List of Emmerdale Farm characters (1988)

The following is a list of characters that first appeared in the British soap opera Emmerdale in 1988, by order of first appearance.

Kate Sugden

Katherine "Kate" Hughes (née Hammond, previously (Sugden) was a fictional character on the ITV soap opera Emmerdale. She was played by Sally Knyvette. Katherine Hammond was born in Sheffield in 1951, in 1968 she met and fell in love with David Hughes and they married later that same year when she was just 17 years old, Kate gave birth to the couple's first child; Rachel in mid 1971 and their son Mark was born two years later in November 1973. David Hughes was in the army so the young family spent much of the 1970s moving from place to place, Kate never adapted to this way of life and eventually the couple grew apart and in 1984, Kate ended their marriage, the divorce was finalised in 1986. Kate spent the next few years raising her children alone in her home town of Sheffield. By late 1987, Kate grew dissatisfied with city life and wanted to fulfil her dream of moving to the countryside and against Rachel and Mark's wishes, she relocated to the village of Beckindale in 1988

Kate arrived in the village in 1988 and started a war with Joe Sugden after he shot her dog but they eventually fell in love and in 1989 she moved into Emmerdale Farm. She married Joe later that year much to the disappointment of her children Rachel and Mark who wanted their mother to remarry their dad; David. In 1989 Kate decided to quit her job as a waitress and checkout girl in Hotten and with her savings she bought out her brother in law; Matt Skilbeck's (who was departing for Norfolk following the collapse of his second marriage to Dolly) share of Emmerdale Farm and she thrived in her new career as a farmer, she made friends with Dolly, Sandie, Cathy and Amos during her time in the village. In August 1990, Kate accidentally ran down and killed Pete Whiteley in her car. Pete happened to be Rachel's lover with whom she was having an affair. She was sentenced to 12 months imprisonment. When Kate was released from prison in January 1991 she tried to make a go of things again with Joe but she was unable to make her marriage work so Kate told him that their marriage was over. Realising there was nothing left in Beckindale for her, Kate left the village in July 1991 and headed for her home town of Sheffield, she was devastated when Rachel and Mark opted to remain with Joe at the farm rather than move with her, ironically Rachel and Mark hated the idea of moving to the countryside three years earlier grew to love it. Kate never appeared onscreen again. It seemed unusual that she didn't attend the funeral of her son Mark in January 1994 after he died in the plane crash in December 1993 nor did she attend the funeral of her second husband; Joe when he died in 1995.

After the actress Sally Knyvette refused offers to return to the series, Kate died offscreen of a brain haemorrhage in Sheffield in July 1997. Her daughter Rachel and former brother in law Jack Sugden attended her funeral.

Denis Rigg

Denis Rigg appeared between 1988 and 1989. He cheated Alan Turner into selling his share of Home Farm to him at a low price. Alan's business partner, Joe Sugden was angry at this and promptly sold his share too. Denis then went on to terrorise the villagers by threatening to evict them all from their homes if they refused to comply with his demands as he owned most of the houses and farms in the area. Denis looked to Emmerdale Farm to expand his business and this led to a confrontation between him and Joe. In the barn, a bull got aggravated by Denis's threatening and aggressive behaviour and crushed him against a wall, killing him.

