Producer: 'Sheridan was late to set 50% of the time'

Former Desperate Housewives star Nicollette Sheridan's reliability became a talking point in court again on Friday (09Mar12) as series line producer George Perkins revealed her punctuality was a big issue and he had to speak to the actress about learning her lines.

Perkins returned to the witness stand in Sheridan's ongoing wrongful dismissal trial on Friday morning - a day after he revealed the identity of the castmember who would be killed off in an episode airing on Sunday (11Mar12) - and testified he spoke to the actress "multiple times" about not knowing her lines.

He told the court Sheridan was late for work "50 per cent of the time", adding, "She would often tell me her call time was too early."

The producer revealed he was among those who had agreed to kill off her character, Edie Britt, to cut costs on the show.

Earlier this week, program creator Marc Cherry revealed that Sheridan's alleged unprofessionalism had become tiring, claiming she had been rude to his fellow writers and complained about her co-stars.

The actress is suing Cherry and ABC TV executives, claiming she was fired after complaining about being hit in the head by the show creator in September, 2008. Cherry insists he was simply trying to demonstrate an action in a scene, and the decision to kill off her character was made months before.

In court on Friday, producer Perkins called the incident "minor".