Graham Foster

Graham Foster was Joe Tate's father figure and legal guardian. He was also the ex-husband of Cheryl Foster and Kim Tate, as well as the boyfriend of Rhona Goskirk.
Graham first arrived in the village in September 2017, employed by Joe Tate who used the alias Tom Waterhouse. Graham appeared to be helping Joe get back at the Dingles for their part in Joe's father Chris Tate's death. Graham was sick of Joe in the end, after advising Joe not to go ahead with his dastardly plans. He thwarted Joe's plans and saved Wishing Well Cottage from demolition in January 2018, and saved trapped Noah and Samson Dingle, with the help of Eric Pollard.
In October 2018, Graham advised that Joe leave the village before Kim Tate was released from prison. Graham secretly helped Joe escape after he was punched by Cain Dingle, telling him the fall killed him while getting Joe out of the country. When Kim arrived in the village, Graham became her right-hand man, only for Kim to be sent back to prison for being caught speeding. Kim was released six months later in March 2019, and began an on-off relationship with Graham. This ended after Megan Macey, who was dating Graham at the time, found out that Kim and Graham were having sex and finished with Graham as a result.
After Kim's son Jamie, later accompanied his wife and daughter, arrive in the village, Graham causes tension between them after revealing Jamie to be the one who sent Kim to prison, and also claiming to be Millie's biological father. After starting a relationship with Rhona Goskirk, Graham was beginning to develop feuds with the majority of residents in the village, most notably with Marlon Dingle. Soon afterwards, Graham was murdered by Rhona's rapist and ex-husband Pierce Harris who was revealed to be released from prison a week prior.
==Biography==
===1968-2017: Backstory===
Graham was the eldest of at least 2 children, he had a brother named Steven who was 3 years his junior. When they were young, Steven constantly asked Graham to play football with him. Despite Steven being younger than him, Graham depended on him more. Steven had Downs Syndrome and died aged 15, which devastated Graham and the rest of his family. Graham later served in the British Army, participating in campaigns in Afghanistan, Iraq and elsewhere. The "work hard, play hard" attitude of the forces led him to develop a drinking problem, for which he was discharged from the army. It is known that Graham served in the SAS for 6 years before being discharged. During his time in the SAS he served in Iraq, Afghanistan and Bosnia on such missions he was teamed with two US NAVY SEALs. Graham also killed several people.
At some point between 1989 and 1998, Graham met Kim at a function in Emmerdale and hit it off, remaining in touch. The pair began an affair shortly after Graham met a woman named Cheryl whom he got pregnant. Although Graham didn't love Cheryl, he did the decent thing and married her. Around Cheryl's due date, Graham took leave so he could be at his daughter's birth.
After dropping Cheryl off at her baby shower, Graham headed to the pub where he downed a bottle of whisky. Cheryl was used to Graham being drunk so didn't make a scene when he arrived to pick her up intoxicated. On the drive home, Graham lost control of the car and crashed it. Instead of phoning for an ambulance, Graham phoned for Kim and the car exploded, subsequently killing Cheryl and their unborn baby.
Kim supported Graham through the ordeal and got him out of the mess, getting Graham a job at Joseph Tate's school as a groundsman. Joe's aunt Zoe Tate asked Graham to be Joe's guardian. Graham managed to hold onto his job due to his army background. One night, Graham set his groundsman's hunt on fire with himself inside. Joe found him and pulled him out. After the fire, Graham ditched the booze, left his job and started working for Joe. 
When Kim went to prison around 2012, she tasked Graham with looking after her son, Jamie. However, at the time, Graham was in the depths of alcohol addiction and not in a good place to keep an eye on him, so he instead enlisted a barmaid at the pub he frequented named Andrea, to get close to Jamie and report Jamie's movements back to him. Andrea and Graham then had a relationship with lasted for 6 months, and promptly ended after Andrea stopped reporting back to Graham. Andrea later fell in love with Jamie and became his wife, and they had a child named Millie. 
