Emmerdale spoilers follow.
Emmerdale star Claire King has spoken about the Tate family’s huge new twist for the first time – DS Thea Ramsden is Kim’s secret daughter!
The shocking truth was revealed in the closing moments of Tuesday’s episode (1 September), as a flashback showed a younger Kim making the tough decision to put Thea up for adoption.
In the coming weeks, Emmerdale fans will see Ramsden continue her sly attempts to cause trouble for Kim, who remains unaware of her true identity.
Of course, secrets in Soapland only stay under wraps for so long…
We recently caught up with Claire, who plays Kim, for her reaction to this game-changing new plot.
ITV
Hi, Claire! How is Kim feeling now that DS Ramsden is trying to implicate her in the crash that killed Dawn?
“I think Kim’s just got a feeling that this woman, this DS Ramsden, has got it in for her. With certain people, Kim thinks, ‘Right, this woman doesn’t like me for some reason’. She wants to find out why – has she done something? Why is she gunning for her?
“Obviously Kim doesn’t realise the truth. She was very surprised when she was arrested because she’s actually got nothing to do with it! She’s completely blindsided by it.”
Are you excited that Emmerdale fans now know that Ramsden is Kim’s daughter?
“Yes, the audience actually gets to know about it before Kim does. It’ll be quite a good surprise for them to see Kim’s reaction as well, which actually we haven’t even filmed yet!
“So we’re working on this quite a bit and there’s quite a long way to go before we get to Kim’s reaction, because of certain storylines with Joe’s baby and everything. There are a lot of ins and outs, and ups and downs, en route to that.”
Did Kim ever expect to meet her daughter again?
“I think to a certain extent, she always says, ‘I’ve never forgotten you’, but I think she really wanted to just wipe it out of her brain. Because she thought she was giving her daughter to a good home and that she was happy.
“It was down to Thea to find her if she wanted to, because Kim had no idea where she was. I think she’s just put it in the back of her mind.”
ITV
Would Kim want to build a bond with Thea, especially after her troubles with Jamie in the past?
“I think Kim would particularly want to establish a bond with Thea because of what happened with Jamie. She thought she had a bond with Jamie. She loved him and gave him the world but it all went sour, so I think she would.
“She’d be hesitant and she’ll be treading very carefully, but I think she would love to have a bond with her daughter.”
Would Kim like to have Joe, Jamie and Thea all together for Christmas dinner one day?
“I think it’d be lovely to have all the kids together, but it’d be absolute carnage, wouldn’t it? As we know!”
Will there be a big Tate showdown once the truth comes out about Thea?
“I think there’ll be some very big scenes, because of all the intricacies and all the backstories involved with it. Because, you know, who is Thea’s father? Thea wants to know that. So we’ve got to delve into that and go into a bit of history…”
Do you like the idea of bolstering the Tate family with some new arrivals?
“I think it’s great. I think we need them. We’re kind of outnumbered by Dingles! We need more Tates and every now and then, they keep whipping one away! You know, Will went, Dawn’s gone. Graham went, but he’s back!”
ITV
Are there any long-lost relatives that you’d love to see appear?
“I don’t know, I get a lot of people asking me because I’ve mentioned my mother and her sister in the past. I know I’d love to have somebody like Amanda Barrie or Stephanie Beacham. We’d just be bonkers and I’ve worked with them both so I know how they work.”
Is Kim still as ruthless as ever when she needs to be?
“Yeah, I think she is as ruthless, but it’s usually when she’s being protective of her family. She’s like a lioness. The Tates can all do things against each other, threaten murder and whatever, but if an outsider threatens the family, then she becomes very protective and that’s when she gets quite ruthless.”
Is there anything about Kim that still surprises you?
“I think it surprised me that she had a daughter! (Laughs.) I didn’t know that. I don’t think anybody knew that!”
How did you find out?
“The producers called me upstairs. If you’re asked to go upstairs, you get a bit twitchy sometimes because you think, ‘Oh God, it’s me next! That’s it. Whoop, out the door’. Anyway, they said, ‘No, we want to talk about future storylines. Kim’s got a daughter’. I was like, ‘What? Okay!'”
ITV
Did you start thinking back to that time in Kim’s life?
“I was thinking, ‘Right, okay, so Thea could be so and so’s or she could be so and so’s’. Because it was just after I’d left Emmerdale the first time, so we’re talking about the turn of the century, basically!
“I think Thea is about 26, so it’s just after Kim left in the helicopter. You’ve got to put two and two together and see who you come up with…”
How is Kim feeling in the wake of Dawn’s death?
“Kim saw Dawn as a daughter, obviously because of her relationship with Joe, who she sees as a son more than an actual step-grandson. She actually loved Dawn – and she probably didn’t say it enough.”
Will Kim step up for Joe during his grief?
“Kim’s reticent to step up for Joe due to the fact he wants the baby adopted. His son reminds him too much of Dawn.
“Kim doesn’t want that to happen, because of what she’s been through herself and she’s done a similar thing to Thea. Regretfully, she now doesn’t want Joe to do it. She tries to do everything to try and keep the baby!”
ITV
How was it filming your final scenes with Olivia Bromley, who played Dawn?
“Oh, it was heartbreaking and I was very sad about it, but we did have a good laugh that week because we were all outside this massive marquee where we were doing all the wedding stuff and the car crashing. It’s all supposed to be tragic but we were all actually having a good laugh.
“We had some really nice people on set that day, a great crew and it was just a bit of camaraderie. It’s very sad when you lose somebody that’s very close to your inner circle and you work with on a daily basis. But we gave her a good send-off.
“Olivia needs to do a really good period drama or something. She would be amazing – and she’s a brilliant singer as well.”
So were you sad when you heard that she’d be going?
“Yes, because you think, ‘Look, we’re just trying to build this Tate empire up and you keep taking a little corner piece away’. And quite an important corner piece as well!”
Don’t miss our other big Emmerdale interviews –
– Emmerdale star warns of Jimmy King’s huge secrets after his death
– Exclusive: Emmerdale star Olivia Bromley explains Dawn’s tragic exit after eight years
Emmerdale airs on weeknights at 8pm on ITV1, and streams on ITVX.
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