Frank Tate

Frank Tate is a fictional character of the British soap opera Emmerdale; first appearing as a central character in 1989 and then becoming the show's recurring anti-hero in between 1990-1997.

Backstory
Francis Ronald Tate was born on the 1st October 1937 in Yorkshire to Nigel Tate and Mrs Tate. In 1960, Frank dated a woman and in November 1960, she became pregnant with his baby. Frank soon left her, not knowing she was pregnant. He became a father to an illegitimate son called Liam Hammond in August 1961.

Frank met Jean shortly afterwards and they married in 1962 and they had two children, Christopher Francis Tate in December 1963 and Zoe in April 1968. Frank ran Tate Haulage, a haulage firm and it made him very rich. Frank's illegitimate son Liam grew up in poverty while Frank and his subsequent children lived the life of luxury. Frank never knew of Liam's existence throughout that time.

In 1984, Jean Tate fell ill to cancer and Frank assisted her suicide. In 1986 he remarried to a much younger woman, 27 year old Kim Barker. By 1989, Frank was a multi millionaire. He decided to retire in 1989 aged 52 and bought Home Farm.

1989-1997
Frank Tate bought Home Farm in November 1989 and moved in with his children Chris and Zoe. He had been dreaming of the life of breeding horses and playing golf. He was a tough businessman but also had a bit of a authoritative streak in him. He ran Tate Haulage. He offered Matt Skilbeck a job in West Raynham, Norfolk. Frank soon was established as the new lord of the manor.

In 1990, Frank was revealed as having helped his wife Jean to die of cancer in 1984. Frank was dubbed a "Ladykiller" by his employee George Starkey. Frank wanted to shake things up in Beckindale, and this annoyed Jack Sugden.

In 1990, Jock MacDonald was sacked by Frank for blackmailing him. Jock torched a Home Farm stable and was arrested. In September 1991, Frank had big plans for Beckindale, and planned to open up a Holiday Village to attract tourists to Beckindale. Construction begun in late 1991. It was halted in January 1992 when the diggers cut through wires, causing an explosion. The holiday village soon opened.

Frank and Kim's marriage hit the rocks when in 1992 she dated Rt Hon Neil Kincaid. Frank was so mad that at the New Years Hunt on the 1st January 1993, Frank violently assaulted Neil. He had to be restrained by Chris and several others. Frank then had a long battle with the booze. He wanted to get back with Kim and even bought her a Christmas present at Christmas 1993. He drove up to Kim's stables and sat in his car, stewing over whether to give Kim her late Christmas present. A plane crashed on the village, and a fireball hit Kim's stables. During the night, Frank helped villagers and the emergency services. But his son Chris Tate was left paralysed after a fireball hit the Woolpack wine bar. The crash reunited Frank and Kim. They remarried in December 1994 at Ripon Cathedral.

In 1995, Frank went to war with the local Dingle family when he wanted them out of the 2 storey barn they lived in which was part of Holdgate Farm; Mr Holdgate had recently died. The Dingle's won their war against Frank tate and the cottage became Wishing Well Cottage. That year, he had a heart attack and his health started to fail. He then found that Kim was cheating on him again, this time with Dave Gkiver. Kim later found that she was pregnant. Either Frank or Dave was the father. Frank also developed a relationship with much younger Tina Dingle. In September 1996, Kim gave birth to her son James Tate. Frank paid her £1 million to name him as the father but he was revealed to be James' biological father anyway. In September 1996 Frank planned a quarry in the village and many villagers protested, especially Jack Sugden. Dave Glover died in December 1996 when rescuing baby James from a fire at Home Farm.

Kim and Frank warred, she even pretended she had died and had Frank arrested but she was revealed to be alive and in May 1997 she watched Frank suffer another heart attack. She left him to die. Frank lay dying on the floor overnight. Zoe found him the next day and he was still just about alive but very weak. Frank tried to say to her that Kim had returned, but succumbed to his heart condition and died in Zoe's arms; Frank was just 59 years old when he died and was later buried in Emmerdale Village Cemetery.

Trivia

 * It was alleged on 20th January 1998 that Frank is responsible for the death of the woman who was thought to have been his ex-wife Kim Tate, after her body was recovered in March 1997.