Cheating hearts

Lucy Liu stars in a new comedy drama about adultery and murder in suburbia from the creator of Desperate Housewives

- ELAINE REILLY

NEW COMEDY DRAMA

Why Women Kill

Friday, Alibi HD, 9pm & 10.05pm

Desperate Housewives creator Marc Cherry’s latest show Why Women Kill is another glossy, deliciously dark comedy about fatally dysfunctional marriages in suburbia.

The 10-part series, which begins with a double bill on Alibi this week, revolves around three different women who live in the same house in Pasadena, California, but in separate eras – the 1960s, 1980s and modern day. They all have the same problem, though – cheating husbands, with that infidelity ultimately leading to murder.

The show opens in 1963 with housewife Beth Ann Stanton (Once Upon a Time’s Ginnifer Goodwin) moving into the impressive mansion with her aerospace engineer husband, Rob (The Politician’s Sam Jaeger).

Although Rob treats her more like a maid than a partner, Beth Ann’s life revolves around her husband and she is devastated when she overhears gossip about his affair with a waitress, April (Sadie Calvano). The wronged wife sets out to confront the other woman, but ends up befriending her.

Meanwhile, fabulously flamboyant socialite Simone Grove (Elementary’s Lucy Liu) and her smooth-talking third husband Karl (Jack Davenport) occupy the house in 1984. On the night that they host an extravagant party, someone with an axe to grind leaves Simone photos of Karl kissing a mystery man.