DS Thea Ramsden’s (Chelsea Edge) thirst for vengeance against her secret mum Kim Tate (Claire King) is ever-growing in Emmerdale.
It’s gotten so intense, even her bestie Serena Sugden (Casey Al-Shaqsy) is starting to worry about her state of mind: ‘I think she concedes that her friend is on a very slippery slope,’ Chelsea mused.
‘I don’t think she’s like this all the time, she’s met the people that she’s had this hatred for this entire life, and now she’s spiralling. Serena’s like ‘what is happening to my friend? This is not good for her’.
‘She’s worried about her wellbeing.’
Kim’s currently trying her hardest to deal with the ongoing saga of baby Tate – Joe Tate’s (Ned Porteous) son who he’s desperate to have adopted in after aftermath of Dawn Taylor’s (Olivia Bromley) death, having hidden the baby away with Graham Foster (Andrew Scarborough).
Turning to her confidant, Lydia Dingle (Karen Blick), their conversation around what’ll become of baby Tate is overheard by Thea, who immediately springs into action.
‘She thinks that the baby is absolutely being sold,’ Chelsea admits, something that leads her to steal Kim’s phone.
‘But she’s a police officer, she knows there has to be evidence, so she is looking for evidence, she also wants to know where the baby might be being taken.
‘If it is illegal, she needs to track that because then it doesn’t just become kidnap, it becomes an entirely new set of crimes that she needs to be on top of. She’ll want to find that baby at the end of it.’
Chelsea says that while her character’s history is obviously playing a part, it’s her strong moral compass driving her: ‘The reason that she became a police officer is that she does care deeply about people.
‘Her sense of justice has been a bit skewed here because of feelings towards the Tates as a family, but at the end of it, she cares about the baby’s welfare, and making sure that a, he’s safe and b, he’s not being sold into God knows what.
‘She’s gone way off the book. She wants justice. She’s massively driven by justice and sees Kim as this person who has gotten away with a lot of crimes her entire life. She thinks this is the moment she can put Kim down.’
Thea momentarily softened toward Kim recently: ‘You see that thawing and softening from both of them together, Kim is decidedly less frosty towards Thea as well.’
Thea’s walls immediately shot back up when she heard Kim spewing venom in the Woolpack, believing that she was casually dismissing the subject of baby Tate’s adoption.
‘Having heard what Kim said in the pub, she’s like ‘I’ve got this completely wrong. I should have never let her in.’ She feels betrayed, Kim’s a real human being and she’s let her in.
‘She’s in a bit of a tricky situation. It’s complicated.’
But what does Thea truly want? To destroy Kim altogether, or to forge a relationship with her mum?
‘Deep down, I think she is desperate for a family,’ Chelsea admitted.
‘She’s never had that really, it’s something that she’s really longed for.
‘No matter who you are, everyone has that desire to be included in a family unit. She would like a relationship with Kim, but she’s also clouded by a lot of ideas that she already has about her.
Claire King has already teased the big reveal coming at Halloween, something Chelsea confirmed: ‘There’s a real ‘like mother like daughter’ moment in their fieriness that we experience through Halloween – which is very fitting!
‘It is a big turning point. It all comes to a head.’