EMMERDALE icon Claire King has teased Kim Tate’s triumphant return to form admitting that she’s hated playing her nice.
The actress first joined the soap in 1989 as secretary Kim but in her first ten year stint she transformed her into one of soapland’s biggest bitches and legendary villains.
Will’s running a dangerous risk trying to fleece Kim[/caption]
However viewers have been left frustrated with the soap after Kim was left living in domestic bliss with husband Will Taylor and their family.
However with Will now plotting to destroy Kim at Christmas, she faces a huge fight to keep her fortune and life – and Claire couldn’t be more thrilled about getting her killer edge back.
“She’s been nice for three years, really,” she told The Sun.
“It’s kind of ‘Zzzzzz. Hi kiddies! Come on, Granny takes you!’ It’s like, ‘Ugh! I want to kill someone!’”
Viewers will see Will’s plan – with Kim’s jilted business partner Peter – hit the skids towards Christmas as she is found lifeless having fallen off her horse.
Realising he still loves her, Will tries to call off his plan – but Peter and the mystery villain behind it all – try to strong arm him into continuing it.
Clairee explains: “Kim goes riding on Christmas Eve, takes Ice out for a ride. She still loves him, we’ve agreed we’re going to have wedding vows and what have you, but first she goes out for a ride.
“Ice rears up and gets spooked. She ends up in hospital but Will finds her on the ground with Ice just roaming about free.
“He has a bit of a jolt of realisation and thinks, ‘Actually I do love this woman. I’d better call the whole thing off. I really do love her.’
“So he goes to see her in hospital and says, ‘Why don’t we renew our vows?’ They’re going to renew their vows on Christmas Day, so it’s kind of all happy back together again. He calls Peter to say it’s all off.”
And she’s enjoyed playing being at each other’s throats, adding: “We’ve enjoyed playing the toxic side of it, but I think they’re good together because he stands up for himself, he’s not a pussy with her.
“We like it and we like working together as well. It’s good, we’ve got a nice team here at Home Farm. It’s great.”
Kim Tate’s biggest Emmerdale storylines
First appearing in 1989, Kim Tate (Claire King) is an iconic Emmerdale character. Here’s a look at some of her biggest storylines over the years.
MARRIAGE TO FRANK TATE
Kim has been married three times in the soap, but her first, volatile pairing was with Frank Tate (Norman Bowler)
They were an on-screen partnership for almost a decade – including divorcing and remarrying.
However, Frank ultimately suffered a fatal heart attack, brought on by Kim’s return to the village after being presumed dead.
During the marriage, Kim had affairs with Neil Kincaid (Brian Deacon) and Dave Glover (Ian Kelsey).
FAKING HER OWN DEATH
Kim disappeared from the village in February 1997. A few days later, Frank identified a woman found dead at the wheel of her car as Kim.
However, everyone was in for a shock after Kim revealed she was still alive – and the full extent of her plan.
While she’d fled to the Caribbean, Kim had paid a lookalike prostitute to drive her car around the village to fool people into thinking she was still there. It was, in fact, her body that Frank previously identified.
JAMES’ KIDNAPPING
Kim’s business partnership with Lord Alex Oakwell (Rupam Maxwell), resulted in the death of Linda Fowler (Tonicha Jeronimo), in a car crash.
As an act of revenge, Linda’s mother Jan (Roberta Kerr) kidnapped Kim’s son James.
DEPARTURE
After a decade of causing chaos, Kim left Emmerdale in 1999 as she fled in a helicopter with her son James and £190,000 of Chris Tate’s money.
LATER MARRIAGES
Upon Kim’s return in 2018, she was first revealed to be married to Graham Foster (Andrew Scarborough).
However, he was later killed off in a whodunnit storyline.
She later pursued a relationship with her employee Will Taylor (Dean Andrews), marrying him in 2022.
And she admits that Kim could kill Will should he become too much of a problem.
She laughed: “She could do that to anybody, yeah. She loves him but she likes toying with him as well.”
