Kim McFarlane made her first appearance on 25 August 1998. She is portrayed by Krystle Williams.
Storylines[]
first arrives in Albert Square in August 1998 along with her guardian Josie McFarlane. Both have supposedly come over from Jamaica to visit Josie's son, Mick McFarlane, however it soon becomes clear that the purpose for their visit is not as innocent as Josie initially makes out. Mick is expecting his mother, but is surprised when she turns up with Kim, whom he has never met or heard of before. Josie claims that Kim is a distant relative, whom she is looking after for a while. However, it is subsequently revealed that instead of being a distant relative, Kim is actually Mick's half-sister. Kim is the product of an affair Mick's father had when he was temporarily estranged from Josie. Her mother had died when she was eight and Josie - who had lost her husband by then too - adopted Kim, rather than see her taken into care. Mick is shocked at this revelation, but he is a pretty easy going guy, so he soon accepts Kim as his new little sister, although he find Kim's tagging around after him a little irksome at first.
Kim attends Walford High School and soon becomes friendly with local girls Sonia Jackson and Nicky di Marco, although she is a bit younger than them, so she often gets excluded from their more mature conversations. Later on in her time in Walford, Kim attends a modelling audition with Nicky to give her moral support. However, it is Kim who is successful and not Nicky. Ambitious Josie is delighted and sets about trying to get Kim to attend as many auditions as possible. However, Kim is rejected at a casting for not being slim enough and so she starts cutting out food, developing an eating disorder that threatens to spiral dangerously out of control. It takes the combined efforts of Mick and Dr Fred Fonseca to get Kim back on the road to recovery.
In 2000, Josie is deported back to Jamaica for forgetting to renew her visa and Kim remains living in Walford with her brother. Kim appears infrequently after this, occasionally showing up to visit Sonia and she also gets a part-time job washing cars for Roy Evans. Kim is also very upset when Sonia decides to give up her newborn daughter, Chloe, for adoption, as Kim herself had been an adoptee. When Mick is offered a job touring with a band in 2002, he initially rejects it because of his responsibility towards Kim. However, she is adamant that he should take the job and so he leaves Walford, leaving Kim in the care of their aunt Winnie, who lives away from the square. (This was in contrast to press reports at the time, which stated Kim would move in with the Jackson family.) Kim disappears after this and her current whereabouts have never been revealed. Her last appearance is in January 2002.