Emmerdale's Claire King aka ‘bad girl’ Kim Tate talks about Emmerdale turning 50, taking care of herself and the perils of social media.
Claire King on Emmerdale's 50th birthday episode
Claire King didn’t half do herself proud in the action-packed, storm-ridden scenes of Emmerdale’s 50th birthday episodes. As her character Kim Tate, she arrived at her wedding on horseback – a jodhpur- wearing Lady Godiva, no less – but then bravely ventured out into the elements to look for the heavily pregnant Amelia. And what’s more, it was Claire herself on horseback.
“I may be 60 but I do my own stunts!” says Claire. “I wasn’t at all scared – horse riding is one of my passions so I felt perfectly at ease on the horse I worked with. We bonded immediately. He knew I was confident and so he felt comfortable. For me, cantering around on him was absolute bliss and I wish all my days at work were like that. I felt very proud to be so heavily involved in the birthday episodes. It was a real honour.”
Claire first joined Emmerdale in late 1989. “My first scene was with Stan Richards who played gamekeeper, Seth Armstrong,” she recalls. “I was riding a horse and my first line was ‘Can you tell me the quickest way to Home Farm please?’. As Stan turned around, he moved his bike which spooked the horse. It reared up but I managed to pull the reins round to stop it coming down on top of Stan. After that, he would always say that my very first
day on set was the day I saved his life.”
Claire says her favourite storyline and scene both involved Frank Tate, whom she married twice!
“The most memorable scene has to be the one where Frank dies because Kim’s been withholding his heart tablets and she checks his breath with her compact mirror. Once she knows he’s dead, she checks her make-up. It was camp as Christmas but it’s one everyone seems to remember.
“I did love the Kim/Frank/Dave Glover love triangle. That scene when Kim and Dave got caught out and Frank said to Dave, ‘Do you call this overtime?’. Kim’s had loads of lovers and four husbands, but I think the one true love of her life was Dave. Kim still believes somewhere deep down that her son Jamie could be Dave’s and not Frank’s. She always swore that.”
Claire left Emmerdale in 1999 and didn't return for another 20 years. “Coming back was quite scary,” she says. “Things had changed.
There's social media and all of the pressures that come with that, but also the pressure of coming back to a workplace where the workload was much greater. Emmerdale has always had a good work ethic but it is more full-on. The workload has tripled – shame the wages haven’t! It was great to be back, though. Kim is such a great character to play.
She gets away with stuff – not just outrageous things like murder; she says stuff and doesn’t give a hoot. I wish I could be more like that.”
Does Claire think Kim will still be stirring things up for Emmerdale’s 60th in ten years’ time?
“We’ve got the 10,000th episode before that – it’s in a couple of years I think,” she laughs. “I haven’t got a clue what I’ll be doing in 2032. Does anyone? Ten years is a long time and there’s only so long they can keep me working at this rate!”
Claire's life lessons
We all need some ‘me time’
Thank goodness, I’m not 25 anymore! I don’t feel I have to put myself through the kind of pressure that a lot of people feel they should do these days. I’ve also learned to start looking after myself better rather than always putting my wellbeing at the bottom of the ‘to do’ list. We all need ‘me time’.
Natural beauty is best
I like looking after myself in a natural way. There’s no way I’m going to go out and get a new face and body through surgery. Actually, beauty isn’t just about looks. I think good health is about keeping ourselves both physically and mentally active. I think you have to stay active for as long as possible – no matter how old you are.
I’ve come off Twitter
Some of the comments got very personal and it’s always age-related so I decided to leave. You’d think people would be a bit kinder these days with more awareness of mental health. It probably would have affected my confidence if I was younger and I can understand why people get upset about it, but I only care about the opinions of people who know and love me. You learn to have rhinoceros skin in this industry, but still, I don’t want somebody I don’t know being nasty for the sake of it.
It’s good to gel
It’s the best thing when you gel with a work colleague and you spark off each other. I’m particularly enjoying having so many scenes with young actress Rosie Bentham who plays Gabby Thomas in Emmerdale. Rosie is professional, really ‘on it’, and very good at what she does. We get on extremely well. I’ve been asked if I ever give Rosie any tips but I really don’t need to. We sit down and go through our lines together and discuss how we think our respective characters should play it.
What advice would you give to your 18-year-old self?
I was a punk with pink hair when I was 18! I’d say, enjoy life to the full without treading on people’s toes. And if you do, make sure you’re aware of it. You live and learn. Whatever happens, it’s all part of life’s rich tapestry.