Rosemary King

Rosemary King (also Sinclair) is a fictional character from the British television soap opera Emmerdale, played by Linda Thorson.

The character was introduced for the March 2006 wedding of Sadie King (Patsy Kensit) and Alasdair Sinclair (Ray Coulthard).

[1] The following month, Kris Green of Digital Spy confirmed Thorsen had joined the main cast and Rosemary would return in August, along with her son and daughter-in-law, to continue her feud with Sadie.

[1] Kate Woodward of Inside Soap believed Rosemary would take over from Sadie as "Emmerdale's superbitch" and said her family would not make a great impression on the villagers.

"[2] In August 2007, it was announced that Thorson would be leaving Emmerdale in the autumn and her final storyline would come to "a dramatic end", climaxing in Rosemary's exit.

They quickly settle themselves into Emmerdale, where Rosemary becomes friends with local businessman, Rodney Blackstock (Patrick Mower).

Rosemary moves into Home Farm and continues to bump heads with Chas and Tom's secretary, Edna Birch (Shirley Stelfox).

Tom proposes and Rosemary accepts and they are married on Christmas Day by Bishop George Postlethwaite in the village church and a lavish reception is held at Home Farm.

Things are not helped when Tom's close friend, Charles Vaughan (Richard Cole) visits frequently and is a little too keen to comfort Rosemary.

Matthew reports Charles' constant visits to Grace Barraclough (Glynis Barber), the DCI in charge of the investigation, giving her no choice but to pass it on to her bosses.

Rosemary is later questioned about the death of her previous husband, Ray, the father of Grayson and Alasdair 25 years earlier.

Rosemary discloses to Zak Dingle (Steve Halliwell) that Ray had shot himself because she "made his life hell".

Rosemary schemes by playing mind games with tenant Andy Sugden (Kelvin Fletcher) to evict his ex-wife, Katie (Sammy Winward), and Perdita from Butler's Farm.

Andy tells Katie and Perdita that they would have to find new premises and Rosemary told them they could use the stables at Home Farm in exchange for a 10% stake in the business.

A few weeks later, Paddy Kirk and Marlon Dingle (Mark Charnock) were walking down a country road when they spotted Rosemary's handbag and passport lying in the grass.

They alert the police, who search the bag and found a diary, and on 13th September (the date she was last seen), it reads "MK MF" in her handwriting.

An incensed Matthew waits until after the funeral and has Rosemary's coffin secretly dug up and placed in the back of a bin lorry to be crushed.

[6] While discussing "queens of mean" in British soap operas, The Guardian's Gareth McLean wrote that Rosemary was part of the "complete bitch" trope, which also included Sadie.

"[8] Quigley felt a "grudging respect for her tireless campaign" to drive Perdy insane and said Rosemary sounded like Bryan Adams, as she claimed that "everything I do – I do it for you".