Emmerdale actress Claire King, who plays the legendary Kim Tate in the ITV soap, has opened up about a number of health battles in the past.
The actress was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis in her late twenties and has previously discussed how that had impacted her while filming gruelling scenes in the Graham Foster (Andrew Scarborough) murder storyline.
She told This Morning that filming at the village set, which is on the private Harewood House Estate near Wetherby, is ‘cold [and] damp. I’d rather be in Spain,’ and that she’s frequently in a lot of pain.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Claire’s condition meant that she was classed as vulnerable, so she was one of the cast members who was absent from film during that time.
Claire plays the always iconic Kim Tate
‘When I get a flare up, it’s not nice and it does make you feel very tired,’ she told OK! Magazine in 2020.
‘If I’m on location in winter, the cold feels like it gets to your bones.
‘Often people, don’t see it as an issue because you aren’t in a wheelchair or limping, but they look after me on the show and give me more indoor scenes during winter.’
Luckily working on the Home Farm interior set, at the show’s production base in Leeds city centre, means that Claire can be more comfortable at work.
‘It’s a nice big set so you’re not crammed in and you can do more with it. We enjoy it,’ she told us last year, joking that Caleb Milligan, played by William Ash, has made himself very much at home there.
‘He practically lives there,’ she said. ‘Comes in, has a brandy, makes coffee…’
Recently she’s been embroiled in a huge story that has seen Caleb’s estranged wife Ruby (Beth Cordingly) plan to fleece him of his business and financial assets.
Since arriving in the village, she’s managed to make an enemy in just about every one of her neighbours.
After she publicly exposing Caleb’s affair with Tracy Robinson (Amy Walsh) and Belle and Tom King’s (Eden Taylor-Draper and James Chase) wedding reception, the event erupted into a huge argument and fist fight.
Ruby then turned to Kim in the hope they could pool their assets and help her take down Caleb to get her hands on his cash.
Realising she didn’t trust her, Kim backed down and revealed the plan.
