Claire plays one of the soap’s greatest villains (Picture: ITV)
Emmerdale icon Claire King has teased the return of Kim Tate’s darker side in upcoming scenes.
The actress, 62, first joined the ITV soap as super bitch Kim back in 1989. At the time, the Tate family were introduced in a bid to modernise the show.
During her initial stint she embarked on a string of affairs, faked her own death and watched as husband Frank (Norman Bowler) died of a heart attack in front of her.
To ensure he was dead, she held a compact mirror in front of his face and then checked her makeup. High camp.
Later, she stole £190,000 from step-son Chris (Peter Amory) and pushed him out of his wheelchair, before jumping into a helicopter on the Home Farm driveway as he crawled across the floor to stop her.
Kim watched as Frank died (Picture: ITV/REX/Shutterstock)
Claire returned to the serial in 2018 after a 19 year absence.
Kim is currently dealing with the return of her husband Will Taylor’s (Dean Andrews) estranged ex-wife Rose Jackson (Christine Tremarco), who has moved into their family home.
It has since transpired to the viewer that she’s working with Ruby Fox-Miligan (Beth Cordingly) to split Kim and Will up, then allow Ruby to take control of Home Farm and allow Rose to emotionally support her daughter Dawn (Olivia Bromley) when everything falls apart.
Ruby and Rose are plotting to destroy her (Picture: ITV)
Despite the plot, Claire joked in a recent interview that she doesn’t think anybody is a match for Kim: ‘I don’t think there are many people in the world who can match Kim!’ she told Inside Soap Magazine.
‘She’s like a lioness protecting her family if threatened – so I think I’d be rather afraid if I were Rose and I tried to force myself on Kim’s territory.’
She added: ‘It’s great playing nice Kim because it adds layers and another dimension to her character, although naughty Kim is always more fun and has great one-liners.
‘However, I think the audience is waiting for a reappearance of naughty Kim, and maybe they might have their chance soon…’
We can’t wait to see how this plays out, and if she manages to get revenge on scheming Ruby and Rose!
