Thomson shared her first lead in Stealing Heaven (1988) with Derek de Lint and Denholm Elliott. In its review, Films and filming said "Kim Thomson's Heloïse moves with delicate poise, a heroine worthy of Rossetti or Burne-Jones, with vivacity and intelligence. The next year, 1989, she played Estella in a film of Great Expectations directed by Kevin Connor, with Jean Simmons, who had played Estella in the 1946 film, as Miss Havisham. Also in 1989 she was Cordelia on stage in King Lear, directed by Jonathan Miller, with the British Theatre Yearbook commenting "Kim Thomson's Cordelia can rarely have been equalled; she was exquisite in beauty, tender in care, full of youthful integrity."