Charity Tate (Emma Atkins)

Charity Tate

Charity - knows how to get what she wants!

No one could accuse Charity of being dull. Since her arrival in the Dales, Charity has married Chris Tate, had a lesbian affair with his sister Zoe, found her long lost daughter, Debbie, and had an on/off relationship with Debbie's father and her own cousin, Cain.

Chris framed Charity for his 'murder' but she managed to have her name cleared but found herself pregnant with Chris's child. Seeing an opportunity, she began a relationship with Tom King but didn't bank on his interfering daughter-in-law Sadie King and when Sadie show Tom 'evidence' that Charity was having an affair, she was out on her ear! To get even, Charity had a brief affair with Jimmy before leaving the village in 2005 with her son Noah.

In October 2009, Charity's daughter Debbie gatecrashed her lover's wedding to find that the bride was her own mother! Suspecting the groom was having an affair, Charity had lied she was pregnant but nothing stays secret for long and once again Charity found herself homeless so she returned to the village.

It wasn't long before Charity and Cain were sparring again in their love/hate relationship and even got to the alter...but no further.

Cain's jealous streak and Charity's desire for money and power have caused the couple to implode once again...for how long this time, only the script writers know!

Emma Atkins

Emma's role as Charity Tate was her first appearance on television.

Her initial spell on Emmerdale was from 2000-2005, then she had parts in "Dalziel and Pascoe", "New Street Law", "Doctors" and "Casualty", before returning to Emmerdale in 2009.

Before she started her acting career, Emma was a trainee wallpaper designer for her parents' design company.

She is very close to fellow cast members Charley Webb (Debbie Dingle) and Jeff Hordley (Cain Dingle). The Charity/Cain feisty partnership is a favourite in the dales - in real life Emma says her and Jeff "like brother and sister".