Friends reunited for 10th season

THE speculation is finally over...US hit television show Friends will stay on the air for another season.

American network NBC has announced that the Emmy-winning series will not end once the ninth season, which is currently showing in the States and kicks off on Channel Four in the UK next month, finishes shooting next year.

No details of the deal between the network, producers Warner Brothers and the six stars, who earn nearly £700,000 per episode, have been released.

But NBC spokeswoman Rebecca Marks confirmed that an agreement had been sealed in the States yesterday.

The news brings an end to rumours that the actors Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc, Matthew Perry and David Schwimmer were planning to bow out once filming of the ninth season was completed next spring.

That speculation was fuelled only last week when 33-year-old Aniston said she was ready to leave so she could start a family with megastar husband Brad Pitt.

Aniston, who won a best actress Emmy for her role as Rachel Green in the show earlier this year, told a US magazine: "In my mind I'm done.

"I want to start my family."