Friends reunited ...for £700,000

The six stars of the hit American comedy Friends have agreed a deal that will see them paid more than £700,000 for each of 24 new episodes to be filmed in the autumn.

To Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc, Matthew Perry and David Schwimmer it means a pay-rise of more than £4,000-a-minute that will push them among Hollywood's highest-earning stars.

Programme makers Warner Brothers and broadcaster NBC struck the deal with the actors, which will take the show into its 10th year.

Jeff Zucker, president of NBC, said: "We've never had better Friends and we're thrilled."

It was thought the cast was evenly split on whether or not to make another series, with LeBlanc saying last month that he "honestly didn't know" if there would be another run.

Aniston was said to be in favour of ending the show, while Schwimmer had spoken of his desire to quit acting and become a teacher.

The show now draws an average of 24.5 million viewers each week in the US.