Emmerdale’s Claire King reveals she keeps Kim Tate’s coffin plaque in her bathroom

EMMERDALE star Claire King has revealed she keeps Kim Tate’s coffin plaque in her bathroom – 20 years after the character faked her death.

The actress has revealed she keeps the creepy item in her smallest room to amuse guests.

Viewers know Kim was killed off in a car crash by soap bosses after quitting the show, but after a backlash they begged her to return and wrote in that she had faked her death.

Speaking to OK! magazine, she said: “I’ve actually got the plaque in my loo from Kim’s coffin! I know it’s a bit morbid but I had to do it!”

It comes as she called cancer “nature’s payback” in a series of outspoken remarks.

The 58-year-old actress, who plays Kim Tate, insisted the heartbreaking disease is linked to humans “mistreating” the planet.

She said it had been part of her life ever since Emmerdale co-star Leah Bracknell died from lung cancer in 2019.

The actress told OK! this week: “Cancer hits one in two, which is just horrendous.

“I think that’s a lot to do with how we are treating the planet. We’ve mistreated the planet and this is nature’s payback.

“We’re not doing ourselves any good – says she who drinks and smokes – but we’ve all got to play our part in this and it becomes very poignant when you lose a good friend.”

ITV

She was speaking about the death of friend Leah Bracknell from lung cancer[/caption]

Speaking about Leah, who played Zoe Tate, she sad sadly: “Unfortunately she’s not the first of my friends [to die of cancer] and she won’t be the last.”

Claire said she was rocked by the death but claimed it taught her an important lesson about living each day to the full.

Leah was diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer in 2016 but defied the odds to battle the disease for three years.

In October 2019 her management released a statement reporting that she had died.

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ITV

Claire has played scheming Kim in Emmerdale for two stints starting in 1989[/caption]

Leah was best known for her role as Zoe Tate on Emmerdale, a character she played for almost 16 years between 1989 and 2005.

The married mum-of-two made history by becoming the first lesbian character in the soap.

After she was diagnosed, fans helped her raise more than £50,000 on a GoFundMe page launched by her husband, Jez Hughes, to undergo groundbreaking treatment in Germany.

She started taking new medication, but later revealed that it had failed.