Emmerdale Kim Tate's new man Eddie's real identity 'revealed' as debut looms

There's a new love interest confirmed for Emmerdale's Kim Tate, as revealed on Friday.

The character, who lost her husband Will Taylor in December, is finally moving on. An exchange of messages saw Kim smirking, as she secretly spoke with mystery new man Eddie.

Hiding the romance from Joe Tate, Kim does soon open up about her new lover while she fears how Will's daughter Dawn will react. It's not clear when or how they met, but the pair have seen each other in secret.

Eddie was shown messaging Kim about cooking for her, before they shared a phone call later in the evening that wasn't shown. He then reached out to her in the latest episode, saying he was "thinking of her" and he asked her how her day was going.

Kim replied with some generic chat, while Eddie then claimed he had had a busy few days and couldn't wait to "wind down". Smiling, and clearly desperate to text him back, Kim was shown asking Eddie: "When do I get to see you again?"

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We didn't see his reply, but it's thought soon Kim will confide in people about her new romance. So ahead of him debuting onscreen, who is he and have we already met him?

Fans are sure this is the case, with some predicting it's none other than Rodney Blackstock using a fake name. But many fans all predicted Eddie was actually a new villain who is about to join the show.

Newcomer Ray is heading to the village next week, and now some fans think the troublemaker played by actor Joe Absolom will be Kim's new man. Whether he's tricking her with his fake name or she's written Eddie for no reason remains to be confirmed, but fans are sure Ray is her new lover.

Taking to social media one fan said: "It's definitely Rodney," while another said: "Kim has a new man," before sharing an image of Ray. One fan replied to this saying: "We are soooo excited about this!"

A further comment read: "My first thoughts were maybe that new guy Ray." It comes amid Joe Tate fearing someone is out to get him, telling Kim how someone had been in his room and taken things.

On Thursday he noticed his medication was gone and his window was open, just a day after someone keyed his car. He was sure love rival Billy Fletcher was behind it, leading to him confronting him before asking accomplice Shaun to make him pay.

Billy has denied having anything to do with it all though, and now some fans are speculating it might actually be Kim. While she seems to be on Joe's side and hasn't been against him yet, given their past some fans have questioned if she's secretly plotting to get back at him.

Emmerdale airs weeknights at 7:30pm on ITV1 and ITVX, with an hour-long episode on Thursdays. * Follow Mirror Celebs and TV on TikTok , Snapchat , Instagram , Twitter , Facebook , and Threads.