Who Killed Tom King?

"Who Killed Tom King?" was a storyline in Emmerdale which started in December 2006. The storyline involved Tom King's death, and finding out who was the person responsible for pushing him out the window.
The possible suspects included Tom's three son's Jimmy, Matthew, Carl, his newly wedded wife Rosemary, among many others. 
== Plot ==
=== The murder ===
On Christmas Day 2006, the same day he married Rosemary Sinclair in a lavish ceremony, Tom King headed up to the bedroom, whereupon he had a confrontation with an unknown person which culminated with the unseen assailant hitting Tom on the head with an ornament (a bronze horse head statue) before he was pushed through the bedroom window to his death.
===Suspects===
As so many people wanted Tom King dead, the list of suspects was narrowed down to ten:
*Jimmy King
*Matthew King
*Carl King
*Rosemary King
*Grayson Sinclair
*Chas Dingle
*Bob Hope
*Jamie Hope
*Terry Woods
*Len Reynolds
Tom King's final video had come to light, which was intended for his close friend Charles Vaughan. It saw Tom speaking candidly to the camera about who, of those around him, would have had the motive to kill him. This first part shows Tom discuss Bob Hope, Jamie Hope and Terry Woods. The second part of Tom's final video shows Tom speak of Len Reynolds and how he doesn't know his three sons as well as he thought. And the third, and final part of Tom King's video show Tom speak of Chas Dingle, Rosemary King and Grayson Sinclair and why he thinks everybody hated him so much.
===The true killer revealed===
On 17th May 2007, nearly five months after the murder, the true killer was finally revealed. Matthew King, who was convinced his brother Jimmy was their father's killer, threw Jimmy through the glass of a cabinet and threatened to impale him on the shard of glass unless he confessed, however, Jimmy was innocent but the incident led brother Carl to confess that he was the one who killed their dad. Carl had gone to his dad's bedroom to argue with him about Tom's attempt at paying Carl's girlfriend Chas to split up with him. Tom gave him an ultimatum, split up with Chas or lose his multimillion-pound inheritance. In a fit of frustration, Carl hit him over the head with a bronze horse's head statue, and as Tom clung on to him, he pushed him away. This made him fall out of his bedroom window to his death. 
Carl was never prosecuted for killing him, as there was not enough evidence to prosecute one particular brother. When all three brothers were charged for conspiracy to murder, their trial collapsed when it was revealed that two key witnesses had lied in their statements for money, and there was insufficient evidence to find the brothers guilty without the statements.
=== Aftermath ===
Following his death, Tom's will was read out and in his will, he split his business between his three sons Jimmy, Matthew and Carl and his daughter Scarlett. Scarlett was Tom's illegitimate child born out of the affair he had with his wife's nurse Carrie Nicholls. The three brothers were shocked by the newfound knowledge that they had a half-sister, with Matthew and Carl resenting her.
Eventually, evidence arose that suggested that Jimmy, Matthew and Carl had all conspired to murder their father together. Fake evidence put forward by Hari Prasad and Louise Appleton after being paid to do so by Rosemary suggested that the three brothers had done the crime together. However, Louise eventually withdrew her evidence and confessed to her wrongdoing with Hari getting arrested. However, it is later revealed that although they had gotten away with it, one of the three brothers was guilty. Matthew was convinced Jimmy was guilty, and forced a confession out of him, but Carl eventually admitted to killing Tom. And as the years went by Carl confessed to more locals that he killed his dad up until his own death in 2012.
==Interactive element and different endings==
In October 2006, ITV announced their plans for a fully interactive storyline, surrounding the death of Tom King. The ensuing weeks were full of twists and turns as some of the show's most popular characters were placed at the centre of the enquiry, facing fierce interrogation in the hunt for the killer.
The whole storyline was fully interactive allowing viewers the opportunity of becoming super sleuths to help solve the crime via a dedicated ITV online portal. Launched in November, it consists of blogs, clues, secret e-mails and voicemails. Emmerdale Online was created for ITV. The viewers were taken inside the show and had direct online interaction with the storyline. The cast was seen trying to piece together the murder and their findings will, in turn, be immediately available for viewers to tap into online.
To add to the mystery, and for the first time, Emmerdale filmed 10 secret scenes, each showing a different suspect committing the murder and therefore enabling 10 different possible outcomes. As a result, even the cast and crew didn't know who the killer was. An eleventh ending was also filmed which saw Tom's three sons: Jimmy, Matthew and Carl King, team up to kill their father. Carl and Matthew held their father still, whilst eldest brother Jimmy whacked Tom over the head with the horse statuette that figures in all eleven murder scenarios.
At the Broadcast Digital Channel Awards in 2008, Emmerdale won the award for "Best use of Interactive" for the storyline.
Category:Events