===2017-2018: Arrival and friendship with Joe===
In September 2017, he met Charity and Debbie Dingle at a hotel in a bid to keep their luxury car hire firm afloat. Debbie wasn't happy with Charity's presence in the meeting and got her thrown out of the hotel. With Charity gone, Debbie showed Graham some figures, which Graham thought was a good deal but had to run them past his employer. Later, when Debbie went to show Graham the car, it had been taken from the car park. Debbie concluded Charity had taken it when she left and told Graham she would sort things and get back in touch.
After Joe revealed himself, Graham thwarted his plans and saved Wishing Well Cottage from demolition in January 2018, and saved trapped Noah Dingle and Samson Dingle, with the help of Eric Pollard. He and Joe also helped Ross Barton after his acid attack, and took him to hospital. Debbie trusted Joe less until Graham helped them get back together. He also revealed his past in the Army and his relationship with Cheryl to Debbie.
In July 2018, Graham began heavily drinking on the anniversary of his wife's death. This lead to a fight between him and Joe, resulting in Joe being beaten severely. Graham later apologised for his actions, and despite Joe initially not forgiving Graham, he later accepted his apology. After Joe got into bother with someone named Connor, Graham sorted him out, though it's unknown if he killed him or simply threatened him to leave Joe alone for good.
===2018-2019: Saying goodbye to Joe and Kim's return===
Two months later in October, Graham meets Kim after she is released from prison. While they're both in the car, Graham is instructed to get rid of Joe by Kim. Left with no other choice, Graham told Joe to leave the village and gave him £100,000.
Later on, Graham is confronted by Cain Dingle, who is furious with Joe after not getting married to Debbie and breaking her heart. Cain asked Graham if he knew where Joe is, but he later sees Joe walking nearby. Despite Joe saying that he'll explain, Cain punched him which caused Joe to fall and hit his head on a rock.
Graham checks for a pulse but can't find one. He tells Cain that Joe is dead although Cain thinks it's a sick joke. Cain is in disbelief, telling Graham that he only punched Joe once although Graham states once is all it takes. He orders Cain to get in his car and drive towards Hotten to create an alibi. Cain can't understand why Graham is doing this, and Graham comments it saved him a job. As Graham places Joe's body into the boot of his car, Joe's fingers twitch. Graham disposes of Joe's body near the viaduct. When he gets back into the car, he bursts into tears.
In November 2018, he nearly loses Kim's business to Robert Sugden.
In early 2019, Graham was accidentally ran over by a drunken Daz Spencer, who had gone out to retrieve his car after it was stolen.
In March 2019, Kim returned to Home Farm after she was re-released from prison and found out that it was Cain who "killed" Joe. Kim met with an associate to find out who was making withdrawals from an offshore account and discovered through CCTV pictures that Joe was alive and had been taking money out from the account in Monte Carlo. Kim confronted Graham about this, and he revealed that Joe is no longer in Monte Carlo as he moved him on.
===2019-2020: Relationship with Rhona Goskirk and Millie bombshell===
In July 2019, 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 Jamie's colleague Rhona’s career by coming down hard on the vet surgery. But as Rhona defied Graham and locked them both in, they had no option but to engage in conversation. As Rhona pressed Graham as to why he always does Kim’s bidding, he admitted that it was complicated but eventually told her about him having to keep tabs on Jamie while he was in prison. He then bared more of his soul by delving into what happened when he got behind the wheel of a car drunk and killed his wife Cheryl. As Rhona and Graham developed a new understanding of one another, Rhona reminded him that his life was too short to be ruled by someone selfish like Kim, and she suggested to him that he breaks free of her and joins up with Joe wherever he is. In response, Graham didn’t follow through with Kim’s orders. Meanwhile, Kim once again appeared to be having a moment of conscience and 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 Rhona or the other vets, Vanessa and Paddy.
