Christopher Francis Tate is the son of Frank and Jean Tate. Initially, Chris was a good man who ran his business fairly, but was left permanently resentful of his life when he was maimed in a plane crash in 1993, leaving him paralyzed from the waist down. The character then became much more jaded after his recovery, often using his intelligence and assets to take revenge on who hurt him. The resulting disabilities he had left with made him realize that his wife Kathy only remained with him to fulfill a role of his carer, leading to their divorce. He went on to marry Rachel Hughes in 1995, but his growing lust for money and indifference for everyone else's feelings meant that they had come to an bitter end.