Claire plays the always iconic Kim Tate (Picture: ITV)

Emmerdale icon Kim Tate takes zero nonsense from anybody, and that’s why we love her.

The actress who plays her, Claire King, is proud of the fact that her character is popular among younger viewers precisely because of her independent and feisty personality.

‘It’s the younger fans who didn’t really remember Kim from the first time around that absolutely love her,’ she told The Sun on Sunday.

‘It’s also good for them, especially in this age of social media, to see a woman who stands up for herself, is independent and doesn’t take any BS. I think that’s why they love her so much.’

One thing that Claire refuses to be intimidated by is cat-calling from random men when she’s out and about.

‘If someone whistles at me from a scaffold I’ll just stand there, whistle back and tell them to keep it coming!’ she said.

While Kim’s status as the glamorous queen of Emmerdale is undiminished, Claire – who has rheumatoid arthritis – admitted that her health has meant that aspects of her job have become more difficult.

‘You get to a certain age and rheumatoid arthritis can fog your brain,’ she revealed.

Kim’s horse Ice was responsible for killing Craig, who raped Lydia (Picture: ITV)

‘The menopause did that anyway, and then on top of that you’ve got your old age, and you think, “I’m in the wrong job for remembering!” I do spend a lot of time in the bath with a sherry learning my lines.’

She also said that her health has meant that Kim’s footwear isn’t what you might expect.

‘Kim is so glamorous and you would think she’d be in high stilettos, but if you look it’s always boots. You might hear the ‘clip clop’ but she’s in boots. I would love to wear heels but they just hurt. I can wear them for about half an hour but I always take my flip-flops into the studio.

‘I just can’t wear high heels. I’ve had arthritis for 35 years, I’ve got metal in my hands. Last year I had metal pins put in. Everything’s falling to bits! I’ve just been sporty and horsey all my life and you accumulate injuries.’

Claire is proud to be representing older women on television and thinks the soaps are doing an important job in this area.

Kim and Lydia are great friends (Picture: ITV)

‘We’ve got a wealth of experience, and having older women on our TV screens is really important. Most of the soaps, particularly Emmerdale and Corrie, are very good for having these strong women characters.’

In the run-up to Christmas Kim is going to have to draw on every ounce of her strong personality, as the truth threatens to come out about her part in rapist Craig Reed (Ben Addis)’s death.

Viewers saw Craig – who’d been badly injured by Sam (James Hooton) – encounter Kim on her horse. As he tried to get Kim to help him the horse reared up and kicked him, and Craig died from the injury.

It’s a secret that she and Cain (Jeff Hordley) – who arrived on the scene shortly afterwards – have been keeping between themselves, but with Caleb (William Ash) now in on the secret, it can only be a matter of time before the truth comes out.

How will Kim’s good friend Lydia (Karen Blick) react when she discovers that it was Kim who killed Craig – and concealed it from her?

Will their friendship ever recover?

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She’s not messing around.