Emmerdale star Claire King - who plays show stalwart - feared being axed from the ITV soap after nearly four decades amid a string of big exits from the show20:45, 01 Sep 2026Updated 08:02, 02 Sep 2026Claire King said she feared being axed from Emmerdale when bosses called her upstairs for an important meeting.‌Tonight, viewers found out that Kim Tate has a secret daughter, who is none other than DS Thea Ramsden. Played by newcomer Chelsea Edge, Thea arrived a few weeks ago but has been been hiding quite the secret.‌At the end of tonight's episode, a younger Kim is looking at her baby when a nurse came by and asked if she wanted to proceed with the adoption. When asked about a name, she said she had been fond of Anthea.‌Now, Claire has recalled the exact moment she found out about the existence of her character's secret daughter - and how she feared that the meeting was about her being booted from the soap.‌Speaking to The Mirror and other press, she said: "Yeah, well, if you're asked to go upstairs, you kind of get a bit twitchy sometimes, you think, 'Oh god, it's me next! That's it!' But anyway they said, 'No, we want to talk about future storylines. Um, Kim's got a daughter.'"I was thinking, 'Okay, so it could be so-and-so's, and it could be so-and-so's,' cause it was just after I'd left the first time, so we're talking about the turn of the century, basically. I think she's about 26, so it's just after Kim left in the helicopter, so you've got to put two and two together and see what you come up with."The news of Thea comes days after two shock deaths, after Jimmy King - played by Nick Miles - and Dawn Taylor, played by Olivia Bromley, died. Dawn and Kim lived together, meaning the second death has a direct impact on the Tates and its matriarch Kim.Speaking about Olivia's exit, she said: "It was heartbreaking. But we did have a good laugh that week because we were all outside this massive marquee where we were doing all the the wedding stuff and car crash, and it’s all supposed to be tragic but we were all actually having a good life."We had some really nice people on on set that day. Great crew, and it was just a bit of camaraderie. But I could see as the days went on to the final day she was getting more and more sort of angst and things."Like this s tory? F or more of the latest showbiz news and gossip, follow Mirror Celebs on TikTok , Snapchat , Instagram , Twitter , Facebook , YouTube and Threads .