Chris Tate

Chris Tate is a fictional character from the British ITV soap opera Emmerdale, played by Peter Amory. The character made his first appearance on 14 November 1989, when he arrived in the village alongside the rest of the Tate family – his father Frank (Norman Bowler); stepmother Kim (Claire King); and younger sister Zoe (Leah Bracknell).

Initially a decent man, Chris was left permanently resentful of his life after a plane crash in 1993 left him paralysed from the waist down. His storylines on the show included his numerous feuds, including one with his father Frank; a longstanding rivalry with his stepmother Kim; and his marriages with local villager Kathy Merrick (Malandra Burrows), her best friend Rachel Hughes (Glenda McKay), and scheming ex-prostitute Charity Dingle (Emma Atkins). Towards the end of his story arc, Chris learned that he had an inoperable brain tumour and used this opportunity to get revenge on Charity for cheating on him with her cousin Cain Dingle (Jeff Hordley). After wasting all of his money to ensure that Charity would be left with nothing, Chris killed himself to frame her for his murder – with the character making his final appearance on 18 September 2003 as a corpse following his death an episode earlier.

Characterisation

Chris is a shrewd businessman living in the shadow of his father, Frank. After [Frank's] death, Chris took over the Tate business and never lets anything or anyone get in his way.

Chris was initially portrayed as a decent man, but was left permanently resentful of his life after a plane crash in 1993 left him paralyzed from the waist down. The character then became much more jaded and bitter, often using his intelligence and assets to exact revenge on those he perceived to have hurt him. Radio Times described Chris as a "wealthy bad boy" and "one of the most complex, conniving characters in Emmerdale history."

Storylines

Chris Tate first arrives in Beckinsdale in November 1989 when his father, Frank (Norman Bowler), and stepmother, Kim, buy Home Farm. He is the managing director of his father's haulage firm. He had owned a flat in Skipdale, but moved into Home Farm soon afterwards to be closer to his love interest Kathy Merrick (Malandra Burrows). It quickly becomes clear that Chris has a tense relationship with his father, partly due to the death of Chris's mother, Jean, from cancer five years ago. Another reason is Frank's remarriage to his secretary Kim, who is only a few years older than Chris and had been having an affair with Frank whilst Jean was ill. Despite the turbulence between father and son, Chris is close to his younger sister Zoe. When Frank admits he had helped Jean die when she was terminally ill, Chris initially accused Frank and Kim of plotting his mother's death. Chris was also unimpressed when Kim persuaded Frank to have an operation to reverse his vasectomy.

Eventually Chris and Kathy begin dating and Chris writes a song for Kathy to sing at a village concert, 'Just This Side of Love' (which was released as a single sung by Malandra Burrows). They briefly split up over Chris's gambling habits after he lost his motorbike in a poker match to Frank's closest friend Alan Turner (Richard Thorp), but reunite and marry in November 1991. The marriage begins to break down a year later when Chris finds out that Kathy knew that Kim was two-timing Frank with the latter's acquaintance Neil Kincaid (Brian Deacon). In the row that follows, Chris nearly hits Kathy and later confides in Zoe that he is worried that he has inherited their father's temper. Chris also admits that, although he wants children, Kathy does not. When Frank relapses into his old alcoholism, Chris sees an opportunity to gain control of the business by buying Kim's shares. His plan to do so involves remortgaging his and Kathy's cottage. Kathy soon finds out about this when Frank discovers what his son has done and accuses Kathy of conspiring with Chris against him. To Chris's surprise, however, Zoe joins forces with Frank to vote down Chris against his expectations Kathy, unhappy with his actions, begins to cheat on Chris by having a fling with American wine merchant Josh Lewis (Peter Warnock), and plans to leave Chris by the end or 1993.

