In Emmerdale, Kim Tate has always been the one who controls the chessboard.

From Home Farm, she looks down on the village as if it were a playground, where everyone is a chess piece that can be used, traded or sacrificed if necessary.

But at Christmas 2025, for the first time in many years, viewers will see Kim no longer standing high above giving orders – she lies motionless in the middle of her own land, injured, alone in the woods, waiting to see if fate will give her another chance.

It all started with a reckless decision that seemed like a familiar “trick” of the Dingle family.

Sam, facing financial pressure during the festive season, decided to organize a wild hunting party on Home Farm land to make a quick buck. Lydia, despite knowing it was wrong, was still dragged into it because she both loved her husband and was upset with the way the Tates treated her family. In their minds, it was just a “money-making” affair, done quickly – neatly – discreetly before Kim could smell it.

But Emmerdale has a tradition: whenever a character says “just this once”, it’s over. When the guns start to be issued, when the illegal hunters start to get tipsy, when everyone is excited about “hunting on rich people’s land”, somewhere else, Vanessa senses something unusual. Her professional instincts make it impossible for her to ignore some strange signs and finally, the information reaches Kim. With a nature of not letting anyone get the better of her, Kim immediately turns the car around and heads straight to Home Farm to handle the matter thoroughly.