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 however, Sarah used her calm intellect to take advantage of the situation. She was eventually released, and Jim was sent back to prison. The plot line of a plane crashing in the village of Beckindale occurred on 30 December 1993. The crash killed four regular characters and led to the onscreen renaming of Beckindale to Emmerdale; the village name change was a tribute to the Sugden family, whose farm was known as Emmerdale Farm. The story garnered significant press and audience attention, giving "Emmerdale" its highest ever viewing figures of 16 million. The plot line attracted controversy due to the