Desperate measures behind the scenes of Desperate Housewives

IT STARTED with a suicide and has featured a supermarket hold-up, a boy locked in the cellar, a plane crash, a string of affairs, a tornado and now, allegedly, a physical assault. Desperate Housewives, the hit American show broadcast on Channel 4, has always served up its drama juicy and unexpected. But the latest twist to grip the fictional Wisteria Lane seems to have taken even the script writers by surprise.

Sussex-born star Nicollette Sheridan, who played the role of local temptress Edie Britt from the show's pilot through five tempestuous series, is suing Desperate Housewives creator Marc Cherry for $20 million (13m). She alleges he assaulted her on set, and then unfairly dismissed her from the show. This being Desperate Housewives, the dismissal in question was in fact an electrocution after her character had swerved her car to avoid a neighbour while still disorientated by being partially-strangled by her husband whom she suspected of having a secret past. Sheridan alleges that her character was written out after she complained to the network about an altercation with Cherry.

The very public spat has made headlines across the globe. Show insiders say it's par for the course on the famously-bitchy programme about five powerful, glamorous and ferociously-competitive women, whose characters aren't a million miles away from their real-life personas.

Is Sheridan simply standing up for herself in the cut-throat world of television? Or is she bitter and willing to do anything to get back into the spotlight? More importantly for the show, will the dispute boost the ratings of a programme now in its sixth series and showing inevitable signs of viewer fatigue or will it will persuade fans to switch off?

Since the programme hit screens in 2004, Sheridan and the show's four other leading ladies – Teri Hatcher, Eva Longoria, Marcia Cross and Felicity Huffman – have become known as much for their diva-esque behaviour and fall-outs as for their on-screen antics. Along with tales of on-set fights and petty jealousies, magazines have been filled with stories of plastic surgery and real-life love affairs.

Sheridan's status seems to lie behind much of the tension. The actress views her character, the divorced real estate agent Britt, as the "fifth housewife," but the title sequence doesn't feature Sheridan, and only shows the four co-stars. In the lawsuit, filed in Los Angeles Superior Court on Monday, Sheridan alleges Cherry hit her across the face on the Wisteria Lane set in September 2008.

The 46-year-old actress is suing for the loss of earnings she claims to have suffered since being booted off the show. There have been reports in the US media Sheridan alleges she was dismissed because she is straight and Cherry is gay though this claim does not feature in the lawsuit, which alleges assault and battery, gender violence, wrongful termination, and "intentional infliction of emotional distress".

In the disputed 2008 incident which lies at the heart of the lawsuit, Sheridan claims she had asked Cherry about a line in the script, and he "took her aside and forcefully hit her with his hand across her face and head". After she stormed off, she says he came after her to "beg forgiveness". When she reported the incident to ABC, which makes the programme, she claims Cherry took revenge by killing off her character.

A spokesperson for ABC says Cherry was simply helping Sheridan with a scene. One insider who was on set when it happened said Sheridan was filming a scene in which she was struck by her lover and, feeling that she wasn't giving it enough emotion, Cherry slapped her to get a reaction for the camera.

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

Even Sheridan's co-stars seem mystified by the episode. Days after the news broke, Sheridan's co-star Longoria who plays Latina housewife Gabriella Solis (who has a long-running affair with the pool boy hunk and whose husband goes blind) waded into the row. Speaking to US presenter Ryan Seacrest on his radio show, Longoria said "(Marc Cherry] is funny and sweet and probably could not harm a fly. Nicollette's a sweet girl too. I'm really confused about this whole thing. I would love to see her, to find out if everything's OK."

Longoria confirmed she knew about a situation on set between Cherry and Sheridan but said she wasn't there at the time and didn't know the details. Longoria said: "I am trying to get the dirt here on set but no-one's allowed to talk about it."

Ironically for a show which has topped the viewing charts on the back of sensationalist plots, some commentators fear the slanging match could be bad for its long-term image. However, most industry insiders disagree, and say the off-screen storyline will be good for viewing figures. Longoria is not so sure.

The petite star who, in public at least, has a reputation as the peacemaker of the five lead characters, said: "It's a big lawsuit. It's a big deal. I love the show so much that I would hate for anything to really tarnish the reputation of the show. I really would like all of it to go away."

Scandals and bust-ups are par for the course on Wisteria Lane. When Sheridan posed for the cover of Vanity Fair in 2005 alongside the show's four other leading ladies, the photo-shoot was plagued with stories of infighting as they battled over who wore which swimsuit and who was positioned in the centre of the shot. In the end, Sheridan, wearing a white bathing suit, took centre stage. Hatcher, with whom the British-born star has a famously-competitive relationship, upset her co-stars after she reportedly snuck into the wardrobe department and nabbed the most coveted bathing suit for the shoot – a sexy red halter-neck.

Representatives involved in the Vanity Fair cover leaked stories of heated exchanges between the stars, bust-ups and unreasonable demands, which resulted in Hatcher breaking down in tears. The resulting poolside photo appeared with the cover line: "You wouldn't believe what it took just to get this photo!"

One answer might be enough plastic to build a Legoland suburb. Sheridan and Hatcher have both been accused of having extensive cosmetic surgery, something they both deny.

Hatcher does admit to having had Botox and collagen treatments while Sheridan denies going under the knife. In a recent interview, she said: "I have been accused of doing things to my face, but I haven't had anything done. I'm not saying that there won't be a time when I say 'OK, maybe', but I'm very blessed to come from generations of very good skin."

Sheridan admits looks are important in Hollywood but, has publicly played down her own sex appeal. She has said, "I grew up feeling like the ugly duckling, and things have not changed that much. For some reason, Hollywood seems to have painted me as a gorgeous vixen at times, or the sweet girl. I don't get it." Whether the modesty is sincere or feigned is up for debate.

Born in Worthing, Sussex, Sheridan has had an on-off relationship with poodle-haired crooner Michael Bolton since 1992 and was engaged to the singer until 2008. The actress was a regular on American TV soap opera Knots Landing for seven years and has appeared in numerous films and TV shows, though it was Desperate Housewives that catapulted her on to the A-list and made her a household name.

Sheridan said: "I've been very lucky. A lot of this business is being in the right place at the right time with the right thing."

Ironically, the programme's success seems to have been built on the back of a competitive, dysfunctional relationship between its stars and producers, one which an ugly lawsuit threatens to uncover. It might be a secret that the ladies of Wisteria Lane would prefer to keep hidden.

US lawyers predict the case will be settled out of court. Before then, Sheridan says she is preparing for an ugly battle. The Desperate Housewives would expect nothing less.