Kim Tate

Kimberley Jane "Kim" Tate (née Barker; previously Marchant) is the second wife of the late Frank Tate, the mother of Jamie Tate, the grandmother of Millie and Thomas Tate, and the widow of Graham Foster and Will Taylor.
Kim arrived in the village in 1989 as part of the original Tate family alongside her husband Frank and step-children Zoe and Chris. Many of Kim's storylines have revolved around her marriage to Frank Tate, whom she had divorced, remarried, and was widowed by. She embarked on two affairs, with Neil Kincaid in 1992 and Dave Glover in 1996 - as well as a third marriage to Frank's former business partner Steve Marchant.
Kim embarked on several feuds, most notably with her stepson Chris Tate, and established an unlikely friendship with Seth Armstrong. She faked her own death in order to get revenge on Frank, who had a fatal heart attack on 22nd May 1997 after Kim reappeared and watched him die without helping him.
On 19th January 1999, Kim escaped the village in a helicopter with both her son James Tate and the £190,000 that she reclaimed from Chris, who had recovered it from his father's grave in a last-ditch attempt to bring her to justice for Frank's death, after knocking him out with a paperweight.
Nearly two decades later in October 2018, Kim returned to the village and was revealed to be the mastermind behind the events of the Dingles being endangered of losing their home, with her step-grandson Joe Tate carrying out the plot in his bid to exact revenge on his former stepmother Charity Dingle. Kim was pushed off a balcony at Home Farm by Faith Dingle, before being sent back to prison for dangerous driving.
Kim permanently returned to the village in 2019, and has since then embarked formally on a relationship with her on/off lover and Joe's legal guardian Graham Foster, and tried to blackmail Cain Dingle into sleeping with her in return for the photos which proved that Joe was still alive. She's reconnected with her son Jamie and had an ongoing feud with his wife Andrea Tate since their arrival in the village. Months later, Kim became the new owner of Sharma & Sharma and revealed she and Graham were married. Kim became one of Graham's murder suspects in January 2020. Throughout 2021 a long-running plot occurred when someone was poisoning Kim to try and weaken her, the suspects were Jamie Tate, Gabby Thomas, Dawn Taylor, Will Taylor, Jai Sharma and Al Chapman. It was later revealed Jamie had been poisoning her.
==Biography==
===1959-1989: Early life===
Kimberley Jane Barker was born on the 19th January 1959 to her father who was a telephone engineer, and her mother who was a hairdresser. Kim also had a younger sister. Kim started out as Frank Tate's secretary and had an affair with him while his wife, Jean, was terminally ill, despite Frank being old enough to be her father. Frank's son, Chris, was also attracted to Kim although they later became bitter enemies. After Jean's death, Frank and Kim married.
===1989-1994: Arrival and plane crash===
Kim arrived in Beckindale in November 1989 alongside step-daughter Zoe Tate after she and Frank bought Home Farm. Kim initially seemed to be a nice person who got on well with Frank's two children Chris and Zoe. She also became good friends with Chris' wife, Kathy. However, this all started to change in 1992 when she embarked on an affair with Neil Kincaid. The whole family found out on Christmas Day and a furious Frank threw Kim out of Home Farm and the betrayal was enough for him to started to turn to alcoholism. Frank got consumed by rage which he turned towards Kim, going as far as pointing a gun towards Kim and Neil when he found them on his property. Kim ended her relationship with Neil not long afterwards, feeling as he was ashamed of her because she didn't come from a rich family.
After Kim and Frank separated in 1993, she set up stables under her maiden name of Kim Barker. This, however, didn't last long as the stables were destroyed in the plane crash in December that year, killing many of the horses including Dark Star. During the crash Frank became a local hero and rescued Kim from the burning stables. After the crash, the two started growing close again and eventually restarted their relationship. They remarried in December 1994. However, Zoe and Chris never entirely trusted her again, despite trying to put their differences aside for Frank's sake. 
Kim started to seize more and more control of Frank's business. After Frank had suffered an heart attack in August 1994 and needed to slow down, Kim started running much of the business for him and she soon wanted even more. Zoe and especially Chris were weary of her increased involvement but Frank put all his faith in her. She schemed to get even more control after Kathy's divorce from Chris by pushing Kathy to get part of Chris' shares in the divorce settlement and promising to buy them for them but she was disappointed when Kathy decided not to do it. She and Kathy fell out when Kathy realised Kim's motives. 