Graham and Rhona later began a relationship, which Kim later became aware of. Despite her threats, Graham refused to allow himself to be controlled by Kim any longer, telling her that if she went near Rhona, he would kill her. Graham then left the scene, and Kim broke down in tears. It was later revealed that Graham might be the father of Millie. Kim decided to do a DNA test to reveal the true identity of Millie's father.
Eventually, Graham did his own DNA test via strands of Millie's hair, but it turned out Jamie was the biological father. Despite this, on Christmas Day Graham marched up to Home Farm and announced that he and Andrea were past lovers in front of Jamie, and also revealed that Kim knew about the possibility of Graham being Millie's father. Jamie was devastated that people kept telling lies to him. On 20th December, he found Joe's brother Noah with drugs and failed to tell his mother, Charity Dingle of the incident before it was too late and he had an overdose. He also insulted her mothering skills and kept in contact with Noah despite her warnings.
Meanwhile, the feud with the Tates continued as Andrea and Jamie's marriage was falling apart and Jamie turned against Kim. He also managed to get on the wrong side of Rhona's ex Marlon Dingle who was unhappy with Graham's presence in his and Rhona's son Leo's life. Things got worse when Rhona and Graham decided to leave the village for France and take Leo with them. Marlon was furious and they decided to call off their plans, however, after Rhona quit her job at the vets, they decided to return to their original plans but this time kept everyone in the dark.
===2020: Death and legacy===
On 20th January 2020, Graham drives to Hawksford Outdoor Pursuits, listening to the Blue Oyster Cult song "Don't Fear the Reaper". He stops the car and gets out of it, then looks in his car's window mirror to straighten his tie before heading into Hawksford. Graham then walks with Priya Kotecha and tells her that he likes living dangerously.
Graham meets up with numerous residents during the Hawksford official opening. After Kim finds out he's played her, making her believe their relationship still has a future as well as the fact that he has been stealing money from her account, she orders Al to kill him in exchange for a large amount of money. He also manages to anger Jai Sharma after he informs his girlfriend Laurel Thomas that he has returned to his cocaine addiction causing her to break up with him. He once again got on the bad side of Charity, after locking her oldest son Ryan Stocks in a shed to prevent him from telling Kim about the money they've been stealing from her account, causing Ryan and Charity to be out for revenge. Meanwhile, he once again causes trouble in Jamie and Andrea's marriage and has a row with Marlon, resulting in Marlon threatening him with a torch.
That night, Graham plans to leave with Rhona and Leo but tells her that he has to meet up with Marlon to talk things through. Rhona tells Graham to be careful, and Graham says that he'll see her on the other side. Graham then goes to the woods, only to come across Rhona's ex-husband and rapist, Pierce Harris, who hits him over the head with a log.
As he dragged Graham's body through the woods, Graham regained consciousness and the two got to talking. It was revealed that Graham had visited Pierce at his apartment after he got released from prison on 13th January 2020, and had proceeded to warn him to stay away from Rhona before beating him up. Pierce had then returned to the village and spied on Rhona. After realising she was planning to move away to France with Graham, he decided to take him out before they had a chance to. Graham attacked Pierce and a fight ensued where Graham got the upper hand. However, he refrained himself from killing him in an act of mercy which he later came to regret when Pierce came after him again. Pierce hit Graham with his car, causing him to fall off a cliff. Graham was surprisingly still alive and another deadly fight brought out ending when Pierce struck him with a final fatal blow to the head with a torch. Later, Pierce returned to the village, looking upon Rhona's house as she talked to Marlon, worried about Graham's whereabouts.
