Desperate Housewives in sexy shoot

Desperate Housewives sizzle in sexy retro cover shoot

The Desperate Housewives are determined to return to our screens with a bang – and have taken part in a sexy tongue-in-cheek retro photo shoot.

The ladies of Wisteria Lane – Marcia Cross, Eva Longoria Parker, Nicollette Sheridan, Felicity Huffman, Teri Hatcher, and Dana Dalaney – strike a saucy pose in a pastiche of a 50s good housekeeping manual for the cover of TV Guide.

Under the slogan Housework is Such a Chore, the girls pose in thigh-high skirts, corsets, teeny-tiny aprons with little underneath, and skyscraper heels, while cheekily brandishing household products like rolling pins, brooms and dusters.

The provocative shoot was created to promote the fifth series of the super-successful show, which starts on Sunday in the US.

The writers have added a new twist this season, and set the girls’ lives five years in the future.

The usually-glamorous Gabrielle (Eva) sees the biggest change by becoming a frumpy mother, while Susan (Teri) has split up with Mike (James Denton).

Show creator Marc Cherry admits the inspiration for the time-jump came from another hit show, Lost.

He told TV Guide: ‘The idea for the five-year jump on Desperate Housewives really came from the executive producers of Lost.

'I’m actually doing something unheard of in Hollywood. I’m giving credit where credit is due. We didn’t need to do this, we wanted to do this. It’s given us all a new lease on life.

'We’re treating the season première like a pilot, as if we’re meeting these women all over again.’