===1995-1996: Affair with Dave; James' birth and Dave's death===
In July 1995, Kim began an affair with Dave Glover, boyfriend of Kim's former friend Kathy and Frank's employer. This time Kim was much more ruthless about keeping the affair secret and trampled Kathy's brother Nick Bates with her horse when he threatened to expose her. She also threatened Nick's daughter Alice. When Frank had another heart attack and was advised to take it easy, Kim encouraged him to sleep with her in the hope of inducing another heart attack. Kim then became pregnant and wasn't sure who the father was.
When Frank overheard Dave and Biff Fowler discussing the situation, he did have another heart attack and ended up in hospital. He then had time to think and decided to pretend not to know about the affair while hiring a private detective to follow Kim and Dave before confronting his wife with the evidence. He also hired scheming Tina Dingle as a secretary in Home Farm who used to wind Kim up by wearing her dresses that Frank had bought. He offered her a million pounds to dump Dave and name him as the father and Kim accepted. Their son was named James Francis Tate.
However, after bonding with the baby, Kim and Dave resumed their relationship, despite the fact that he was now married to Kathy. They planned to run away together, but a fire broke out at Home Farm and Dave died - of injuries sustained while rescuing baby James - in hospital on Boxing Day 1996.
Kim mourned the loss of her horse, Valentine, after learning that Zoe put the house down with permission from Frank.
===1997-1999: Fake death; Frank's death; marriage with Steve; and departure===
In February 1997, Kim disappeared from the village, and a few days later a woman was found dead at the wheel of her car. Frank identified the body as Kim; however, in May Frank was stunned when Kim returned, revealing she had paid a lookalike prostitute to drive her car around the village to fool people into thinking she was still there (when in fact she had fled to the Caribbean) and that it was her body, not Kim's, that Frank had identified. The shock caused Frank - who had spent time on remand for her murder - to have another heart attack, this time fatal. Kim watched him die, saying "You're a dinosaur Frank - and you know what happened to them", checked he was dead with her compact mirror, then coolly redid her make-up. Chris blamed her for his death and swore revenge.
After Frank's will was read out, Kim inherited a half share of Home Farm. She later started seeing Steve Marchant (who she later married), who also had a share in Home Farm. They married the year later, but Kim soon found out that Steve was bankrupt, and that she was bankrupt too.
In 1998, when Kim and her new husband, Steve, fell on hard times, they planned to make money by stealing a horse and selling it, after replacing it with an older horse in the hope that no-one would notice the difference. Whilst driving the horse-box, however, Steve happened to run over Kathy. Kim managed (after narrowly preventing Steve finishing Kathy off in the hospital) to talk to Kathy while she was alone, concussed and vulnerable. She persuaded her that Steve had not stopped his vehicle when he had hit her to make her husband seem like the sole villain of the piece - even though she had helped to plan the theft of the horse.
On the day of trial in January 1999, with the lawyers questioning Kathy's validity as a witness for Steve's hit-and-run crime, Kathy herself questioned how true Kim's words had been. For this, and numerous other crooked tricks, the police were soon on her trail.
Needing to escape, Kim discovered that Chris had found the money from the robbery that she had buried in Frank's grave. She confronted Chris, tried seducing him, and knocked him out with a paperweight when he was not fooled. Then she confessed that she had indeed, as he speculated, killed his father; he had died of a heart attack while she looked on - in precisely the location Chris was now lying in. Kim then poured the alcohol on Chris after getting the money. She left with her son, James, in a helicopter. The pilot asked her if she was Kim Marchant, and she replied, "No, Kim Tate". The helicopter flew over several residents of the village, including Zak Dingle, Lisa Dingle and Jack Sugden.
===1999-2017: Intervening years===
Kim was sentenced by the court, regardless of her absence. She sent flowers to Emmerdale for the funeral of Seth Armstrong in 2005. By 2013, Kim was sent to prison and sent James to boarding school.
At some point between 1989 and 1998, Kim had met Graham Foster at a function. They began a relationship which would last for 15 years. Graham was in a loveless relationship with a woman named Cheryl and gave into temptation, igniting an affair with Kim. Cheryl knew that Graham was being unfaithful, but due to his drink problem, she refused to confront them both. Cheryl became pregnant with Graham's baby and they married, but a drunk Graham had a collision with a tree whilst driving Cheryl back from her baby shower. Instead of phoning for emergency services, Graham phoned Kim but the car exploded, killing Cheryl and the baby. Kim comforted Graham and got him a job as a groundskeeper for Joe's school. Joe and Graham struck up a friendship and Joe saved Graham when he tried to kill himself by burning down his hut. When Kim was sent to prison, she and Graham kept in touch. They also married at some point, although Kim would claim their marriage was for strictly business purposes. 
