| Carl King | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Emmerdale character | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Portrayed by | Tom Lister | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Duration | 2004–2012 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| First appearance | 6 February 2004 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Last appearance | 18 October 2012 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Classification | Former; regular | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Introduced by | Steve Frost | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Carl Thomas King is a fictional character from the British ITV soap opera Emmerdale, played by Tom Lister. The character and casting were announced in January 2004 when it was announced that producers were bringing "four new single 'hunks'" into the show, one of them being Carl. Lister made his first appearance on the show on 6 February 2004. Throughout the course of his story arc, Carl establishes a relationship with Chas Dingle (Lucy Pargeter) – which contributes to his storylines that include the pair having an ill-fated wedding after Chas exposes Carl's affair with her best friend Eve Jenson (Suzanne Shaw). During his time on the show, Carl has accidentally caused the death of local postman Paul Marsden (Matthew Booth); killed his own father Tom (Ken Farrington) in the events surrounding the Who Killed Tom King? storyline, which he ultimately confessed to his brothers Jimmy (Nick Miles) and Matthew (Matt Healy) on the show's 500th village anniversary episode – after the trio were acquitted for their father's murder; formed a romance with DCI Grace Barraclough (Glynis Barber), the policewoman investigating his father's murder, that culminated with her being killed in a hit and run – just as she prepared to take Carl into custody after he admitted to killing his father; sparked a business conflict with Matthew that concluded with the latter's death, after Carl ruined Matthew's ill-fated wedding to his business partner Anna De Souza (Emma Davies) by exposing his involvement behind the death of her father Donald (Michael Jayston); developed a feud with Chas' niece Debbie (Charley Webb) upon clashing with her parents, Cain (Jeff Hordley) and Charity (Emma Atkins), respectively; embarked on a failed marriage with Lexi Nicholls (Sally Oliver); and became archenemies with Debbie's ex-boyfriend Cameron Murray (Dominic Power) after discovering his affair with Chas and subsequently blackmailing the pair in repaying him the £30,000 that Chas previously swindled from his bank account.
After getting jilted by Chas on their ill-fated wedding day at Christmas 2010, Carl became the show's main antagonist upon alienating himself from his family and friends – which ultimately led to the character being killed-off in the show's 40th anniversary episode. This involved Carl fighting with Jimmy over their problematic brotherhood; spoiling Chas' wedding to her fiance Dan Spencer (Liam Fox); and then nearly raping her after she rejects his efforts to recoup their broken relationship, up to the point where he confesses to killing his father for her. The seduction ends with Chas hitting Carl on the head with a brick, though he survives and ends up exposing her affair with Cameron to Debbie – shortly before Carl is then murdered by Cameron after the latter arrives in a failed attempt to stop him from destroying their lives.