US talk show host David Letterman has reached a deal with striking writers that will allow his show to return with a full writing staff. The Writers Guild of America (WGA) said the agreement meant its members would be paid for work distributed online - a major sticking point in their dispute. Letterman said he was “happy to be going back to work” on 3 January after eight weeks off air. Many of his rivals also return next week - without their writing teams. The interim agreement between the Letterman’s Worldwide Pants production company and the WGA also allows the return of spin-off programme The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson. “This is not a solution to the strike, which unfortunately continues to disrupt the lives of thousands,” said Letterman. “But I hope it will be seen as a step in the right direction.”

Letterman’s deal gives his show a distinct advantage over the likes of Conan O’Brien, Jay Leno and Jimmy Kimmel, who face the prospect of presenting an hour-long nightly television show without scribes to pen their monologues, sketches and other written material. Presenters such as Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert will not even be allowed to write their own scripts, as they are members of the WGA. There is also a question over whether celebrity guests will be prepared to cross picket lines to appear on the shows. The strike, which began on 5 November, was called because of a dispute over the fees writers get paid when their work is released on DVD or the internet. I really hope this will be a beginning of the end of this strike, as it hurts mostly us, fans of all those shows…