===2018-2019: Return and reuniting with Jamie===
In October 2018, Kim was released from prison after serving a 6-year sentence 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 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; however, 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, and Graham said he was dead. Kim went upstairs and was pushed from the balcony by Faith Dingle, and crashed into a champagne fountain below. She survived the fall and was diagnosed with serious head trauma and a large quantity of blood loss. However, she was discharged from hospital shortly afterwards. She received a visit from the police about being caught on camera speeding in the uninsured sports car and was sent back to prison to finish the rest of her sentence - six months.
On 14th March 2019, Graham picks Kim up from prison and they drive back to Home Farm; however, the car slows down to a complete stop - forcing Graham to go out for help. While waiting, Kim flags down Debbie's father and Faith's son, Cain Dingle, when he comes across her. At first, Cain helps Kim but the two end up in an argument after he learns who she is. When Graham informs Kim that Cain killed Joe, having falsely claimed to have done the job himself, Kim plans to implicate Cain for Joe's murder. Kim tries to get Cain on her side, but he refuses. Later, Kim finds money has gone missing from an offshore account and catches Graham making a suspicious phone call. Kim does some digging and finds out that Joe is still alive and he withdrew money from Kim's offshore account at an ATM in Monte Carlo. Kim confronted Graham about this, and he revealed that Joe is no longer in Monte Carlo as he moved him on. Kim steals Noah's phone and buries it in the woods. Cain goes looking for him and after hearing his phone ring, underneath the soil, he fears that Kim has killed him and begins to dig, only to be caught by the police. Kim then threatens to get Cain imprisoned for Joe's murder if she doesn't do what she wants. Noah becomes suspicious of Kim and Graham after hearing them talking about Joe. Kim finally tells Cain that Joe isn't dead and tries blackmailing him into bed in exchange for her telling the police. Cain chases after Graham and fights him in a field until Moira runs in and breaks it up. Cain agrees to sleep with Kim but bails out at the last minute, enraging Kim.
Graham phones Joe to say a final goodbye to him, but as Kim threatens to have him killed, he blackmailed her by saying he will tell Jamie if she doesn't leave Joe alone. Kim tries to contact Jamie but fails to. Debbie slaps Kim once she learns the truth about Joe. Kim is later reunited with her son, Jamie. After he got a job as a vet, Kim asked unlikely friend Rhona Goskirk to find an incentive to keep Jamie at the vets. Kim also decides she wants her son living with her at Home Farm and does her best to persuade him to move in. In May 2019, Jamie gets upset after Kim insults terminally ill Lisa Dingle and her daughter Belle. Kim asks Jamie how she can be better and says she wants to be a proper mom to him but she's out of practice. Kim reveals that all she wants is to spend time with him, just the two of them and nobody else getting in the way. Jamie tells Kim that nobody forced her to alienate everyone and that she can't change that. Kim tells Jamie she can, and offers Jamie to stay for food and a glass of champagne. Jamie turns down the offer as he has an exam the next day, with Kim offering to help him revise. Jamie refuses and leaves. Some time later, Jamie gives Kim a choice, he will stay at Home Farm but only if she invites Lisa to dinner to make up for being so horrible to her. Kim agrees to do this. 
On 3rd June 2019, whilst Kim is out riding her horse, Tally, she bumps into Priya. As Kim and Priya are talking, a car comes speeding around the corner. It slows down to pass Kim, Priya and Tally but the horse gets spooked and he bolts, with Kim chasing after him. As Kim walks Tally to the vet's, she spots the car that spooked her horse parked outside Smithy Cottage so she confronts the driver. As Rhona and Jamie walk up Main Street, they spot Kim and the woman having words. As Kim and the woman continue to argue, a little girl jumps from the car and runs into Jamie's arms. A confused Kim demands to know what's going on so Jamie introduces his mum to his daughter, Millie, and his wife, Andrea. A shocked Kim asks Andrea how old she is. Andrea can't believe that's Kim's first question and comments Jamie was right about her. Kim soon realises Andrea doesn't know Jamie is staying with her so she takes glee in informing her of Jamie's current living arrangements. 
At Home Farm, Jamie explains to Andrea that he was going to tell her about moving in when he came home. Kim listens to the pair's conversation from the other side of the door and is pleased that they're arguing. Andrea questions what's changed for Jamie to decide to move in with Kim. Jamie states that when all is said and done, Kim is still his mum. He assures Andrea that he's not going to allow Kim to come between them then asks his wife to let him make things up to her. Kim believes Jamie regrets marrying Andrea and that's why he didn't tell anyone about her and Millie although Jamie states he did that as he was protecting his wife and daughter from her. After Jamie has left, Kim reveals to Rhona that Jamie is married with a child and didn't tell her about them. Kim refuses to sit back and let Andrea take her son away from her. Graham Foster later reveals to Kim that he had hired Andrea to keep tabs on Jamie when he was in a bad place and unable to do so himself. But he then lost contact with Andrea, who had genuinely fallen for Jamie and then went on to have a child, Millie, with him. Jamie is blissfully unaware of the arrangement and despite Kim’s belief that Andrea is after Jamie’s money, Andrea insists that the wealth is of no interest to her, she loves him.
