Mitchell and Webb to write comedy books

Comedy duo David Mitchell and Robert Webb have signed a two-book deal with Fourth Estate publishers.

The pair, best know for the Channel 4 sitcom Peep Show, promise their fans "a lavish, fully-illustrated volume running to several hundred pages".

The first book, provisionally titled The Ways of Mitchell and Webb is scheduled to hit bookshops in time for Christmas 2009, with the second to follow a year later.

Mitchell added: "We're confident that, through this book, we can make Christmas 2009 the funniest in two millennia (barring tragic natural disasters)."

"It will be a lot of fun working with David and Rob," commented editor John Elliott. "And their books will be comedy classics - like everything they do."