'Downton Abbey's' Allen Leech on Season 3, his nickname for Maggie Smith and more (Zap2It)

By Andrea Reiher February 13, 2012 1:12

 PBS Masterpiece has been hosting a series of chats with various "Downton Abbey" cast members in recent weeks. You can read the highlights from Hugh Bonneville's chat here and the highlights from the chat with Laura Carmichael here.

But Monday, Feb. 13 the chat was with Allen Leech, who plays Branson. Leech is clearly very tech-savvy (his Twitter is always abuzz), so his chat was able to cram in a lot of questions during the hour timeframe. As such, we've included most of them here in Q&A format.

 Did you have any idea of how your character Branson would develop when you you joined the show 
 "Not at all! i wasn't even option for any of the following series so it was a great surprise to be back for season 2."

 Did you get any background about Branson's life? Where he grew up? Religion? How he came to become political?
 "Julian Fellows and myself created some of the back story and i did a lot of research of the time in which it is set. and Branson is Catholic BTW!"

 Will you miss the chauffeur uniform? I am sure viewers are sad they never got to see you in the driving goggles!
 "Dressing up as a leprechaun, will now have to be done in my spare time!! Actually yes i will miss it!! I looked like toad of toad hall in those goggles."

 Such fantastic cars you get to drive on the series. Can you tell us any mishaps of fun stories about shooting with the cars?
 "I left half the gear box on the road in the first series and Maggie never let me reverse the car whilst she was still in it! But she told me that i was a much better driver in the second series."

 What is your relationship like with Jessica Brown Findlay (Sybil) on the set? 
 "We laugh a lot, sometimes too much and we get in trouble. she corpses very easily (thats laughing during a take)"

 Are you happy that Branson finally gets to kiss Sybil? 
 "YES!!! It took long enough. In the story Branson has to be the most patient man IN THE WORLD! No wonder he spent so long polishing the Car Horn...... ahem"



There's more!  Read further:  http://blog.zap2it.com/frominsidethebox/2012/02/downton-abbeys-allen-leech-on-season-3-his-nickname-for-maggie-smith-and-more.html