In July 2019, Rishi Sharma made a deal with Kim to help save Sharma & Sharma. Rishi is not happy with the contract Kim has issued him to get the factory out of debt. Realising Kim is his only way out, he reluctantly accepts the offer. During this time, Jamie and Andrea planned to get Kim to sign a contract which cuts her out of a deal. However, Kim found out about their plans through an accidental video call by Millie. With Kim having uncovered Jamie’s secret plan to trick her into signing over her share of the vets to him, she was furious and sent Graham over to destroy Rhona’s career by coming down hard on the vet surgery. Meanwhile, Kim once again appeared to be having a moment of conscience as Jamie made his weekly threat to leave Home Farm as he is still somehow surprised by his mum's vindictiveness. Determined to keep him in her life, she assured him that he could have her share of the vets with no strings and there’d be no consequences for the other vets, Rhona, Vanessa and Paddy.
In August 2019, Kim became the co-owner of Sharma & Sharma, buying a 49.5% share, after the fire and explosion when the insurance company refused to pay out, causing the Sharmas to no longer be able to afford to pay for the repairs or wages for the workers. She later convinces Nicola King to sell her 1% share to her, giving her the majority control over the business. However, she soon reveals the share was actually bought by her secret business partner, Al Chapman. The pair then unveil their plans to build an outdoor pursuit centre at the factory grounds, to a shocked Jai and the horrified factory workers who fear they'll lose their jobs.
===2019 to 2020: Graham's murder===
In October 2019, Graham went public with his romance with Rhona Goskirk, and Kim was left upset after realising he was serious. She then decided to change his position in the company after no longer being able to trust Graham, and tonight admitted to Al Chapman that he could benefit from his downfall.
In November 2019, Kim spoke to Marlon Dingle to ask him if she could hire the Woolpack for a special event she was planning. Rhona, meanwhile, got upset with Marlon for liaising with Kim and she later confronted Kim for trying to turn Marlon against Graham. Kim then sent Graham a text asking him to meet her at the pub for a special announcement, with Graham totally unaware about what Kim's revelation was all about. She then revealed that her and Graham are married and that it is their wedding anniversary.
As expected, Kim's anniversary bombshell left everyone at the Woolpack in shock while Graham's new partner Rhona was left pretty upset that Graham had never admitted to being married to Kim before. While Graham tried to explain to Rhona that the marriage was purely a business arrangement, that wasn't enough for Rhona who felt betrayed. Meanwhile, Jamie was also upset with his mother's scheming, as he couldn't understand her motives behind planning an anniversary party that nobody was happy about. But, in a bid to take revenge on Kim later one, Graham also dropped a pretty big bombshell himself, telling Kim that he is Millie's biological father. Despite Andrea's comments about Millie being Jamie's, Kim decided to do a DNA test via strands of Millie's hair to determine who the father really is. Kim later organises her family a trip to Lapland while she deals with Graham. Later on, Graham was revealed to not be the father, but this didn't stop him from crashing the Tates' dinner at Christmas Day, to reveal that Andrea slept with him, causing both Kim and Jamie to be furious with her. 
On the day of Graham's murder, Kim invites him up to Home Farm and is shocked when he admits that he and Rhona have broken up. Kim shows her vulnerable side by asking Graham to give their relationship another try and admitting that she loves him. Kim soon changes her tune, though, when after Graham makes a failed attempt to string her along, she discovers that he lied about ending it with Rhona and has been stealing from her too. Wanting Graham dead, Kim orders her new right-hand-man Al to do her dirty work for her and kill Graham before he has a chance to walk away, knowing that he's won and taken everything from her. However, Al never go the chance to do so as Graham was instead murdered by Rhona's rapist ex-husband Pierce Harris. After discovering Graham's body, Al returned to Kim saying the deed was done and demanded his money. Kim struggled with Graham's death and her belief that she had caused it.