On the night before New Year's Eve 1993, Chris spends the evening in Skipdale with a friend – unaware that Kathy is planning to leave him that night. He is supposed to pick up Kathy and meet Zoe in The Woolpack, but goes straight to the pub and is there when a plane crashes into the village. Chris is trapped in the wreckage of the wine bar, with his family thinking he is still in Skipdale. He is eventually discovered by Josh, and is dug out overnight. He has spinal injuries and is left paraplegic.

It is then Chris exhibits a ruthless Machiavellian streak; he starts off feeling bitter about being disabled and his marriage with Kathy starts to collapse because of his volatile behaviour, especially when realises that Kathy has stayed with him out of duty only. Soon enough Chris forms a bond with her best friend Rachel Hughes (Glenda McKay), whose brother Mark died in the plane crash, and she begins giving him swimming lessons. Their friendship steadily becomes an affair and Kathy finds out when she sees them kissing on their third wedding anniversary. When Kathy finds out Rachel is expecting Chris's child, she slaps Chris and throws him out of his wheelchair.

The following summer, Rachel goes into labour prematurely not long after discovering that her stepfather Joe Sugden (Frazer Hines) has died. She gives birth to a baby boy named Joseph Mark after her stepfather and brother. Chris helps Rachel raise their son and the pair start to fall out with Frank over his interference with Joseph. On 7 December 1995, Chris and Rachel get married – though Joe's brother Jack Sugden (Clive Hornby) and his wife Sarah (Alyson Spiro) are the only attendees due to Frank's refusal to attend the ceremony. However, the marriage lasted less than a year after Chris returns to Frank's business and becomes just as money-ambitious as his father, much to Rachel's disapproval. They soon divorce after Chris indirectly causes Rachel to undergo financial problems, and the pair end up squabbling over their rights to Joseph.

By this point, Chris has become arch-enemies with his stepmother Kim. Their feud continues by the time Frank divorces Kim after her affair with Kathy's new fiancé, Dave Glover (Ian Kelsey), is exposed. Dave soon dies after rescuing Kim's infant son James from a fire at Home Farm over Christmas 1996. In the new year, Kim loses everything when Frank is revealed to be James's father – not Dave as she had hoped – and she soon leaves the village under mysterious circumstances. When it later becomes apparent that Kim has died after her car and body are identified in the quarry, Chris relishes in her supposed death. However, he is left outraged when Frank is arrested and imprisoned because of the circumstances surrounding Kim's death. Chris also discovers that Kim has conned him out of £350,000 in a business transaction between them and wishes that he had killed her for this.

In 1997, it is revealed that Kim is actually alive and had faked her death in order to get revenge on Frank by implicating him in her supposed disappearance and death. She returns to the village to confront Frank and ultimately allows him to die after causing an argument that ends with Frank having a fatal a heart attack. On the day of Frank's funeral, Chris and Zoe discover that Kim is alive. He speculates that she killed Frank and swears revenge on Kim for his father's death, especially when Kim later inherits everything in Frank's will. This in turn escalates the animosity between Chris and Kim, despite the fact they have to collaborate with managing both the family business and Home Farm Estate.

A few months later Chris is suspicious when Kim gets engaged to Frank's business partner Steve Marchant (Paul Opacic) and the pair become closely associated with a wealthy aristocrat named Lord Alex Oakwell (Rupam Maxwell). However, on the night of Kim and Steve celebrating their engagement party, Alex Oakwell ends up causing the death of Zoe's best friend Linda Fowler (Tonicha Jeronimo) in a road accident. Although Lord Alex is killed a year later for his actions, thanks to Linda's brother Roy (Nicky Evans) seeking justice for her murder, Linda's death has further instigated her family's resentment towards Chris over an earlier incident. A few months before when Frank was still alive, Chris had sexually harassed Linda to the point where he tried to rape her one night. He later planned to have Linda and her husband Biff (Stuart Wade) evicted from the family house. However, when Linda's father Ned Glover (Johnny Leeze) learns about her ordeal, he furiously kidnaps Chris and attempts to kill him at the quarry – nearly doing so until Linda and Biff, with his wife Jan (Roberta Kerr), talk him out of it.