Whether she was a wicked witch or not is a matter of dispute, but the fact remains Shannen Doherty is out and a new rose is going to bloom on Charmed.

Shannen's shock departure from Charmed was one of TV's best-kept secrets. Until a few months ago there was an unspoken rule among the Charmed chicks that they were to publicly appear the best of friends.

When TV HITS caught up with Shannen earlier this year she said, "The chemistry between us is good and the audience can relate to us."

Now it seems the public was being charmed by the show's star into believing everything is OK when, in fact, all hell was breaking loose.

After directing the finale to the third series, Shannen split from the show amid rumours both she and co-star Alyssa Milano has issued 'her or me' ultimatums. One had to go, and Shannen was out the door.

Poor on-set relations had been bubbling away in the Charmed cauldron for a long time. A US newspaper investigating the spat quoted a source close to the set as saying, "The truth is most people couldn't wait to get rid of her."

"She thinks of herself as a major television star and her big head always gets her in trouble," another set insider revealed. "She was the same way on Beverly Hills 90210."

Far from being upset by what appeared to be an unceremonious dumping, Shannen has lashed out, revealing that she asked to be released from the show late last year and she felt creatively unsatisfied with what Charmed offered.

"I just didn't want to be part of it," she says. "I'm 30 years old and I don't have time for drama in my life any more. I'm really focused and I just want to do good work and prove my ability as an actress. I wasn't able to do that on that show."

Rather than blaming Alyssa, a surprisingly diplomatic Shannen has so far refused to name names when it comes to her on-set conflicts.

"I don't want to work with people who bitch about their job and complain about it and say that they hate it or anything else," she says.

As for the rumours that her temper had prompted her ousting from the show, Shannen says she's not fazed. "It adds to the whole mystery of my career," she says. 'It certainly didn't hurt me after 90210 that there were rumours floating around. It won't really affect me now."

She could be right. Shannen has already been cast in the feature film Another Day, being produced by highly-respected director Francis Ford Coppola. She's also rumoured to be joining Buffy the Vampire Slayer as an occasional guest star.

"I've never felt more satisfied, calm, at peace and excited in my entire life," she says. "It's exciting, taking a huge risk. To go into the unknown is unbelievably exciting because I can do anything I want to.”