In February 2020, a month after Graham's death, Kim was driving her Hawksford car near Home Farm, when Pierce suddenly emerged from the shadows and deliberately crash his bike into Kim’s car. Believing it was an accident, Kim invited Pierce into Home Farm. to check him over, oblivious to who he really is. Posing as a solicitor called Ollie, probing Pierce made small talk with Kim and soon had her in the palm of his hand, as the conversation turned to the bitter custody case her son and daughter-in-law are embroiled in. Kim introduced ‘Ollie’ to Jamie and promised to tap him up as the battle with Andrea over Millie's future continues. However, the truth eventually came out and Pierce was arrested for the murder of Graham.
In March 2020, Kim held Graham's funeral by herself despite promising Rhona she'd be let in on the funeral plans. Kim got consumed by guilt and grief and in an outburst, after the funeral, she almost revealed to Andrea that she'd hired someone to kill Graham before Pierce got there first. Despite Kim denying it Andrea realised what Kim had almost confessed to and told Jamie who confronted her. Kim opened up to Jamie and finally told him the truth and he took sympathy on her, much to Andrea's disgust who now wanted to make sure she got custody of Millie so Kim would never be near her again. Soon after, Kim was arrested after the police found out about her involvement, however, she was let got as there was no evidence. Kim tried to win one over on Andrea for Jamie to win Millie in court but her plan went wrong when Andrea told Jamie it all and he turned on Kim. Jamie and Millie moved out of Home Farm and Jamie and Andrea decided to try again which Kim didn't like at all. However, after she caught wind of Jamie's affair with Belle Dingle, she changed her tune covering for Jamie when Andrea questioned where he had been and told him that despite her dislike of Andrea she was better than a Dingle. In April 2020 Andrea found out about Belle and Jamie’s relationship despite Kim’s intervention and left Jamie. Andrea soon moved out of Home Farm and took Millie with her. Jamie and Belle continued to see each other, despite Kim’s disapproval. In late 2020 Will Taylor starts to work as a groundskeeper at Home Farm. Kim and Will begin a relationship soon after he starts working for her. Jamie disapproves of this but Kim refuses to stop seeing Will. In October it is revealed that Jamie is the one who ran over Moira Dingle and Kim helps him frame Belle and Nate Robinson when they attempt to expose his crime. 
=== 2021 to 2022: Relationship with Will, poisoning and becoming a grandmother ===
In 2021 Kim takes HIDE employee, Gabby Thomas under her wing and becomes a mentor to her. In February Kim allows Gabby to attend a business meeting she is having at Home Farm. Unbeknownst to Kim at the time, Gabby and Jamie slept together that night, and later in the month Gabby tells Kim she is pregnant with Jamie’s child. Kim was excited at the prospect of having another grandchild and promised to support Gabby, despite Jamie demanding she have an abortion.
Kim also discovers the true reason Will Taylor started working for her was to make sure the body of Mark Malone, which he buried on the property, wasn’t found. Kim lured Will to the gravesite and told she had disposed of the body. This also resulted in a break in their relationship as Kim felt Will had been using her. Later in the year, Jamie starts seeing Will’s daughter, Dawn Taylor and Kim is extremely disappointed in her son’s taste in women once again. She and Dawn argue in the street with Kim bringing up Dawn’s past as a prostitute and Dawn calling Kim a “rancid old tart”. Will also has words with Kim after she and Dawn continue to clash. 
In the Summer of 2021, Kim begins to think she has dementia due to her experiencing short-term memory loss. Gabby supports Kim through this, as Gabby lost her father, Ashley Thomas, to dementia. Kim reveals her father also died from dementia and she doesn’t want to end up like him. However, Gabby also uses this to her advantage by getting Kim to give her more money. Kim decides to get tested for dementia after talking with Gabby, but is surprised when the tests say there is nothing wrong with her. Kim then assumes she is being poisoned and sets up a camera in the living room to figure out who has been spiking her drinks. In July she finds out it was Jamie who was poisoning her with diazepam and kicks him out, telling everyone what he did. She also berates Gabby for taking advantage of her situation, which breaks Kim’s trust in Gabby. After this Kim and Will get back together as well. Kim lets Jamie move back in August in order to fix their relationship. 
In September Jamie’s divorce from Andrea comes through. A few weeks later Kim and Diane Sugden find marriage documents for Gabby and Jamie. They follow Gabby to a country road, where Gabby says Jamie will meet her. Kim and Diane tell Gabby not to marry a man who doesn’t love her, but Gabby stubbornly insists they are wrong about Jamie. After a while it became clear that Jamie wasn’t going to show up, so the trio went back to Home Farm where Kim got a call saying that Jamie had been in a car accident. Gabby and Kim went to the scene where Jamie's car was being pulled out of a lake. After no body was discovered Jamie was listed as a missing person. Kim was devastated by Jamie’s disappearance and insisted that he had to be alive.
