Actress Christina Applegate, star of the hit TV series “Samantha Who?” has accused the Irish writer Cecelia Ahern of having little input in the show, though Ahern is credited for being its creator and producer.

"I've only ever met her a couple of times," Applegate said. "She just kind of came up with a one-liner for the show, like what happened with this girl who wakes up with amnesia and she was a bitch in her past life and is good now.

"So her involvement is really not that much, but she came up with the initial concept and then (producer) Don Todd took it from there and came up with the rest of the characters."

Friends of Ahern, daughter of former Taoiseach (Irish Prime Minister) Bertie Ahern, have come to the writer’s defense, saying Applegate’s claims that the “P.S. I Love You” author wasn’t hands-on with the series are nonsense.

“The concept is absolutely hers and she definitely co-wrote it,” a source close to Ahern, who’s expecting her first child with actor David Keoghan, told Ireland’s Herald.

“She has spoken previously about how she chose the same writer as ALF for the project, Donald Todd, and the pair of them had lots of meetings about developing characters and all the rest.

"I don't know where Christina's coming up with this assumption that Cecelia didn't have much to do with the show because it's rubbish.

"She wouldn't be on the American set that much as she's a homebird but was in regular contact with the show's production team and had a very hands-on approach to it."

The Web site for “Samantha Who?,” a show about a woman rediscovering life after suffering from amnesia, lists the Irish writer as the creator, co-writer and one of the producers.

The series was loved by both critics and audiences, but ABC announced last May that they would not be renewing it for a third series.