Kim Tate

Claire King as Kim Tate (1999)

Emmerdale character

Portrayed by

Claire King

Duration

1989–99

First appearance

12 December 1989

Last appearance

19 January 1999

Introduced by

Stuart Doughty (1989)
Mervyn Watson (1997)

Classification

Former; regular

Husband	Frank Tate (1986–93, 1994–97) Steve Marchant (1998–99)
Sons	James Tate
Uncles	Harry Barker

Husband	Frank Tate (1986–93, 1994–97) Steve Marchant (1998–99)
Sons	James Tate
Uncles	Harry Barker

Kimberly Jane 'Kim' Marchant (née Barker, previously Tate) is a fictional character on the ITV soap opera Emmerdale. who appeared between 1989 and 1999 and was played by actress Claire King. One of the serial's most popular characters ever, many of Kim's storylines revolved around her volatile, turbulent marriage to Frank Tate (Norman Bowler), which who in her decade-long stint on the show, she divorced, remarried and was widowed by. She embarked on two affairs, with The Rt Hon. Neil Kincaid (Brian Deacon) in 1992 and Dave Glover (Ian Kelsey) in 1996, as well as a third ill-fated marriage to her second husband, Steve Marchant (Paul Opacic). Her other major storylines included her many feuds, notably with stepson Chris Tate (Peter Amory), her unlikely friendship with Seth Armstrong (Stan Richards) and faking her own death in order to get revenge on her husband.

The character was selected as one of the "top 100 British soap characters" in a poll run by What's on TV, with readers also voting on "Who is Soap's greatest Legend?"

Kim Barker was born in January 1959, and started out as Frank Tate's (Norman Bowler) secretary. She had an affair with him while his wife, Jean, was dying of cancer, despite Frank being old enough to be her father. Frank's son, Chris (Peter Amory), was also attracted to Kim although they later became bitter enemies. After Jean's death, Frank and Kim married in 1986. According to actress Claire King's autobiography, 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. Kim initially seemed to be a nice person who got on well with her stepchildren Chris and Zoe, but her marriage to Frank soon wore her down.

...
Wikipedia