In October, Kim tried to gain custody of Jamie’s daughter Millie Tate, despite Millie being happy living with her mother. Because of this, Gabby worries that Kim will try to take her child away from her too and plans to emigrate to Portugal with Diane and Bernice Blackstock. However, before they can leave Gabby goes into labour in Home Farm’s living room. On the 28th of October Gabby gives birth to Kim’s grandson. Kim pleads with Gabby not to take her grandson away from her, so Diane makes an arrangement with Kim to provide security for Gabby in the future. They agree Gabby will stay in the village if Kim gives Gabby 20% of all her assets. Kim agrees on the one condition that the baby's surname will be Tate. Gabby agrees, subsequently naming her son Thomas Tate. Bernice stays in the village and moves into Home Farm to help Gabby with Thomas.
In the following weeks, Bernice and Kim clash over Thomas and struggle with living in the same house. In November, Will moves in with Kim at Home Farm. When Bernice tries to get Will to leave Kim for her, Will tells Kim and she is furious. She tells Gabby and Dawn about on Christmas Day 2021 before throwing Bernice out of Home Farm. 
On February 14th 2022 Kim attends the wedding of Dawn Taylor and Billy Fletcher. In April 2022, Bernice, Laurel and Kim all argue over arrangements for Thomas's christening, Gabby feels bad that Kim has very little family left, so she decides to travel to Hampshire to convince Millie's other grandmother, Hazel, to let Millie come to the christening. Kim is overjoyed with Millie's presence, but this short-lived as she soon has to return to Hazel.
In July 2022 Dawn and Billy move into Home Farm along with Dawn’s son Lucas Taylor. Later in the month Thomas’s babysitter, Amelia Spencer drops Thomas and he has to be taken to the hospital. Gabby and Kim are furious when they find the reason Amelia dropped Thomas is because she collapsed from taking weight-loss drugs. Gabby evicts Amelia and her father, Dan from their home which Kim owns and Kim supports her. 
In September 2022 Kim finds out that her son Jamie is still alive after he pushes Hazel down the stairs and flees the country. While Hazel is recovering from her injuries, Kim is allowed to have Millie stay with her. Kim is ecstatic to have Millie with her and hopes to gain full custody of her. Unfortunately, Millie doesn’t get along well with Lucas and his half-sister, Clemmie Reed. The three continually argue and it all comes to a head when Millie accuses Clemmie of biting her. Kim and Dawn argue over this and Dawn ends up moving out. Kim and Will continue to fight about the Dawn situation, especially after it becomes clear Millie lied about Clemmie to get rid of her. In late September, Hazel recovers from her injuries and takes Millie back to live with her, leaving Kim heartbroken. Kim and Will make up after this and continue to plan their wedding. Kim’s cleaner and friend, Lydia Dingle throws her a Neil Diamond themed hen night.
On the 17th October 2022, Kim marries Will in St Mary’s Church. She arrives on her horse, Ice, in a wedding dress adapted to look like a traditional riding jacket and a hat with a small veil. She gives Will an expensive watch as a wedding present. However, the day is marred by the storm which causes chaos in the village. Teenager, Amelia Spencer goes missing and Kim volunteers to search for her on her horse. She comes across Will’s ex Harriet Finch, who is also looking for Amelia. A tree is blown down onto the path, which causes Ice to bolt and Harriet to crash the quad bike she is riding. Harriet is killed in the accident but Kim manages to get away. She returns to Home Farm and informs Will and Dawn about Harriet’s death. Will is distraught and accuses Kim of killing Harriet. He says he regrets marrying her and storms off. The next day Will apologises for his behaviour, but Kim is unsure as she thinks it shows Will still loved Harriet. Soon Will convinces Kim he loves her and they start their marriage fresh. 
In November, Dawn and Billy move back in to Home Farm after being forced out of Woodbine Cottage. 
=== 2024: Arrival of Rose, feud with Will and Joe’s return ===
In May 2024 Billy and Dawn’s baby son, Evan Fletcher is diagnosed with leukaemia. Kim promises to support the couple through this, as she sees Evan as her own grandchild. As they are leaving the hospital with Evan they run into Dawn’s mother, Rose Jackson. It is then revealed that Will knew his ex-wife was back but had kept it from Dawn and Kim. Kim was suspicious about this but Will assured her that he only lied to protect Dawn from further hurt at the hands of her mother. Later in the month Rose appeared in the village, and Dawn asked if she could live with them at Home Farm to give her a chance to get to know her mum. Kim agrees for Dawn’s sake but still doesn’t trust Rose.
