Tom King (Emmerdale)
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| Emmerdale character | |
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|
| Tom King | |
|---|---|
| Played by | Kenneth Farrington |
| Duration | 2004- |
| Date of Birth | 10th May 1939 |
| Date of Death | |
| Marital Status | Widowed |
| Occupation | Businessman |
| Family | Matthew, Carl, and Jimmy |
Thomas (Tom) King is a fictional character on the ITV soap opera Emmerdale. He has been on the show since 2004 and Ken Farrington plays him.
[edit] About Tom
Tom King is a self-made man who proudly presides over a flourishing business and a troublesome family.
He was keen to return to Emmerdale, having lived there as a youngster, and started buying up property almost immediately - much to the disgust of some of the locals.
Tom’s relationship with his sons is good, on the whole. He is fond of eldest son Jimmy, but has no intention of letting him take over the family business. He’s impressed by second son Matthew’s business talents but worried by his cold-hearted personality.
He is often left exasperated by Carl, who’s already been married and divorced and dated a string of unsuitable women and has spent far too long indulging youngest son Max.
Being rich and single made Tom a target for the gold-digging women in the village - regardless of the fact he was old enough to be their fathers. And, having lost his wife Mary 18 years earlier, Tom couldn’t believe his luck when sexy widow Charity Tate set her cap at him.
Although they seemed a total mismatch, Charity and Tom were actually a very well-suited couple. Having endured years of romantic disasters, Charity loved Tom’s stability and devotion to her, and he had fallen deeply in love with the brassy blonde.
However, his family were horrified when Tom announced his intentions to marry Charity - especially his daughter-in-law Sadie King.
Although Tom loved Charity, he found it hard to trust her - worried that she’d leave him for someone younger. And when Tom’s best friend George died suddenly on the golf course, he began to question his mortality even more.
Sensing his insecurity, Sadie began to hatch a plan to rid the family of Charity for good. Having set up a situation in which Charity was photographed with her bad boy ex-lover Cain Dingle, Sadie manipulated the situation by insisting they were proof that Charity was cheating on him.
Seeing the photos on the morning of his wedding, Tom was plunged into a deep depression - and jilted Charity at the alter having humiliated her in front of the entire congregation. But a few months later, Tom discovered that Charity was telling the truth when she insisted Sadie had set her up.
Storming into Holdgate Farm with a videotape of her in bed with Tom’s eldest son Jimmy - Sadie’s husband - Tom discovered that Sadie set the whole situation up and had robbed him of his chance of happiness. Although they were still in love, Charity rejected Tom’s pleas to take him back and left Emmerdale for good.
Horrified by the low level his family has stooped to, Tom disowned Jimmy and Sadie and warned his other children never to cross him. Eventually, Tom forgave Jimmy and lets him back into his life and when Sadie shrewdly buys a piece of land that Tom desperately needs for his development, she is also let back into the business.
If Tom thought the last couple of years were tough, he was about to get the hardest knock of all. His beloved youngest son Max was tragically killed in a car crash caused by evil Robert Sugden and the family were left devastated. The last thing Tom ever said to Max was "You're a disgrace".
Driven half mad by grief, Tom was in a terrible state for months and even let his guard down so much that he allowed Sadie back into his inner circle. Impressed that she’d managed to scheme her way to getting Home Farm for him, Tom finally forgave Sadie and even ended up making a move on her.
She turned him down and Tom was left humiliated. The tragic events made Tom start to reassess his life and think about retiring. He decided to hand his company over to Matthew and enjoy life as the lord of Home Farm.
But just as the deal was about to be done, Tom discovered that Matthew had been secretly sleeping with Sadie. Incensed, he insisted his son gave her up or lose the business. He did, but it was clear the situation was not resolved.
So when Matthew stormed Sadie’s wedding to Alasdair Sinclair and begged her to be with him instead, Tom was furious. He reiterated his ultimatum but Matthew let his heart rule his head.
Having now lost two sons, Tom was feeling pretty low and threw himself into launching Home Farm as a working estate.
He enlisted the help of newcomer Jean Hope and found himself falling for her. Jean liked Tom and it suited her to keep him hanging on as a ruse to cover up the secret affair with Tom’s chauffeur Terry Woods. When he found out, Tom felt like a fool and sacked them both but soon got over it and decided to support them as they faced criticism from the rest of the village.
The King family becomes public enemy number one when the showhome colapased and claimed the lives of Dawn Woods and Noreen Bell.
[edit] Family
- Wife: Mary King (deceased)
- Sons: Jimmy King, Matthew King, Carl King, Max King (deceased)
- Grandchildren: Thomas King, Anya King
