Kim hunts for her poisoner in a big week for Emmerdale

At her sneaky best, Kim invites all the potential suspects to lunch and puts on a show to make them think she is retiring - all with the aim of revealing the truth behind the poisoning. But will Kim's ruse be a successful one?

"She makes a list and invites them all," reveals Kim actress Claire King. "She’s put Jai and Al on this list because they’ve been giving her a lot of grief about work and she doesn’t completely trust them as far as the business is concerned so she has to include those two. There is Dawn. Kim has previously spiked her drink so she thinks this could be revenge. She also dislikes Dawn intensely as she is seeing Jamie, so Kim wonders if Dawn might want Kim out of the way.

"Will is on there because he’s Dawn’s father, he’s in and out of the house and he might get Kim back for her treatment of Dawn. She suspects Gabby because she now doesn’t trust her very much as she has been stealing from her and thinks that maybe Gabby has ulterior motives about getting her hands on home Farm and of course her son Jamie because he’s living in the house. The brandy is in the house. All of them have access to the house so they are all possible culprits.

"She’s ruled out Lydia at this point because she drank it and just seemed totally innocent of it. Also, Lydia has been a real support and help to Kim recently when she passed out. So yes she has ruled Lydia out."

Part of Kim's plan involves making everyone believe that she has decided to retire - words that nobody expected to ever hear come out of her mouth.

"They are completely shocked they never thought they would see Kim Tate actually retire but she convinces them that this is it. She wants to kick back and enjoy herself from now on. Now she has made her millions. She wants somebody to take over the day to day running of the business although I’m sure she will keep her fingers in the pies. She convinces them she wants to retire and give it all up."

Who has been poisoning Kim?

There is no shortage of candidates who could have been doing the deed and Kim has made sure they are all there for the lunch so things are nice and awkward!

One of the suspects, Dawn Taylor, is of course in a controversial relationship with Kim's son. Dawn actress Olivia Bromley said: "It’s definitely not the most comfortable dinner party for Dawn! She has her ex-employer Jay at the table, he has fired her from at least two jobs in the past, as well as Al, of whom she has been distrustful of since she was with Billy. Gabby being pregnant with Jamie’s child causes her a lot of distress and her own father is falling for the woman she hates! All in all, it’s quite a hellish guest list."

Another guest is Al Chapman with actor Michael Wildman saying that Al has definitely been noticing that things have been amiss with Kim for quite a while now. "I think he’s realised something is afoot. She’s not been breathing down their necks as much as before. But also I think he’s aware she’s letting things slip that she wouldn’t have let slide before. She’s been making mistakes on contracts."

As for the rest of the suspects? Well, there's a long list and each of the actors involved has weighed in on whether they think that their character could be the one causing all these problems for Kim.

On whether Jai Sharma could be the culprit, actor Chris Bisson thinks there is a possibility, saying "Yeah, he could – but I doubt he’d be doing it to kill her. Although, if she was affected enough to relinquish control of the business I suppose that would be in Jai’s interests. He wouldn’t mind it if Jamie or Gabby got the business as I think Jai feels he could manipulate them easier than Kim"

Another potential suspect is Kim's recent lover Will Taylor (Dean Andrews) who has a bone to pick with Kim over her treatment of his daughter - but could that be enough for him to enact such calculated revenge?

"He keeps getting reminders from Dawn that he’s not done anything about that fight," Andrews said of Will's potential involvement. "And as a father of a daughter, I don’t think he would want to let her down. He’s also up at Home Farm - he’s got access. He can walk in when he feels like it. He can make excuses that he’s there for different reasons. He’s got the accessibility to poison Kim for sure."

Unfortunately for Kim, another person on the suspect list is her own son. Kim and Jamie have long had a fraught relationship and it has deteriorated in recent months. On whether Jamie could actually go that far, actor Alexander Lincoln said: "Well they are not getting on and he’s living in the house so he has the access."

And last, but certainly not least, is Rosie Benthan's Gabby Thomas who has had an interesting dynamic with Kim of late. They may not always get along, but could Gabby ultimately be revealed as the guilty party? If she is, Rosie is not giving anything away...

"Gabby has a lot of tricks up her sleeve. She is ambitious and she will do whatever she can to get power. And Kim is the person who can help Gabby do that. But as to whether she would poison her I’m not sure. You will have to wait and see."

Whoever is trying to harm Kim, we suspect that it will not be long before the truth is revealed and the culprit is exposed – secrets like this do not stay secrets for long in soaps.

But the big question is what Kim will do when she finds out. The only thing we can say for certain is that we would not want to be in that person's shoes when the truth does come out...

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