Desperate Housewives' Nicollette Sheridan sues the show’s creator

Former Desperate Housewives star Nicollette Sheridan is suing for $20 million (£13.2m) after accusing the show’s creator of assault.

The British-born actress, who played divorcée Edie Britt, filed a legal action against Marc Cherry on Monday claiming that he physically assaulted her, and then fired her when she reported it to ABC, the TV channel that airs the show in the US.

Sheridan claims in the action, filed in Los Angeles Superior Court, that during the filming of season five in 2008, Cherry physically assaulted her after she queried a line in the script. According to papers obtained by entertainment website tmz.com, Sheridan alleges that Cherry “took her aside and forcefully hit her with his hand across her face and head."

Sheridan says she reported the incident immediately to ABC, but that despite visiting her trailer to “beg forgiveness”, Cherry continued to behave aggressively. The actress says that her character was killed off shortly afterwards.

The claim says that it is "exceptionally unusual" for a character as popular as Sheridan's - who viewers saw electrocuted after a car crash - "to be killed off or written out of a television series unless the actor has requested."

The legal action, which also names ABC, accuses Cherry of creating a hostile work environment and behaving aggressively and abusively toward the show's cast and writers. Sheridan is seeking damages for assault and battery, gender violence and wrongful termination.

ABC said in a statement: "While we have yet to see the actual complaint, we investigated similar claims made by Ms. Sheridan last year and found them to be without merit."

(Published by Times Online- April 6, 2010)