As we reported recently, former Emmerdale star Claire King – who played Kim Tate in the rural soap – has a new role in Hollyoaks, playing a prison governor.

However, Claire has revealed that while she’s been relishing a return to soap, she hasn’t enjoyed having to wear the power shoes that her character, Mrs Jones, wears at work!

We’ll first meet Claire as the prison boss next week when she becomes embroiled in the storyline which has seen Mitzeee (Rachel Shenton) wrongly imprisoned over the stabbing of Mercedes (Jennifer Metcalfe) which of course viewers know was in fact a self-inflicted wound.

The trauma for Mitzeee in prison gets infinitely worse when Mercedes’ mum is transferred there, and is determined to avenge her daughter…

But of having to wear the painful ‘killer’ heels that are part of Mrs Jones’ wardrobe, Claire said, “I was going to say it’s easy to slip into the shoes – but the shoes were killing me!

“So most of the time I was wearing my flip flops under the desk!”

However, Claire has of course starred as Karen in prison drama Bad Girls, and of how her Hollyoaks character compares, Claire said, “It’s a similar character to Karen because she was firm but fair. Prison governors.

“I think it goes with the territory, so very similar characters. So fairly easy really.”

She added, “It’s great because I’m a Hollyoaks fan, so it was really nice to do. It’s kind of one of those guilty pleasures for me!

“I’ve got no qualms with that at all. I’ve got no problems with soap whatsoever.

“I know the industry can look down and be a bit snotty, but I don’t know why because it’s probably the only drama that’s going on on TV at the moment. It’s all reality.”

Claire also praised Hollyoaks for storylines such as serial killer Silas’ awful reign, and Mercedes faking her own stabbing.

She said, “Every time there’s a recession and things are really down, people want more of the kind of Dynasty/Dallas over-the-top escapism and it’s great TV.

“They want to see a bit of glamour and ridiculous things going on and it’s good fun.

“There’s too much doom and gloom in the world so I think it’s nice to have that balance.”

Are you looking forward to seeing Claire in Hollyoaks?