Long live THE QUEEN!
Claire remembers how the Dales were rarely quiet with Mrs Tate in the big house…
Tate takeover 1989
Kim moves into Home Farm with husband Frank and his kids Chris and Zoe – and life is good, for a while…
“The whole family was happy,” says Claire. “Kim was supposed to be a bit Londonish, but I quickly made her slightly Yorkshire. She was very prim and proper, though!”
The first affair 1992
After Kim miscarries Frank’s child, he hits the bottle and neglects his wife. She seeks comfort from family friend and fellow horse-lover Neil Kincaid – and when Frank finds out, he demands divorce…
“I think the viewers saw that coming – soaps always have to have affairs!” chuckles Claire. “It was great for me, although I knew people would take Frank’s side. I got hit on the head with an umbrella in Marks and Sparks!”
If the Glover fits 1995
Frank and Kim remarry soon after the plane crash of 1993, but then Kim starts a new affair with handsome farmhand Dave Glover. She has his son, James – though even after Frank pays her a million pounds to dump Dave and name him as James’ father, she and Dave reunite. They plan to run away, but after a fire breaks out at Home Farm, Dave is killed trying to rescue James from the blaze.
“That love triangle was one of my favourite storylines,” reveals Claire. “It gave Kim more than one dimension, and showed how she could actually care for somebody. She really did love Dave Glover!”
Back from the dead 1997
The year after Dave’s death, Kim disappears – and Frank identifies a woman found dead at the wheel of her car as his wife. But Kim returns to the village alive and well just months later, the shock of which prompts Frank to suffer a fatal heart attack. “I was leaving the show, so Kim was really meant to be dead – but two weeks later they asked me back for a Christmas thing, so the story was rewritten and I was resurrected!” shares Claire. “That scene after Frank’s heart attack, where Kim checks he’s not breathing with her compact mirror was full-on camp! It really worked.”
Sky’s the limit 1999
When Kim’s new husband Steve
Marchant runs over
Kathy Glover while stealing a horse, she sets him right up – insinuating she had no part of the theft and that Steve left Kathy to die. The police are soon on Kim’s trail in any case, but she escapes before charges can be brought – taking off in a helicopter…
“I loved that,” beams Claire. “They gave me a really good exit. It was off the back of three days of non-stop scenes in the studio, but then I spent half the day flying around in the helicopter!”