holds Jimmy's hand while standing behind him with his other hand on Jimmy's shoulder. Thomas frequently touches Jimmy, who is uncomfortable with Thomas' actions, but he goes along with it, as Sarah leads him to believe his position could be in jeopardy if he makes a fuss about it and that it is a good thing that Thomas likes him. Sarah tells Thomas that Jimmy has a crush on him and that he won't stop gushing to Alfred about Thomas.
Jimmy comes to Thomas with his problems. He wants the job of first footman, but thinks that Mr. Carson favors Alfred. Thomas impulsively says, "Well, I love you." That night Thomas goes into Jimmy's room when he is asleep and kisses him passionately, thinking his feelings will be returned. Jimmy awakes and is very angry, reacting violently and indicating that he feels nothing for Thomas. He throws Thomas out of his room leaving him with tears in his eyes standing in the hallway.
To make matters worse, Alfred sees it and tells Mr Carson who says that Thomas will have to leave Downton, but that he will be given a good reference. Thomas defends Jimmy, saying none of this was his fault and that he was an innocent victim. Thomas says he felt an attraction to Jimmy and thought Jimmy returned it, but he was wrong. According to Mr Carson, Jimmy has every right to report Thomas to the police. Mr Carson calls Thomas "foul" because of his homosexuality but despite everything, Thomas sticks up for himself saying "I'm not the same as you, but I'm not foul".
Jimmy is satisfied that Thomas will be leaving, but it is not enough for Sarah O'Brien. She tells Jimmy that he must insist that Thomas be made to leave without a reference, otherwise he is to threaten to tell the police of what Thomas has done. No reference after 10 years would make it almost impossible for him to find another job. She tells Jimmy that unless he insists that someone like Thomas cannot be allowed to go to another respectable position, people will think that he is sympathetic and then they might suspect him of encouraging Thomas' advances. Thomas is devastated by Jimmy's betrayal. He still believes that Jimmy himself would not be capable of this and that some one has put him up to it. He even loses the will to fight for himself, as he later tells Bates, he feels as if he has been "well and truly beaten". Carson sees no option but to refuse a reference as otherwise the intervention of the police would cause gossip and scandal. It is only the intervention of John Bates who not only takes the matter to Lord Grantham, but also uses information he gets from Thomas to force Sarah O'Brien to make Jimmy take back his threat, that allows Thomas to keep his job. Jimmy is unsure about Thomas staying, but Robert tells him at the same time that he has been promoted to the job of first footman.
More than a year after these events, in the 2012 Christmas Special, Jimmy at first still appears uncomfortable around Thomas, not wanting to be seen to be alone with him or accept the gift of a drink when Thomas offers to buy everyone one. Thomas is still in love with Jimmy, despite everything that has occurred. Alfred confirms that Thomas won't allow a word to be said against Jimmy. Thomas, despite his bad hand also lends help when Jimmy is doing something difficult like moving a heavy trunk.
At the fair in Thirsk, Thomas follows Jimmy, as he knows that he has had too much to drink and is carrying the money he won in a bet. Later, whilst Jimmy is walking alone, two men attempt to rob him. Thomas appears, steps in to protect him, and tells Jimmy to run. Thomas is beaten and robbed in his place, after Jimmy runs away and leaves him there. Jimmy fetches Dr. Richard Clarkson and some of the other staff for Thomas and stays silent whilst Thomas fails to say what really happened and so avoids telling everyone that Jimmy left him alone to face the two men and get beaten.
Jimmy later goes to see Thomas alone in his room and ask if he is alright. Jimmy says that Thomas was "brave" and that he feels bad for leaving him. Thomas disagrees and says that he should have run, if he didn't get away what was the point of Thomas doing any of it. He reveals that he had been following Jimmy that day as he had seen that Jimmy had had too much to drink. When Jimmy asks why he was doing this Thomas says that Jimmy "knows why", implying that he still has feelings for Jimmy. Jimmy says that he can never give Thomas what he wants, and Thomas says that he understands that, but would like them to be friends. Jimmy says he can do that if it is only being friends and the scene ends on them chatting over a newspaper.
Quotes
- "Imagine Carson without a footman, like a ring master without a pony."
- —Thomas in Episode 2.02.
- "In my life, not many have been kind to me. She was one of the few."
- —Thomas talking about Lady Sybil.
- Thomas: "All my life they've pushed me around... just 'cause I'm different."
- Edward: "How? Why are you different?"
- Thomas: "Never mind. Look... look, I don't know if you're going to see again or not. But I do know you have to fight back."
- — Episode 2.02
- "I'm not foul Mr Carson. I'm not the same as you, but I'm not foul."
- —Thomas defending himself to Mr. Carson.
Appearances
| Appearances and Mentions | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Series 1 | Episode 1 Appears |
Episode 2 Appears |
Episode 3 Appears |
Episode 4 Appears |
Episode 5 Appears |
Episode 6 Appears |
Episode 7 Appears |
— | — |
| Series 2 | Episode 1 Appears |
Episode 2 Appears |
Episode 3 Appears |
Episode 4 Appears |
Episode 5 Appears |
Episode 6 Appears |
Episode 7 Appears |
Episode 8 Appears |
Christmas Special Appears |
| Series 3 | Episode 1 Appears |
Episode 2 Appears |
Episode 3 Appears |
Episode 4 Appears |
Episode 5 Appears |
Episode 6 Appears |
Episode 7 Appears |
Episode 8 Appears |
Christmas Special Appears |
| Series 4 | Episode 1 | Episode 2 | Episode 3 | Episode 4 | Episode 5 | Episode 6 | Episode 7 | Episode 8 | Christmas Special |
| Series 5 | Episode 1 | Episode 2 | Episode 3 | Episode 4 | Episode 5 | Episode 6 | Episode 7 | Episode 8 | Christmas Special |
| Series 6 | Episode 1 | Episode 2 | Episode 3 | Episode 4 | Episode 5 | Episode 6 | Episode 7 | Episode 8 | Christmas Special |
Behind the scenes
Julian Fellowes the writer of the show has said that Thomas is not as smart as he thinks he is.
Notes
References
- ↑ In the NEXT TIME preview for Episode 3.08 Thomas says "Ten years" as to how long he has been working at Downton.