Who plays the character of Tom Branson?

Allen Leech plays Tom Branson in Downton Abbey.

Tom Branson first arrives as the Crawley family’s chauffeur and becomes one of the drama’s most important bridges between the servants, the aristocratic family, and a changing political world. His full name is Thomas Ferguson Niall Branson. He is an outspoken socialist, Irish nationalist, and republican, beliefs that place him at odds with the traditional upper-class assumptions surrounding Downton.

Tom develops a close relationship with Lady Sybil Crawley, and their shared political interests grow into love. After the First World War, they marry in Dublin, but their life in Ireland becomes dangerous when Tom is implicated in the burning of an Anglo-Irish nobleman’s house during the Irish Civil War. He later returns to Downton and becomes the estate’s agent, giving him a role in both family affairs and its economic future.

Leech is an Irish actor from County Dublin. He reprised Tom in the Downton Abbey films. Viewers sometimes confuse him with Matthew Goode, who plays Henry Talbot, Lady Mary’s later husband.