Rachel Hughes

Rachel Hughes (latterly Tate) is a fictional character from the British soap opera Emmerdale, portrayed by Glenda McKay. Rachel arrived in Beckindale in 1988 with her mother Kate and brother Mark after her parents divorced. Her mother began a feud with Joe Sugden in late 1988 after he shot and killed her dog because it was bothering his sheep. However, in early 1989, Joe and Kate fell in love and were married in April that year and Rachel was more accepting of her mother's new relationship unlike her brother Mark who wanted their parents to reconcile. Rachel began an affair with married man Pete Whiteley on her 18th birthday. He ended it when his wife, Lynn, became pregnant and they moved away from the village. Pete later returned and began seeing Rachel again until he was accidentally run over and killed by Rachel's mother, Kate. Lynn later got her revenge on Rachel by embarking on a relationship with Rachel's former stepfather, Joe. On 30 December 1993, a plane exploded over Beckindale, killing Rachel's brother, Mark. The disaster also left Chris Tate in a wheelchair. Rachel then began giving Chris swimming lessons and they embarked an affair. Chris's wife Kathy saw them kissing on their third wedding anniversary and attacked Rachel, banging her head against a wall. In December 1994, Rachel discovered that she was two months pregnant with Chris's baby and in June 1995, she gave birth to their son, Joseph Mark Tate, on the same day her former stepfather Joe Sugden died, naming her son in his honour. Kathy was present when Rachel went into labour and stayed with her on the journey to the hospital as Chris was nowhere to be found. This led to the two women becoming best friends and Rachel named Kathy as Joseph's godmother. On 7 December 1995, Rachel and Chris got married with Jack Sugden and his wife, Sarah, as witnesses. Chris wanted them to have another child and went for fertility treatment but Rachel secretly went on the pill. Chris and Rachel split up after Chris betrayed Rachel by stealing private information from her work file and Rachel was granted custody of Joseph. In July 1997, Rachel received news that her mother Kate had died of a brain haemorrhage. Rachel then embarked on an affair with Jack Sugden after he comforted her and attended the funeral with her for support. This was her third affair with a married man. However, Jack had no intention of breaking up his marriage and returned to his wife, Sarah. In late 1998, Rachel started dating schoolteacher Graham Clark and he began to exert control over her, by getting her to dye her hair and dress like his late wife Rebecca. In May 1999, Graham took Rachel on a picnic where she tried to end their relationship. When Graham tried to force himself on her, Rachel tried to flee but he cornered her on a clifftop. Rachel then told Graham that she knew he had killed his wife. Graham panicked and pushed Rachel off the cliff to her death. Graham then went back to the village and asked if anyone had seen her and most of the village went out to search for her. Graham looked on as a horrified Jack Sugden discovered Rachel's body.

Mark Hughes

Mark Hughes, played by Craig McKay, arrived in the village as a 15-year-old in 1988 with his mother Kate and sister Rachel. Mark had been a model son until the breakdown of his parents marriage. He then became a troublesome teenager which coincided with his mother's relationship and subsequent marriage to Joe Sugden. In January 1989, Mark ran away from home after Kate announced her intention to move in with Joe. Mark intended to go to Germany to be with his father but only made it as far as Hull. His father David alerted Kate who brought Mark home. Despite this Mark tried to get his parents back together on numerous occasions and he reacted badly to being clipped around the ear by Joe for messing around with a gun. In January 1990, Mark and some friends tried trapping some mink using dangerous and illegal snares but only managed to succeed in trapping a puppy called Lucy. Mark also got into trouble when he went to the pub with his sister and her older friends. He wanted to prove his manhood by drinking alcohol but was cautioned for underage drinking. Mark then began shoplifting. He stole things he didn't need but was caught by Rachel and Sarah Connolly. He was arrested and given a warning at the police station but afterwards his mother collapsed and suffered a miscarriage. Mark blamed himself for this. After leaving school Mark initially intended to join the army and follow in his father's footsteps. However he then decided to stay at school and study A-Levels in Art, Technical Drawing and English. But he refused to turn up to his final exams and as a result his girlfriend Melanie Clifford split up with him and he lost his place at Glasgow University. Mark also got himself into debt by letting his friends use telephone chatlines and he had to get a job at the Woolpack to pay them off. Annie Sugden later paid the bill for him. In 1992, Mark started work as a handyman at the holiday village where he had a holiday romance with an older woman called Lisa. He also worked as an assistant gamekeeper to Seth Armstrong. Mark did have a sense of fun and he organised the village's sheep race in 1992 and in 1993 he organised the fell race which was a challenge between the village's teenagers and his sister Rachel's student friends from Leeds. But it ended in disaster when Lorraine Nelson was bribed to move the signs and mountain rescue teams had to be called out to search for the lost runners. Mark died in the 1993 plane crash that devastated the village. Joe had wanted him to return a vacuum cleaner that evening which had been borrowed from Lynn Whiteley and this resulted in Mark being in the wrong place at the wrong time when a large section of the Eastern European airliner came down on Whiteley's farm. Mark was crushed by a falling wall and Jack Sugden identified his body after recognising his watch amongst recovered items.

Sarah Sugden

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