tom banks, played by colm ó maonlaí, is a firefighter who had been friends with sharon watts (letitia dean) when they were young. when he reappears in walford in 2002 they become close again. they begin dating, and despite interference from sharon's ex-boyfriend phil mitchell (steve mcfadden) and tom's psychotic ex-wife sadie (isobel middleton), they stay together. however, things do take a turn for the worse for the couple, when tom discovers he has a brain tumour.