Claire King says the 'Emmerdale' workload has "doubled" since she last had a lengthy stint on the soap.
Claire King
The 57-year-old actress is to reprise her role as Kim Tate on the ITV soap in the coming weeks - five months after she returned to the Dales for a special week of episodes - and admits there is still a great work ethic on the show, and she has been pleased with the welcome she's received.
She said: "It's almost as though I've never been away, although the workload is double.
"We're in different studios and there's a lot of different cast and crew, but there are still familiar faces.
"The work ethic is the same. People have been so welcoming and it really is like putting on an old pair of riding boots to a certain extent.
"It is a family, it sounds cliché when people say that, but it really is a family as opposed to just a cast."
The former 'Coronation Street' star - who played Erica Holroyd on the rival ITV soap - is "very happy" to be back on 'Emmerdale' as a regular cast member again, and let slip she has signed up for an initial year in the Dales.
Claire - who previously played Kim from 1989 to 1999 - added: "There are no cliques, it's just a really nice, healthy work place to be in.
"Make-up, crew, cast, everybody in the office, everybody seems to work as an individual cog in one big happy machine.
"That's what I've found so far. Who knows? Ask me again in a year's time, or should I say in six months' time?
"I'm really happy at the work. I appreciate how much work goes into it nowadays.
"Everybody just cracks on and does it with very good aplomb."
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