Who is Kim Tate’s son Jamie in Emmerdale? Why don’t they speak?

Who is Kim Tate’s son Jamie in Emmerdale? Why don’t they speak?

A brief history of the village vixen's estranged offspring

Emmerdale's Kim Tate (Claire King) is set to be reunited with her estranged son Jamie after Graham Foster (Andrew Scarborough) handed over his number on in exchange for his bitchy boss dropping her vendetta against Cain Dingle (Jeff Hordley) and Moira Dingle (Natalie J Robb), and the village vixen's icy heart melted at the mere mention of her offspring.

Graham confessed to the cops Joe Tate (Ned Porteous) was still alive, exonerating Cain for the crime he thought he'd committed and meaning he didn't have to sleep with Kim in exchange for his silence - despite the toxic Tate lying she had successfully seduced him to meddle in the moody mechanic's marriage.

As Kim threatened to track down Joe and kill him for real as revenge for trying to fleece her, protective Graham ordered her to back off and promised to give her info on Jamie as a bargaining chip…

Who is Jamie Tate in Emmerdale? Who was his dad?

Long-term fans may recall James was born in 1996 straight into a blockbuster 'Who's the daddy?' plot with Kim's cuckolded husband Frank Tate and toy boy farmhand lover Dave Glover both believing they had fathered the kid. Patriarch Frank was eventually revealed to be James's biological parent after demanding several tests.

When was Jamie Tate last seen in Emmerdale?

We're going back a bit - toddler James was on his mischievous mum's knee as they escaped the village in a helicopter after she went on the run for her many crimes in January 1999. When Kim made her brief return in October 2018 it was established she and Jamie were not on speaking terms as she begged Graham to track him down as she was sent back to prison…

Why does Emmerdale's Kim Tate not speak to her son Jamie?

"Kim and Jamie haven't spoken for a while," King teased to RadioTimes.com last year, discussing her on-screen son who would be aged 22 now. “Back when she was first in the show there were very few things Kim genuinely loved – James was one. Dave Glover, her dead lover was another, along with gamekeeper Seth Armstrong and her horses! Beyond that she had total disrespect for anything and everyone!” The root of their discord is not yet known, but could we be about to find out?

Who is playing Jamie Tate? When is he back in Emmerdale?

TV newcomer Alexander Lincoln will play the grown-up James who is estranged from his mean mum and has not been in touch with her for some time. Back in 1999 he fled with Kim (Claire King) in a helicopter, and returns to his childhood home in the coming weeks making what is promised to be an explosive entrance – but there is no love lost between the relatives.

“Jamie basically wants nothing to do with Kim,” says Lincoln. “He comes to the village to start a new job (his half-sister Zoe used to run the veterinary practice) and doesn’t even know his mum is out of prison. She tries to bring him back into the fold, even though he wants to distance himself from her and the Tate legacy.

“Unlike Kim, Jamie is innocent and naïve. He’s a good guy and is constantly saying he’s not like his mum, but can be easily manipulated by her.”

Kim is desperate to make amends with her boy and their relationship will show a rare vulnerability in the village vixen – has motherhood mellowed the minx? And could the bad blood mean he turns out to be her greatest foe?

Lincoln fills the posh totty vacancy left by Porteous, who departed last year, but he’s taking it in his stride. “I’ve been called the new village hunk which I didn’t even know was a possibility, but I’ll take it!” laughs the actor, who is embarking on his first major TV part after playing roles in some UK feature films and co-running his own production company, Lowkey Films.

But don't expect Jamie to automatically pick up where Joe left off and become the next love interest for Charley Webb's character Debbie Dingle, whose heart was broken by Joe - the actress reckons it's too obvious for Jamie to fill his step nephew's shoes. "I don’t think she’d go near him after everything that’s happened with Kim turning up and destroying her life and what happened to Joe. To go for her son would just be stupid - though maybe she could turn the tables, strings him along only to dump him!”