Emmerdale’s Kim Tate (Claire King) has her fair share of enemies in the village, and as one of the most sharp-tongued characters in the soap she’s often involved in heated arguments with her rivals.

Recently we’ve seen her going toe-to-toe with Rose Jackson (Christine Tremarco) after Will (Dean Andrews)’s ex tried to establish herself at Home Farm and oust Kim. There have also been some heated exchanges with Ruby Fox-Miligan (Beth Cordingly), whose insults can be witty and scathing.

Kim can take the insults as well as dish them out, but there’s one word that you won’t hear being used against her, and that’s ‘old.’

Claire King told Woman’s Weekly magazine that her co-star Emma Atkins, who plays Charity Dingle, is very insistent on ageist insults not being used.

‘She kindly takes out all the “old” references in the scripts for me,’ Claire said. ‘When people call Kim an “old witch”, Emma says “I’m not having that” and she removes the world old.’

This is something Claire completely agrees with, as she explained: ‘If you think about it, you wouldn’t have a reference to someone’s race or colour or anything else, so she takes out the ageist comments and I think that’s great.’

Claire, who joined the Emmerdale cast when she was 27, is now 62 and she said she doesn’t feel any different now, ‘Just a bit creakier. That’s what you expect when you get to 60. I’ve got more doctor’s appointments than I used to have when I was 25, but otherwise I’m enjoying life and I don’t think of my age.’

This is partly because she loves playing Kim Tate so much.

‘I’m a little biased, but I think she’s the best character on TV, so I’m very grateful. She’s got the balance of everything. She’s got the soft side, the hard side, and she’s big and bold and ruthless.

Kim Tate looking sinister in Emmerdale

Kim looks shocked as she’s confronted by Will at Home Farm in Emmerdale

‘People adore Kim. They’ll come up to me in the street and say, “I love you, you’re a great b***h.” Not normal conversations!’

Luckily for those fans, Claire said she has no plans to retire.

‘I’m still enjoying Kim and she’s still up there – she’s not become doddery yet,’ she said.

Far from it, as Kim is currently in her rightful place in the middle of the drama, as Caleb Miligan (William Ash) is planning to build an empire to rival hers in his latest bid to destroy the woman he blames for the death of his father.

Meanwhile there are troubles closer to home, as we saw Kim and Will dump Rose Jackson in a remote location and she subsequently disappeared – with her belongings found scattered by the roadside. Will and Kim are both suspicious of each other, knowing that each of them is capable of killing Rose.

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