Kimberley Jane "Kim" Tate is a fictional character and recurring antagonist of the British soap opera Emmerdale.
She first appeared as a major character in 1989 and went on to serve as the central antagonist throughout the 1990s saga.
She was portrayed by Claire King, who would later go on to portray Erica Holroyd in Coronation Street.
History
Prior to the events of Emmerdale, Kim Barker first met Frank Tate in the mid-1980s and the duo embarked on an affair whilst Frank's wife Jean was dying of cancer. Following Jean's death, Frank and Kim got married and she additionally became his secretary - working alongside Frank's children Chris and Zoe.
Kim started out as a friendly businesswoman during her first stint of the show, but it all changed in 1992 when she secretly had an affair with Neil Kincaid. Frank eventually found out and threw Kim out of his home. However, their separation didn't last long as a devastating plane crash resulted in the destruction of Kim's stables and Chris getting paralyzed; Frank's comfort and Kim's manipulation would ultimately restart their marriage as they once again got married, much to Zoe's outrage. Though he accepted his father's choice, Chris made it clear that he never trusted Kim again - causing the two to become prime adversaries.
Kim's villainy was first notified when she once again cheated on Frank - this time with Dave Glover, the boyfriend of Chris' ex-wife Kathy. Determined to safeguard this secret, Kim became ruthless when she trampled Dave's brother Nick to prevent him from investigating their affair and later blackmailed him by threatening to harm his daughter Alice. Following Frank's heart attack, Kim slyly staged the events that would apparently lead her husband to endure yet another heart attack; this appeared to have worked, but Frank survived and would discover the truth about his wife's heinous actions and her affair with Dave - promoting him to bribe Kim into leaving their son James under his care. She accepted and would secretly leave the village without anyone noticing.
5 years later in 1997, Kim served as the series' primary antagonist when she plotted to bring down Frank and his family. First, she bribed an anonymous lookalike of herself to commit suicide by driving her car into a nearby river. Because of this, Kim was presumed dead and Frank was arrested and partly jailed under false accusation of murdering her. He was eventually released, but would later find himself targeted by a mysterious person who is slowly revealed to be Kim herself. She then confronted Frank alone, and instigated an argument over James that was enough to drive Frank into having yet another heart-attack. She blackmailed Frank into giving her custody of James, but ends up foiling his desperate attempts to call emergency services and leaves him to die of his heart attack.
After Frank's death, Kim revealed that she was alive on the day of his funeral. Whereas virtually everyone was surprised, Chris was vehemently angry as he correctly suspected that she killed his father and swore revenge against his stepmother. By 1998, Kim deceived local resident Steve Marchant into marrying her and they both devised a plan to further establish their organization - with Kim having already inherited Home Farm under Frank's will, and naming Steve as her assistant. Together, the two targeted Kathy to fulfill their scheme - which became sidetracked after Steve intentionally ran over Kathy to prevent her from uncovering their scheme. Kim then plotted to frame Steve as the sole mastermind behind their nefarious project, and she deceived Kathy into having Steve arrested and remanded in custody. Kim was eventually detained when Chris, who is still on the warpath with his villainous stepmother, discovered her involvement in Steve's crime. Though the two are subsequently charged for attempted manslaughter and theft, Kim was given bail - granting her the opportunity to form a getaway escape to secure her victory over Chris and Steve.
While Kathy and the other villagers were gradually learning about Kim's conspiracy with Steve, Chris also formed an idea to get one over his stepmother and later invited her to Home Farm to settle a score between the duo. She complied and the two had an argument over receiving custody of James, with Chris pointing out that she killed his father and robbed the family's money from his grave - which Kim sought of reclaiming after Chris safeguarded it within his possession. Unable to seduce Chris, Kim deliberately struck him with an ornament and coerced him into revealing the money's location - going on to confess that she did kill Frank in the process. With Chris vulnerable and unable to stop his stepmother due to his paralysis, Kim abandoned his stepson without even helping and escaped with James and the money in a helicopter - leaving Chris and Zoe in ruins whereas Steve was found guilty and promptly convicted to eleven years in prison.
In October 2018, Kim was released from prison and met up with Graham. Kim found out that Joe had caused financial problems with his business and Kim felt she was unable to handle him anymore. She told Graham to get rid of Joe, but Graham packed a bag for Joe, gave him £100,000 and told him to make a run for it.
Kim returned to Emmerdale a few days later and arrived at Home Farm in a flashy sports car, which went under auction and sold to Eric Pollard for £20,000 to raise Sarah Sugden Jr.'s heart condition treatment, but Kim refused to give him the car because it was undervalued. After finding out about Joe, Kim ordered Graham to kill him. Cain Dingle later attacked Joe after he walked out of his wedding to his daughter, Debbie Dingle, and Graham said he was dead. Kim went upstairs and was pushed from the balcony by an unseen assailant, and crashed into a champagne fountain below. She survived the fall and was diagnosed with a serious head trauma and large quantity of blood loss.
Trivia
- She is one of the few soap opera villains to not get killed off nor receive any comeuppance for her outrageous crimes.
- Kim was arguably the show's recurring main villain from 1990 towards 1999 as her villainous storylines were the central focus throughout Emmerdale within the entire 1990s saga.
Quotes
"'Scuse me, can you tell me the quickest way to Home Farm please?" - first line to Seth Armstrong.
"You're a dinosaur, Frank. And you know what happened to them." - to Frank Tate when she watched him die of a heart attack.
"No. Kim Tate." - final line before her 1999 departure - to a helicopter pilot when he asked if she was Kim Marchant.
"Keys" - first line after her 2018 return - to Graham Foster, requesting he give her the keys to Home Farm.
"You know it's true what they say. You learn a lot in prison. Careful who you trust; do it to them before they do it to you. And if you really want something, I mean really want it. Don't let anybody or anything stand if your way!" - to Graham Foster when she quotes her monologue following her prison release.
"I don't take orders from an ex-prostitute" - to Charity Dingle when she tells her to "watch her tongue".
"Oh, yes. I don't often frequent cafes. But in your case... I certainly won't be making an exception" - to Brenda Walker when she introduces herself as the local cafe owner.
Kerry Wyatt: I like you. You're funny.
Kim Tate: And you are?
Kerry Wyatt: Kerry. Me and Dan live in the village. You own our house.
Dan Spencer: All right?
Kim Tate: I've just decided... I'm repossessing it.
(Kerry, Dan, Brenda, Doug, Eric and Faith pause as they take in the news)
Brenda Walker: Eh?
Kim Tate: (Kim giggles) Joke.
Kerry Wyatt: Oh. Oh. (Kerry sighs a relief)
Kim Tate: For now.
"I suggest you go and comfort your gold-digging sister... share you woes... I'm guessing there's plenty" - to Noah Dingle and Charity Dingle when Kim gets criticised by Vanessa Woodfield for being rude to Noah.