'Emmerdale': Kim Tate is back - but is she about to die?

It’s been 20 years since Emmerdale’s most notorious villainess Kim Tate dramatically left the village. And now she’s about to make her long overdue return – but will it be short-lived?

Played by Claire King, who also had a stint on fellow ITV soap Coronation Street as Erica Holroyd, will return to the Yorkshire Dales village next week. But judging from the preview images, it looks like she is about to suffer a nasty, perhaps even fatal fall.

King confirmed to Inside Soap that during her week-long Emmerdale return she will be pushed off a balcony and onto a champagne fountain during the masquerade ball.

While the culprit remains unknown, King detailed what it what like filming one of the many dramatic stunts that Emmerdale has become famous for in recent years.

“It was a stunt girl who fell into the glasses of champagne. I literally had to drop from the balcony – 10 feet up – on to crash mats and boxes.

“We did it in one take, so I didn’t get too many bruises! I don’t mind those sorts of things – I was going to train for my stunt card before I started at Emmerdale the first time around,” King said.

Kim Tate, infamously exited Emmerdale via helicopter with her infant son James Tate in 1999 after confessing to watching her ex-husband Frank Tate die of a heart attack to his son Chris Tate.

One of the soap’s few characters to never be punished for her crimes, she is set to return next week as a guest at Joe Tate’s (the late Chris Tate’s son and heir) masquerade ball.

After serving years in prison for an as of yet unconfirmed crime, she will be released and return to Emmerdale – presumedly with revenge in mind.

At a recent Emmerdale press event, King revealed that her return is in connection with a secret affair with Graham Foster, played by Downton Abbey’s Andrew Scarborough.

“Kim and Graham have got a romantic history. You’ll get to find out a bit more about that as next week goes on,” she revealed.

However, Scarborough explained that bizarrely both Joe and Graham work for her.

“Graham and Joe are both working for Kim. Graham has been saying things to Joe like: ‘Don’t push it, this is not what was agreed.

“Kim wouldn’t be happy over what Joe is doing, so Graham has been trying to keep him on track and make sure that he sticks to the plan,” Scarborough said.

Logically Joe should be an enemy of Kim, but it is also highly unlikely that he is unaware that she is partly responsible for his late grandfather’s (Frank Tate) death and for knocking his late father’s (Chris Tate) out by whacking him over the head with an ornament.

Has Foster, who plays the enigmatic yet mysterious bodyguard to Joe Tate, been playing Joe all along?

Kim Tate is expected to return to Emmerdale on ITV from Monday 8th October.

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