Joe Tate (Ned Porteous) staged quite the comeback to Emmerdale over Christmas, initially hellbent on giving Kim Tate (Claire King) a taste of her own medicine.
Having left the village six years prior, the dashing businessman’s return saw him unmasked as the person who had been secretly helping Will Taylor (Dean Andrews) scheme against wife Kim.
But after Will then died of a heart attack, Kim and Joe appear to have put their differences aside – but Ned has hinted there’s more twists ahead for his character.
“I’m so excited to be returning to Emmerdale,” the actor enthused before his return. Joe has many unresolved issues, and now seems like the ideal moment for him to return.
Although Joe has always had a darker side, there could be a lot more significant factor at work here.
“The destruction at Home Farm is only the start of a much larger story, and Joe is back for a reason.”
Let’s take a brief journey down memory lane if you’re itching to learn everything there is to know about Joe.
In Emmerdale, who is Joe Tate?
Joe is the nephew of Caleb Miligan (William Ash) and the step-grandson of Kim Tate, having been born to Christopher Tate and Rachel Hughes.
After his parents passed away, he was raised by Zoe Tate (Leah Bracknell) in Emmerdale, where he first appeared in the mid-1990s.
Joe made a dramatic return in 2017, when Ned Porteous, star of EastEnders, played the character of Tom Waterhouse in a storyline in which he wooed Debbie to get revenge on Charity Dingle (Emma Atkins), whom he felt was responsible for his father’s murder.
But in spite of his perverse scheme, Joe eventually fell in love with Debbie, and the two started dating. He also moved into Home Farm, assuming ownership of the land from the Whites, who had previously owned it.
Shortly after Joe’s arrival, Kim made a dramatic reappearance that had been decades in the planning. She ordered Graham Foster (Andrews Scarborough) to assassinate young businessman Joe as part of her quest to take control of Home Farm.
After a fight with Cain Dingle (Jeff Hordley), Joe appeared to have died, and Graham disposed of the corpse. However, a shocking turn of events revealed that Joe was still alive and living onboard, trying all in his power to avoid Kim’s influence.
Six years have gone by, and although Kim and Joe appear to be at peace right now, it’s unclear if Joe still wants to exact revenge.
What’s wrong with Emmerdale’s Joe Tate?
It has been clear since Joe’s return that he is concealing information about a medical ailment, and he has been observed taking medication.
In more recent images, Joe was seen gasping for oxygen while lying in his bed at Home Farm, seemingly having a seizure of some kind.
Since Joe is keeping information about his health a secret from the other villagers, it is currently unknown what ailment he has been diagnosed with.
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