<P> 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 . </P> <P> 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 remarried before his death, brought on by her return to the village after being presumed dead, ended their second marriage . Other notable storylines included his addiction to alcohol, coming to terms with Zoe Tate's (Leah Bracknell) sexuality, his various business dealings and feuds with the likes of Jack Sugden (Clive Hornby), Ned Glover (Johnny Leeze), Dave Glover (Ian Kelsey), Steve Marchant (Paul Opacic) and his own son, Chris Tate (Peter Amory). </P> <P> Businessman Frank Tate was born on 1 October 1937 in Yorkshire . As patriarch of the Tate family, he was married to Jean, who died in 1984 . It was later revealed that Kim Barker (Claire King), who had started off as Frank's secretary, had an affair with Frank while Jean was dying of cancer . </P> <P> Frank first appeared in November 1989 when Matt Skilbeck (Frederick Pyne) visited Home Farm to speak to him over the condition of several ewes in his company, which Matt had refused to allow Chris Tate (Peter Amory) to have . After a tense confrontation between them, Frank revealed that Chris, the manager who Matt despised and wanted sacked, was in fact his son . Having made his fortune in haulage, he and Kim bought Home Farm . The two continued to run Tate Haulage along with Chris . Frank and Kim's married life was shattered in 1992 when Kim had an affair with gamekeeper, Neil Kincaid (Brian Deacon). Frank subsequently threw her out and they divorced . Frank was deeply affected by his separation from Kim and turned to alcohol to drown his sorrows . </P>

Who played chris tate's father in emmerdale