Rose annoys Kim throughout her time at Home Farm, comparing her to a Chihuahua she once owned and drinking Kim’s alcohol. On June 27th Gabby and Kim’s grandson, Thomas move out to protect Evan from infection, which Kim is unhappy about m but understands need to go. In July 2024 Dawn is spiked and crashes into Ella Forster’s car. Dawn accuses Kim of spiking her while trying to get Rose. Kim denies this and Billy defends her but Dawn is adamant that she is responsible. Will is unsure of who to believe but eventually he sided with his daughter, to Kim’s disappointment. As a result Kim agrees to move out of Home Farm to make things easier. She moves into the Grange for a few weeks but makes it clear to Lydia that she is not going to take Rose’s actions lying down. 
In August Kim spots Rose arguing with a man in a car. Kim tracks this man down and discovers he is the drug dealer Rose bought the spike from, and he tells her that Rose was sent to him by Ruby Fox-Miligan. She then returns to Home Farm and confronts Rose in front of Will. Rose confirms this but promises that she has changed and wants to be with her daughter. Will believes Kim and packs Rose’s bags as they kick her out of Home Farm. They drive her to a country road and leave her there, with Will paying Rose to leave. When Will and Kim return to Home Farm, Kim asks Will if he slept with Rose but he claims he hasn’t. Kim still believes that Will is hiding something from her and then storms out. 
Over the next few days Will and Kim continue to struggle after all the trouble Rose has caused. Dawn also struggles with the fact that her mother has seemingly abandoned her again, especially when the police arrive with Rose’s handbag which was found not far from where Will and Kim left her. Kim suspects Will of having something to do with Rose’s disappearance as on the night she went missing, Will came home with bloody knuckles. Dawn wants to report her mother missing, so Kim decides to text her from Rose’s phone to put her off the trail. This concerns Will as he wonders where Kim got the phone, but she counters asking why his hand was injured. In late August, Dawn tells Will and Kim that Evan needs a transplant, so she wants to track down her mother in case she’s a match. Will and Kim continue to lie to Dawn about her mother, as they hope either Dawn or Billy are a match. On the 26th of August Dawn reveals to Will and Kim that she lied about the transplant to get them to tell her what happened to Rose. She also tells them that she found Rose and took her to the airport. She is so disgusted with her father and step-mother that she takes her kids and moves out of Home Farm.
In September, Kim had Caleb Miligan’s business Longbrook Private Hire burned down as she assumed that Caleb knew about Rose and Ruby’s scheme. Over the next few weeks Will is blackmailed and threatened by a mysterious person about his fling with Rose. Later in the month it is revealed Kim was behind the blackmail, after she lured him into the woods by pretending she had been kidnapped. She put a radio in the ground and called for help through it, making Will dig a grave to uncover a coffin with his name on it. She then hits Will with the shovel and leaves him in the grave after telling him she was behind the blackmail. Will gets out of the coffin with help from his friend, Jimmy King then returns to Home Farm. Kim tries to get Will to sign over all the assets in his name, but he refuses. He also refuses to move out of Home Farm, as he says it would hurt his legal case.
In October Kim and Will are still at each other’s throats. Will tries to sell Kim’s prize horses as they are in his name, but Kim threatens him into leaving them alone. Kim then begins seeing her financial advisor, Peter, to make Will jealous. Will insults Kim after she and Peter spend the night together and Peter punches Will. A few days later Will brings Kerry Wyatt home with him to make Kim jealous. Kim then ends her relationship with Peter as she was only using him and their confrontation ends with Will hitting Peter. On October 17th Gabby and Thomas move back into Home Farm at Kim’s invitation. In November Kim endears herself to Dawn by giving her a loan. She then holds this over Will as Dawn still refuses to talk to him.
In December Kim gets tired of her rivalry with Will after he threatens to expose her dodgy deals. She hires Ross Barton to scare Will out of the village. The next night Ross arrives at Home Farm and announces he killed Will accidentally. Kim tells Ross to get out and not contact her again, then starts crying over her husband. Will then appears and reveals he made a deal with Ross to tell Kim he was dead. Kim is relieved to see him and runs to him. They spend the night together and decide to call off the divorce. Will then suggests that he and Kim renew their vows on Christmas which Kim agrees to. Unbeknownst to her, this is actually part of a scheme Will is involved in with Peter.
