Claire King has been best-known as Emmerdale superbitch Kim Tate for decades but some forget she had a big break from the role.
Claire, 60, originally from Bradford, has seen her character Kim Tate involved in some of the biggest storylines in Emmerdale history. For those who need to jog their memory, a lot of Kim’s drama initially revolved around her turbulent relationship with Frank Tate.
She managed to have an affair with him, marry him, divorce him, remarry him and be widowed by him in just a decade. Kim has had numerous affairs, made herself plenty of enemies and even faked her own death making her one of soapland’s most iconic characters.
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Kim Tate left with her son James in a helicopter in 1999, after confessing she did watch on as Frank died. The character went on the run from police who sussed her out.
In 2018, Emmerdale fans were delighted to welcome Claire King back to Emmerdale as she reprised her role as Kim Tate.
We are going to have a delve through Claire’s career looking back at some of the parts she enjoyed after she originally left Emmerdale.
As you might remember, In 2000, she joined the cast of Bad Girls playing wing governor Karen Betts. Claire was one of the Bad Girls’ main stars alongside Debra Stephenson.
Claire left Bad Girls in 2004, where she went on to appear in Down to Earth as well as Dalziel and Pascoe.
Like many many soap stars, she cropped up in rival programmes with her briefly appearing in Hollyoaks and later Coronation Street - we’ll touch on the latter a little later on. Elsewhere, Claire appeared as Janice Perry in Holby City, Sally Parker in Donovan and Luc Bayliss in The Royal.
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Claire also had a stint in Casualty and E4 drama Drifters. On the stage, Claire appeared alongside Liberty X singer Michelle Heaton as well as spells in Christmas pantos.
Reality TV also called with Claire finishing sixth in the 2006 series of BBC staple Strictly Come Dancing. Claire then later competed in the 14th series of Celebrity Big Brother back in 2014.
Claire had to leave CBB on day 16 because of an illness.
As mentioned earlier, Claire had a major role in Coronation Street between 2014 and 2017 as Erica Holroyd. During her spell in Corrie, Claire appeared in 156 episodes with Erica was involved in show romances with show legends Nick Tisley and Dev Alahan.
Then Emmerdale welcomed Claire back as Kim Tate in 2018 and as fans know there’s been lots of fireworks courtesy of the soap superbitch.
We are looking forward to what other high profile storylines Kim will be involved in over the coming years.
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