Kim Thomson confirms Emmerdale departure

Kim Thomson is leaving 'Emmerdale'.

The actress - who has played Faye Lamb for almost two years - has confirmed she will leave the show when her current contract runs out and films her final scenes for the ITV1 rural soap in the coming months

She said: "I can't say anything about how I leave because the producers want to keep that under wraps for now. I'm sure, as with most 'Emmerdale' exits, it will be dramatic."

Kim is sad to leave the programme but decided to leave because she misses her loved ones in London too much.

She told Take It Easy magazine: "I'm sad of course because I've loved working with everyone here, but I found it so hard being away from home. It's just too far from London.

"I've got friends I literally haven't seen for two years because I get home at weekends and there's only a 24-hour window to fit everyone in. That's been hard, but I've had an amazing time here and been so lucky with storylines - I'll be sad to go."

Kim - whose character's most memorable storyline saw her involved in a long-running saga with bigamist husband Mark Wylde (Maxwell Caulfield) and his other wife Natasha (Amanda Donohoe) and is currently causing trouble for Charity Dingle (Emma Atkins) - has loved the scripts she got to tackle - particularly when they involved fighting her co-stars.

Asked what she will miss most about the show, she said: "I think, as with everything, you miss the people. They're a lovely crowd, great crew and actors and it's been a pleasure working with them.

"It's also been great fun to do something where it's all a bit heightened and you get to go around slapping other women - and there was a lot of slapping. I've enjoyed being the slappee and the slapper!"