Dave Glover - Character Development

Character Development

In 1995, Dave tells Kathy Tate (Malandra Burrows) that he is in love with her. Kathy is a luckless in love character that has a knack for choosing the wrong men. Emmerdale were portraying Kathy as being uninterested in relationships at the time of Dave's declaration; which results in her rejecting his advances. Burrows told Victoria Ross from Inside Soap that she could not blame Kathy for "hanging back a bit" and she "hated" the idea of Kathy beginning a new relationship. While she believed that her character was not ready for romance; Burrows said that Dave had the potential to be Kathy's love interest because he was "very similar" to her first husband, Jackie Merrick (Ian Sharrock).

Dave later starts a relationship with Kathy. When she imposes a sex ban until they marry, Dave resumes an old affair with Kim Tate (Claire King). King told Inside Soap's Ross that Kim is "totally in love with Dave". Kim's initial reaction to Dave is "phroar, I fancy a bit of that". As Kim fills the role of the "bitch", she knows what she wants and exactly how to get it. King explained that the adventurous sex between Dave and Kim leaves her hooked on him. She opined that that they "have a pretty good sex life" because they do it in stables and on office desks, rather than a bed. Kelsey said that Dave enjoys playing with Kim's "fire" and would not be interested in her if she were single. Ultimately "it's the wanton streak in Kim that Dave finds so irresistible". Dave becomes more involved with Kim over time. Eventually Kim decides that she wants a larger share in Frank's estate and plans to achieve this by having his baby. However, Frank has a low sperm count which improves the chances that the baby could be Dave's. King revealed that Kim would often try and give him special treatment at his work place. While Kelsey said that Dave always runs back to Kathy for "a cup of tea and a bun", but having a baby changes that dynamic. If he was the father, Dave would "probably" stand by Kim as he would be "proud as punch to be a dad". Off-screen King was married to fellow Emmerdale cast member Peter Amory (who plays Chris Tate), who would often tease her for Kim's romance with Dave. With the storyline came heightened publicity. Kelsey felt that this made his work load heavier and was required to attend various photo shoots to promote the affair.

When Frank discovers their affair, he offers Kim one million pounds to leave Dave and tell everyone the baby is his. King told Helen Childs from Inside Soap that Kim loves Dave, but she sees but the offer of money is too tempting. She added that it was good that Kim found love with Dave, but the offer ruins everything. King, Kelsey and many viewers thought that the baby would turn out to be Frank's. King said that it would be a "good twist" if Dave turned out to be the father.

When Kelsey decided to leave the series, producers devised a dramatic exit storyline for his character. Special effects designer Ian Rowley set up a reconstruction of a fire. Half of the scenes were shot on location, while the rest were carried out in a studio. Instead of using their usual studios, Emmerdale opted to use Yorkshire Television's main Studio 3. At the time the fire was the largest fire ever undertaken with the company. A stuntman took Kelsey's place in various scenes. The location filming took place at Creskeld Hall, the actual setting of Home Farm and this was manned by Barbara Shaw. They built and extra storey to the building and installed fire bars which were manipulated to set the room alight. Producers had decided that they wanted a dramatic end for Dave's involvement with the fire. In the episode Dave is badly burnt by flaming curtains that fall onto him. During filming the stuntman was logistically placed and dodged the curtains and crawled away, creating the illusion that Dave is underneath them. They then launched a fireball through the window to complete the sequence, all of filming at Creskeld Hall was done in one take.