Tom King Popular Books

Tom King Biography & Facts

Tom King is a fictional character from the British ITV soap opera Emmerdale, who appeared on the show from 29 February 2004 before being killed off on 25 December 2006 in a long-running "whodunit" storyline dubbed, "Who Killed Tom King?". He was last seen on 27 December 2006 as a dead body in a morgue. Throughout his time on the show he was portrayed by Kenneth Farrington. Farrington decided to leave the show in 2006 but reprised the role briefly as a ghost in a "Text Santa" special on 20 December 2013. Storylines Backstory Born into a family of successful businessmen, Thomas Albert King grew up in Emmerdale where his father Albert ran a successful business. As an adult, Tom grew away from the family business and founded his own haulage firm, becoming familiar with fellow businessmen such as Frank Tate (Norman Bowler) and Alan Turner (Richard Thorp). Tom fell in love with a Scottish woman named Mary, and he went on to marry her. From their marriage they produced four sons: Jimmy (Nick Miles), Matthew (Matt Healy), Carl (Tom Lister) and Max (Charlie Kemp). When his sons grew up Tom began running his haulage firm with them (with the exception of Max who became a vet), renaming the firm King & Sons. Mary became ill with terminal cancer and Tom hired nurse Carrie Nicholls (Linda Lusardi) to look after her. Mary eventually died in 1986 and Tom and Carrie began an affair. In 1991, Carrie gave birth to Tom's daughter, Scarlett (Kelsey-Beth Crossley). Tom decided not to tell his sons about their half-sister but did pay for her to attend private school. The last time Tom ever saw Scarlett was when she was one year old. 2004–2006 Tom goes to the local graveyard to lay flowers on the grave of his late wife, Mary, who had died in 1986. Marlon Dingle (Mark Charnock) was also present, doing the same, leading to the pair talking about their late wives, and Tom revealed that he had grown up in Emmerdale and was keen to return. Tom did move back to Emmerdale but had trouble re-establishing his haulage firm there. To get some inside information on his key competitor, Tate Haulage, Tom sent his son Carl to get a job there and act as a spy. When Carl found out that Tate Haulage planned to bid for a valuable contract, Tom undercut them to win it, moving himself, his family and his haulage firm into Emmerdale. Tom ran King & Sons with his sons, Jimmy, Matthew and Carl, while Jimmy's ambitious ex-wife Sadie (Patsy Kensit) would also prove influential. After the Kings established themselves as the new top dogs of the village, replacing the Tates, Tom began searching for a partner. He set his eyes on the much younger widow Charity Dingle (Emma Atkins), and was overjoyed when she revealed she felt the same way. However, while Charity genuinely cared for Tom, he had trouble believing an attractive young woman was really interested in him and not his money – especially as most of the village believed Charity had married her late husband Chris Tate (Peter Amory) for the same reason. Things changed when Tom's close friend Roger Dyson (Malcolm Terris) died of a heart attack while playing golf, making him decide life was too short, Tom proposed to Charity and she accepted, and they held a massive engagement party in The Woolpack. However, Tom's family, particularly his daughter-in-law Sadie, were less than impressed, fearing Tom would leave his fortune to Charity rather than them. When the day of the wedding eventually arrived, Sadie gave Tom photos of Charity kissing her cousin and ex - lover Cain Dingle (Jeff Hordley). Tom subsequently jilted Charity at the altar, sparking a massive fight between the Kings and the Dingle family. Tom became convinced Sadie was the only person out for his best interests; however, Charity was determined to clear her name, and when she obtained proof she took it to Jimmy, who was furious with Sadie. To hurt both Tom and Sadie, Charity seduced Jimmy, who was unaware he was being videotaped. At Jimmy's 40th birthday party Charity marched in and played the video, which Sadie had set her up. Tom was furious and begged Charity to take him back, but she refused, saying that she no longer loves him and left Emmerdale. After returning for the aborted wedding, Tom's youngest son Max prepared to leave Emmerdale to continue his around-the-world trip with his girlfriend Amy Carter (Bethany Webb). Bent on trying to get his son to remain in Emmerdale, Tom persuaded local vet Paddy Kirk (Dominic Brunt) to give Max a job, with Tom covering his salary. Max subsequently broke up with Amy and moved into Holdgate Farm with Tom, Matthew and Carl. However, when he later discovered the truth Max became tired of his father dictating his life, making plans to flee the village with friend Robert Sugden (Karl Davies). The plan ended in tragedy when Robert crashed the car, which exploded with Max inside, killing him instantly. Tom was devastated to realise he had virtually driven his youngest son to his tragic death. Determined to get back into Tom's good books, Sadie blackmailed Charity's ex-sister-in-law Zoe Tate (Leah Bracknell) into selling Home Farm – the Tate family home, which Tom dreamed of owning – to Tom. However, in an act of revenge, Zoe destroyed the house by deliberately damaging the gas pipes just as she fled abroad, leaving Tom with a huge refurbishment bill. In spite of this disaster, a vulnerable Tom let Sadie back into the fold and, with Sadie's marriage to Jimmy in tatters, Tom began to wonder if her feelings for him were more than those of a "daughter". Tom confided in Sadie that he was considering retiring and handing over the business to one of his sons. Unbeknown to Tom, Sadie was secretly in love with Matthew, having only married Jimmy because his position as the eldest made him the obvious heir. With no chance of reconciling with Jimmy, Sadie steered Tom towards putting Matthew in charge. As Matthew was a much better businessman than Jimmy, Sadie got her way when Tom decided to hand the business over to Matthew. However, just as Tom was about to sign the deal, Jimmy arrived and revealed Matthew and Sadie were having an affair. Tom didn't believe Jimmy at first, but when Tom mistakenly believed Sadie was making a move on him, Matthew was forced to reveal the truth. Matthew didn't believe Sadie wasn't pursuing Tom, and when Tom made Matthew choose between Sadie and the business, he chose the business. However, when Sadie subsequently married the rich Alasdair Sinclair (Ray Coulthard) for his money Matthew realised he couldn't live without her and begged her for another chance, saying he'd give up the business if he had to. Faced with potentially losing another son, Tom decided to accept Matthew and Sadie as a couple. Tom's next business venture was a development of new homes in Emmerdale, Kings River, which divided the village, as many local people couldn't afford the prices the Kings were asking. Carl got around opposition by raffling off the showhouse a.... Discover the Tom King popular books. Find the top 100 most popular Tom King books.