We are just hours away from Downton Abbey‘s third season premiere (tonight at 9pm on PBS) here in the states! I was lucky enough to watch a couple of the new episodes, and I can already tell this time around is going to be just as good as the first two. Plus legendary actress Shirley Maclaine is joining the cast as Cora’s (Elizabeth Perkins) outspoken mother from the states, who definitely intends to shake things up at Downton! And of course the villain you love to hate, Thomas Barrow will be lurking around with sneaky lady maid Sarah O’Brien Siobhan Finneran, those two are always up to no good! Rob James-Collier who plays Thomas is featured on the latest cover of OUT magazine, looking totally sexy, he’s such a total cutie. Although he’s not gay in real life (he’s married and has a son), he talks to the magazine about what it’s like to play a gay character back in Edwardian England. Check out the full article on the magazine’s website, and don’t forget to tune in tonight for the big premiere!
Over its first two seasons, Downton Abbey has become a bona fide sensation. The show has been nothing short of a phenomenon, a runaway success for PBS, far outpacing in ratings that other popular period drama, Mad Men. As the world readies for the show’s third season, so, too, do the series legion of LGBT fans. This is the season in which that villainous gay footman-turned-valet, Thomas Barrow, experiences the tender love that his poor, neglected heart so craves and needs. Rob James-Collier, the actor behind the tumultuous Thomas, sat with OUT editor in chief Aaron Hicklin to discuss the upcoming season, his early days of acting, and playing gay in Edwardian England. SOURCE