Lord Alex Oakwell

Lord "Alex" Oakwell is a fictional character and recurring antagonist of the ITV British soap opera programme, Emmerdale; serving as one of the secondary antagonists in between 1997 and 1998, as well as appearing as the main antagonist in the show's 1998 spin-off movie Emmerdale: Revenge.

Storylines
Lord Alex Oakwell first appeared in 9th July 1997 when he and his fiancee, Tara Thornfield, formed a business partnership with local businesswoman Kim Tate — the lady manor of Home Farm Estates. Alex was set to marry Tara, but he soon begins a romantic affair with Kim — even though she is already engaged with her late husband's business partner, Steve Marchant. By the time Alex and Tara have gotten married, he continues his affair with Kim until Steve discovers this and warns her about Alex's ulterior motives. At first Kim continues to build her partnership with Alex, but she eventually questions his character when it's soon revealed that Alex has developed a substance abuse problem. Kim learns about this when she catches Alex taking cocaine in the midst of her engagement party to Steve. During the party at Home Farm, Alex flirts with Linda Fowler — a local vet and the best friend of Kim's stepdaughter Zoe — and he offers to take her home. Linda agrees, but the pair later descend into a fight when Alex abruptly loses control of his car — due to the cocaine he consumed; Alex ends up crashing the car into a tree, injuring Linda in the process. Taking advantage of the unconscious Linda, he moves her to the driver's seat and flees the area after kissing her goodbye. As a result of what Alex had done, Linda is incriminated for causing the car accident and she later dies in hospital — leaving her father Ned and his son-in-law Biff, who married Linda on Boxing Day 1996, devastated.

By the time Alex's involvement in Linda's death is uncovered, Biff and Ned threaten Kim and Tara with revenge after learning how the pair were involved in Alex's shady dealings — given that Tara had married Alex while Kim formed a romantic partnership with him. The result escalates Kim's conflict with the Glover family, as she was partly responsible for the death of Ned's son Dave when he died saving her son James following the revelation of their affair behind the backs of their marriage couples — Kim's husband Frank and his former daughter-in-law Kathy, who married Dave after her previous marriage with Frank's son Chris had ended as a result of his affair with Kathy's best friend Rachel Hughes. At one point, Ned takes revenge by setting fire to Alex's stables amid a meeting between Kim and Tara over deciding what to do about Alex — who has already absconded from the village by the time he found out about his role in Linda's death.

In February 1998, Alex secretly returns and feigns remorse of killing Linda to Tara — who attempts to use this opportunity to get revenge on him by agreeing for them to leave the country and start anew. However, Alex betrays Tara when he takes her jewellery and leaves without her — leaving Tara heartbroken. Alex also ends up taking Biff and Ned hostage at gunpoint, before kidnapping Steve and later earning two other hostages: Linda's assistant Paddy Kirk and Ned's close friend Zak Dingle. Though he loses control of the siege when Paddy injects one of Alex's henchmen before he could shoot Zak dead, Alex manages to flee from the village regardless and is apparently never heard from the village again. Ten months later in November 1998, Linda's younger brother Roy learns that Alex has resurfaced in London and sets out with Kathy to avenge Linda's death. Teaming up with Dan Campbell, a detective sergeant who worked undercover in Alex's empire to investigate his criminal activities, Roy peruses Alex and they fought on a roof — in which Roy emerges victorious and Alex ends up hanging on the roof for his life, pleading for help. Roy reluctantly attempts to help Alex to safety despite initially rejecting his pleas for help, but it is too late as Alex loses his grip and falls off the roof to his death.

Trivia
Lord Alex Oakwell is arguably one of British Soaps' most evil villains to date.
 * Though his duration on Emmerdale is less than a year, with the character first appearing in 9 July 1997 and last appearing on the show in 10 February 1998,
 * He is also one of British Soaps' few villains to be considered a Complete Monster: alongside the likes of Nathan Curtis from Coronation Street, and Trevor Morgan from EastEnders.