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
Major Emmerdale storylines Rogers), wanted to move in straight away, but Matt was happy with his life in Emmerdale Farm. Phil Pearce (Peter Alexander), had decided to renovate the cottage in early 1988; however, one day, he carelessly left some rags, which caught fire. Annie Sugden (Sheila Mercier), who had been inspecting the cottage on Matt and Dolly's behalf, was trapped in the inferno. Luckily, Dolly and Phil had been on the way to the cottage that afternoon and witnessed one of the windows explode and heard Annie's cries for help. Phil dashed into the burning cottage and rescued Annie just in time.