The next day, Graham’s body was found by Priya Kotecha and Billy Fletcher. Graham's death had huge ramifications for many of the residents of the village. After Jai woke up outside his house with bloody fists and no recollection of the day before, he thought he had caused Graham's death. Meanwhile, Kim thought the same due to Al's lies that he had killed Graham. Graham's death also forced Charity to confess to fiancée Vanessa Woodfield that she and Ryan stole Graham’s money the night before. After Priya told the police about Marlon and Graham's fight the day before, Marlon was arrested and brought in for questioning. He soon became the prime suspect after CCTV showed both him and Graham going into the woods the night of the murder, but only Marlon coming out. Marlon's house was searched where the police found the murder weapon, the same torch Marlon threatened Graham with and with Graham's blood on it, planted there by Pierce. Marlon was thus charged with Graham's murder. After he was denied bail at his plea hearing, Marlon was to be kept in jail until his trial in June. Meanwhile, Rhona became determined to find the real killer and clear Marlon's name. 
In February 2020, Pierce took Vanessa and her young son Johnny captive after being spotted in the village. He held them hostage for weeks before putting his plan into work. Meanwhile, Rhona found a card left to her by Pierce and realised he was responsible for Graham's death. Soon after, Rhona met up with Pierce in order to free Vanessa and Johnny and got him to confess to Graham's murder, which she live-streamed to the "Free Marlon" website. Rhona finally managed to take Pierce down and he was taken by police who were now convinced he was guilty. He pleaded guilty a few days later. 
On 2nd March 2020, Kim had Graham cremated and held his funeral with only herself present, not telling anyone else despite promising to let Rhona be part of it.
==Residences==
Address 	Duration
Home Farm 	24th January 2018 to 1st August 2018
Rehab 	1st August 2018 to 5th September 2018
Home Farm 	5th September 2018 to 1st November 2019
Hotel in Hotten	1st November 2019 to December 2019
Smithy Cottage 	December 2019 to 20th January 2020
==Additional information==
*One of Graham's hobbies was making model aircraft, according to Episode 8142. According to Joe, it keeps him 'zen' at the end of the day.
==Quotes==
"And you must be Miss Dingle." - First line, to Charity Dingle.
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"A soulless husk of a man, going through life desperately trying to feel something, because you know, deep down, that you're completely unworthy... and unloveable." - Drunk Graham lashing out at Joe Tate on the anniversary of his late wife Cheryl Foster's death.
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"OK, so, yes, I suppose there's only so much a person can take, and if they're pushed too far, well, who knows? Inevitably, they're gonna snap. And I think that's what we're looking at here." - during a police interview after Kim Tate's fall.
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"He was like a son to me. We shared a mutual obsession with chess." - to Rhona Goskirk about Joe.
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"Secrets and lies, Kim, secrets and lies. So? Are you going to tell her, or shall I? Yes, please, Jamie, please tell mummy where your loyalty was when she was in prison. Okay. Looks like I'm going to have to do the dirty work again. Remember wracking your brains as to who grassed you up to the police? Well, wonder no more, because he's standing right next to you. So please, don't question me about loyalty." - to Kim and Jamie Tate, revealing Jamie's involvement in Kim's imprisonment.
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"For the record, I never really loved you. You're impossible to love." - to Kim, which reduces her to tears.
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"Millie is mine. The apple of my eye. Happy anniversary!" - to Kim, revealing the possibility of him being Millie's biological father.
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"To the very worst wife a man could ever have, and... to the best lover." - revealing that he and Andrea had slept together.
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"Oh, you know me Priya, I like living dangerously." - to Priya Kotecha.
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"I will see you on the other side." - to Rhona, before he heads out towards his inevitable death.
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"And you're a monster." - final line, before he is killed by Pierce.
==See also==
*Full list of appearances
Category:Emmerdale characters
Category:2017 debuts
Category:2020 departures
Category:1968 births
Category:2012 marriages
Category:2020 deaths
Category:Foster family
Category:Barker family
Category:Residents of Home Farm
Category:Residents of Smithy Cottage
Category:Armed Forces Personnel
Category:Businessmen
Category:Waterhouse International employees