Charity Tate

Charity Tate (née Dingle) was a fictional character on the British ITV Soap opera Emmerdale. She was played by Emma Atkins.

Overview
Charity arrived in Emmerdale in 2000 for her cousin Butch's funeral. It later emerged that she had been working as a prostitute for several years and the police had a warrant for her arrest. She began living with her uncle Zak and his wife Lisa. Wanting money, Charity seduced wheelchair-bound millionaire Chris Tate despite her family blaming the Tates for Butch's death.

Relationship with Zoe Tate
When Chris's younger sister Zoe found out about the 'relationship', she tried to pay Charity off, but Charity reacted by kissing her. Zoe then became infatuated with Charity and they started an affair behind Chris's back. However Charity soon became alarmed by Zoe's possessive behaviour and tried to end the fling. She was becoming more fond of Chris and accepted when he proposed marriage. Zoe then recorded Charity on tape confessing to their affair and threatened to play the tape to Chris unless she signed a prenuptial agreement. Charity agreed to sign, but then, realising that Zoe would always have a hold over her, she told Chris all about the affair. Chris surprised her by forgiving her and even tearing up the prenup. Zoe then moved out of Home Farm.

Relationship with Chris Tate
Chris and Charity married on 27 November 2001 with his employee Terry Woods as his best man and her friend Chloe Atkinson as her bridesmaid.

It eventually became apparent that Zoe was mentally ill as, after months of her bizarre behaviour, Charity followed her home and saw the state that she was living in. Chris initially refused to believe that his sister was ill but finally accepted her condition after seeing her ranting about a childhood memory after she was sectioned. Zoe was diagnosed with schizophrenia and then discovered that she was 5 months pregnant in September 2002. With no recollection of how it had happened, Zoe thought that she must have been raped and decided to have an Abortion. Charity stood by her sister-in-law and accompanied her to the abortion clinic and when Zoe decided that she couldn't go through with the termination, Charity confided in her about her own teen pregnancy and that she had given her baby up for adoption. After listening to Charity's story, Zoe decided that she would also give her baby up for adoption.

December 2002: Debbie Dingle's return
After Zoe gave birth to her daughter Jean on 24 January 2003, Charity was stunned when Debbie Jones, the daughter she had given up for adoption when she was a teenager, returned to her life. Debbie's adoptive mother Pat Jones was terminally ill and had told the teenager the identity of her biological mother. At the time Debbie was staying with foster parents Paddy and Emily Kirk. Charity at first wanted nothing to do with her daughter, but when her adoptive mother Pat died Charity comforted her and soon maternal instincts began to kick in. After fighting the Kirks for custody of Debbie, she was reunited with her daughter and was delighted when Chris bonded with Debbie and announced his intentions to adopt her.

However Debbie then started asking questions about her biological father and eventually Charity decided to summon both father and daughter together. It emerged that her cousin Cain had got Charity pregnant when she was 12 years old and as a result she gave birth to Debbie at 13, but so as not to disgrace her family she put her up for adoption. However word got around the family and although none of them knew that Cain was the father, they disowned Charity and after being kicked out she resorted to prostitution. Cain and Debbie eventually became close and Chris began to feel shut out, so he abandoned his plans to adopt Debbie. Charity meanwhile became attracted to Cain again having spent time together with Debbie and they began a secret affair.

Chris's revenge
The affair was eventually discovered by Chris, who had also discovered that he was suffering from a fatal brain tumour. With no prenup, Chris went on a spending spree to empty their joint account. He then threw Charity out on the street after sleeping with her one last time. Charity and Debbie moved in with the Dingles, but Charity ended her affair with Cain and was determined to get back together with Chris. A month later he informed her that he wanted to see her and discuss their situation. Charity turned up hoping for a reconciliation, but Chris told her that he would never forgive her as long as he lived and would hate her a lot longer.

Charity murders Chris?
Chris then downed a whole glass of poisoned champagne, which killed him outright in front of a distraught Charity. She was left widowed on 17 September 2003.

It soon dawned on Charity that Chris had set her up for his murder after her fingerprints were found on the champagne glass and her signature on the order for the poison. When the police scoffed at her theory of Chris's suicide, Charity then tried to point the finger at Cain, telling the police about his involvement in Angie Reynolds's death. The police then played Cain the tape of Charity incriminating him and he told them that Charity had killed Chris. She was charged but released on bail and went to live with her cousin Marlon, as Cain's father Zak told her that she was no longer welcome in his household. After one too many drinks, Charity had a one-night stand with Marlon, which left him guilt-ridden as he was married to Tricia. Charity began blackmailing her cousin until Tricia discovered the truth. Tricia then left Marlon and was killed in the storm of 2003/2004 having planned to return to him.

Meanwhile Charity began working on her sister-in-law Zoe who blamed Charity for Chris's death but knew deep down that her brother had killed himself. Charity manipulated her by reminding her of their past and kissing her. However, on the day of the trial Zoe overheard Charity in the toilets bragging about getting Zoe on side. Sickened, she gave damning testimony against Charity, who was found guilty of murder and sentenced to life imprisonment.

October 2003-March 2004: Charity's pregnancy
In October 2003 Charity discovered that she was pregnant, but she was unsure who the father was. On 1 March 2004 Charity collapsed in her cell and was rushed to hospital, where it was discovered that she had pre-eclampsia and had to have an emergency caesarean section in order to save both her and the baby's life.

Noah's parentage
She gave birth to a little boy named Noah, and told both Cain and Marlon that they were the father while telling Zoe that it was definitely Chris. After Cain and Marlon both took paternity tests, it was revealed that Chris was in fact the father. Devastated, Cain wanted nothing more to do with her.

Christopher Francis Tate Jr.
After recovering from the birth, Charity returned to jail to complete her sentence. Zoe then announced that she wanted to raise Chris's son as her own. She paid £20,000 for her nephew, renaming him Christopher, and provided evidence at Charity's appeal that Chris had in fact killed himself. Now released, Charity returned to live with the Dingles, but Debbie was so horrified by her mother selling her half-brother that she burned the £20,000 on the barbecue, with a furious Charity screaming at her.

When the courts refused to allow Zoe to adopt Christopher due to her schitzophrenia, Charity took the baby back and changed his name back to Noah.

Relationship with Tom King
With Chris dead, Charity set her sights on the new millionaire in the village: Tom King. She began working as his secretary and soon managed to get his attention. However the arrival of his daughter-in-law Sadie in May 2004 threatened to put a spanner in the works as Sadie recognised Charity as a gold-digger. Eventually Charity gained the upper hand when Tom proposed to her, but Sadie was determined to prevent the marriage and hired Cain to set up Charity by kissing her whilst she paid a photographer to capture the moment.

On Tom and Charity's wedding day on 3 January 2005, Sadie showed Tom the photos and he decided to cancel the wedding. Charity was humiliated and lost her home and her job. After a catfight with Sadie at the church she returned to the Dingles, but vowed revenge.



February 2005: departure
In February 2005 Charity seduced Tom's oldest son and Sadie's husband, Jimmy King. They began an illicit affair which lasted for weeks. However, unknown to Jimmy, Charity had taped them having sex and was going to show Tom and Sadie everything. Jimmy also confessed on tape that Sadie had set Charity up with Cain. After blackmailing Jimmy out of large sums of money, Charity then played the tape in front of everyone at Jimmy's 40th birthday party on 1 March 2005. As a result, Tom threw Sadie and Jimmy out and the pair separated.

Tom then begged Charity to go back with him despite her sleeping with his son. Charity turned him down and left the village with Noah, but Debbie, who was disgusted by Charity's behaviour, refused to go with her.