On Christmas Day 2024 Kim and Will renew their wedding vows in Home Farm’s living room with Dawn, Billy, Gabby and the children all present. After the ceremony Joe Tate suddenly arrives and tells Kim that Will has been plotting against her for weeks, with Joe claiming he was just gathering evidence to protect her. Kim orders Joe to leave before confronting Will. As they argue Will begins to clutch his chest and then collapses. Kim believes he is faking and continues to mock him as she fixes her make-up. Joe then returns and Kim tells him Will is just acting to try and gain sympathy. Joe checks on Will and declares the heart attack is genuine. Kim is shocked by this, then returns rushes to Will’s side and begins CPR as Joe calls an ambulance. Will apologises to Kim and she tells him she loves him as he loses consciousness. The paramedics arrive but it is too late as Will has passed away.
 
 
==Personality==
In her first stint from 1989 to 1999, Kim started out as a very friendly woman devoted to her husband, Frank, and had cordial relationships with her stepchildren, Chris and Zoe. Overtime, a ruthless and manipulative streak began to reveal itself, which began to show when she had her affair with Neil Kincaid and when she tried to get Kathy, Chris' ex-wife, to give up more shares of the company to the Tates. After the death of the love of her life, Ned Glover, Kim became despondent, which worsened after she found out that her son Jamie was Frank's child. 
After the death of Frank, Kim becomes even more ruthless, marrying Frank's old business partner Steve Marchant, who, along with Kim, commits fraud by stealing a horse and replacing it with an older one. They almost get away with it but Steve runs over Kathy Glover. Kim then tells Kathy about the plan—making sure to leave her role out of it—thus causing Kathy to report Steve and land him in jail. Kim then steals £190,000 and flees the village. 
Upon her return to the village, she is even more ruthless as she was in her first stint in the village. However, she has a weakness in the form of her son, Jamie, who wants little to do with her. Kim is heartbroken when she finds out Jamie was behind her poisoning. She then disowns him, but is devastated when she finds out about his "death." Eventually, a softer side slowly, but surely, emerges from her, where she becomes a mentor to Gabby Thomas, who was pregnant with Jamie's son, and in her relationship with Will Taylor. She even includes his daughter Dawn as family, whom she initially did not get on with when she was in a relationship with Jamie. 
==Other information==
*Kim worked as a bingo caller in Cleethorpes during the summer of 1982.
*Kim is worth £16,000,000 as of 29th October 2021. Prior to this she was worth £20,000,000; her net worth went down because Diane Sugden negotiated with Kim to give Gabby Thomas—Diane's granddaughter and the mother of Kim’s grandson Thomas Tate—20% of her money in exchange for not being super dominant over Thomas' life.
==Background information==
*According to Claire King's autobiography - 'Confessions of a Bad Girl', Kim was originally going to be married to Chris, but the writers decided that Kim was more interested in the Tate money and would have 'cut out the middle man' by marrying Frank.
*Claire King quit the role in October 1996, but a few days after her final scenes aired in February 1997, the producers asked her back with more exciting storylines and a high pay rise, which saw Kim return on screen in May 1997. She decided to leave again in August 1998 and remained until January 1999.
*Claire King finally accepted a return to the role in 2018 after years of rejecting, out of fear the character may get ruined. Her first scenes after nearly 20 years aired in Episode 8279 (8th October 2018).
*According to Claire King, she and Norman Bowler did not get along, so whenever they had a kissing scene, she often ate foods heavy in garlic beforehand.
==Quotes==
"'Scuse me, can you tell me the quickest way to Home Farm please?" - first line to Seth Armstrong.
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"Oh, that's all I need. Giving birth to Judas Priest." - during her labour.
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"I'll have the last word, Frank. I always have, and I always will." - to Frank Tate.
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"You're a dinosaur, Frank. And you know what happened to them." - to Frank Tate when she watched him die of a heart attack.
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"No. Kim Tate." - final line before her 1999 departure, to a helicopter pilot when he asked if she was Kim Marchant.
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"Keys." - first line after her 2018 return, to Graham Foster, requesting he give her the keys to Home Farm.
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"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 in your way!" - to Graham Foster about her time in prison.
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"I don't take orders from an ex-prostitute." - to Charity Dingle when she tells her to 'watch her tongue'.
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"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.
==See also==
*Full list of appearances
Category:Emmerdale characters
Category:Current characters
Category:1989 debuts
Category:1959 births
Category:1986 marriages
Category:1994 marriages
Category:1998 marriages
Category:2012 marriages
Category:2022 marriages
Category:Barker family
Category:Tate family
Category:Foster family
Category:Taylor family
Category:Owners of Home Farm
Category:Residents of Home Farm
Category:Residents of Pear Tree Cottage
Category:Guests of The Grange B&B
Category:Secretaries
Category:Businesswomen
Category:Convicts
Category:Waterhouse International employees
Category:Hawksford Outdoor Pursuits employees
Category:Residents of Tenant House