Frank Tate (Emmerdale) Frank Tate (Emmerdale) Frank Tate is a fictional character from the British ITV soap opera, "Emmerdale", played by Norman Bowler. He made his first appearance on 21 November 1989 and remained a regular for almost eight years, before Bowler opted to quit in 1996, leading to his character’s exit the following year. Introduced as the patriarch of the new Tate family, who were brought in as part of the show’s rebranding, in 1989, many of Frank’s storylines revolved around his volatile relationship with his wife Kim Tate (Claire King). During his time in the programme, Frank and Kim divorced and
Emmerdale from July 2014, twenty one months behind the UK airings. Location shooting was originally filmed in the village of Arncliffe in Littondale, a quiet valley in the Yorkshire Dales. The Falcon, the village hotel, served as the fictional Woolpack Inn. When the filming location became public it was moved to the village of Esholt in 1976, where it remained for 22 years. Filming returned to Esholt for a one off episode in 2016 for the Ashley Thomas dementia special which aired December 2016. The location was used to represent Ashley's onset of dementia to the viewer. The original "Emmerdale Farm"