this is bbc news. i'm carrie gracie. the headlines at three: the queen leads members of the royal family at their traditional christmas day service. she is about to adress the nation in her traditional christmas speech three members of a british family have drowned at a holiday resort on the costa del sol — spanish police are investigating. in the vatican, pope francis says "god loves everyone, "even the worst of us" — thought to be a reference to abuse scandals in the catholic church. hundreds of people in australia have been forced from their homes for the holidays, as the country battles some of its worst bushfires in years. and coming up in half an hour, bbc news gains exclusive access to the team trying to break the land speed record.

good afternoon. the queen is delivering her annual christmas day message, acknowledging that 2019 has been "quite bumpy". this morning, her majesty attended church at sandringham. but the duke of edinburgh was not in attendance. he left hospital yesterday in time to spend christmas at home. charlotte gallagher reports from sandringham. it has been a hugely turbulent year for the royals and i think that was reflected by the fact prince andrew didn't go to the main church service today. there have been some real highs, like the birth of r6, and a lot of people here today queued from the early hours of the morning.

a great deal of affection still for the royals with a lot of the british public. the queen arrives for the christmas day service accompanied by her daughter—in—law, the duchess of cornwall. this service is a tradition by the royal family and for some of the well—wishers who queue from the early hours of the morning. but this hasn't been a traditional year, with the royals generating headlines they would rather avoid. there has been huge speculation about who would attend the service today. a treat for fans of the royal family when two of the youngest members, prince george and princess charlotte, arrived with their parents. others were missing, including prince andrew. he went to church with prince charles in the morning but missed the main service. for prince andrew not to attend a church is significant. perhaps an acknowledgement of public opinion surrounding his friendship with the convicted sex offender jeffrey epstein. the prince decided to stay at home with prince philip, who hasjust been discharged from hospital. the queen will use her christmas message to describe this year as bumpy.

and for some in the royal family they will be keen to avoid the media scrutiny in 2020. as i was saying, some people queued from the early hours of this morning. one person even got here at one o'clock after getting four buses, a train and a lift. for those royal fans who love the royal family, sandringham is a great day. they get to meet the royals, chatted to them, their pictures taken. we saw one lady, who was 97, who always wanted to see the wqueen in person, and she got to do that and get a hug from princess charlotte. a real treat for her. i am sure for a lot of the people who came here, hundreds of people, it was a very exciting day. the foreign office says it's helping a british woman, after three members of the same family drowned in the swimming pool of a holiday resort in spain. it's thought a nine—year—old girl got into difficulties in the water, and her 16—year—old brother and theirfather died after trying to help her. the hotel has issued a statement

offering their condolences to the family, and say they are assisting the authorities fully with their investigation. nick quraishi reports. the christmas holiday that turned to tragedy in one of spain's top tourist destinations. police divers visible next to the pool which claimed the lives of the three family members. it is understood that a nine—year—old girl first got into difficulty in the water. her 16—year—old brother and father, who was 52, then jumped in to try to save her. why none resurfaced from one of the many pools here is now the subject of a major investigation. hotel firm clc world resorts, which runs the complex, released a statement. it said...

the firm says it's helping the authorities fully with their investigations into the deaths, while the foreign office has confirmed it's offering assistance to a british woman following what happened. nick quraishi, bbc news. a woman has died in a serious crash on the m1 motorway, which happened last night on the northbound side nearjunction 12. it was one of two accidents on the motorway overnight with police from both hertfordshire and bedfordshire forces involved. both the north and south bound carriages have now reopened. the woman who died has not yet been named. religious leaders have been giving their traditional christmas addresses. in the vatican, pope francis said "god loves everyone, "even the worst of us" — thought to be a reference to abuse scandals in the catholic church. the archbishop of canterbury, justin welby, talked about the darkness of the london bridge attack in his address as john mcmanus reports.

midnight mass at manger square, the place where, for christians, it all began just over 2000 years ago. and this year, a special link to the past — a wooden fragment which the church says is from the manger ofjesus, back in the holy land after 1300 years. the holy family famously became migrants, fleeing from king herod to the relative safety of egypt. and at the vatican city today, pope francis once again repeated his concern for the plight of those forced to leave their homes. translation: it is an injustice that makes them cross deserts and seas that become cemeteries. it is an injustice that forces them to endure unspeakable forms of abuse, enslavement and every kind of torture and inhumane detention camps. # 0 come all ye faithful.

in his sermon this morning at canterbury cathedral, the archbishop of canterbury — who was recently in the war—torn democratic republic of the congo — drew a link between the suffering there and the recent terror attack in london. darkness is a monster that lies. its growling claims seem to call out with alouder volume than the love—filled whispers of light. we see the shadows out of the corner of our eyes — they may be violence, as in the congo or london bridge. and there is one more christmas message still to come, apart from the queen, of course... later tonight on bbc one, grime artist stormzy will recite a passage from st luke's gospel. he was born on this day in the city of david, the saviour. he was the messiah. the story of the very first christmas. the dean of westminster abbey says

britain is in need of the hope offered by the christmas story. speaking before the midnight service, dr david hoyle said he was hoping the nativity could unite people after years of political conflict. our religion editor, martin bashir, reports. this is the first christmas season for the new dean of westminster abbey, dr david hoyle. an ancient cathedral where monarchs have been crowned and poets celebrated, it is at the heart of our nation, a nation that he says is bitterly divided. i see the divisions everybody else sees. i feel them. i get angry. and i get disturbed. i live in westminster where i bump into it all the time. we need some hope in all of this. i think we've become angry and i think we've become despairing. dr hoyle says that we need an intervention from outside and that the message of christmas offers the possibility of genuine

engagement without hostility. peace isn't the moment when the arguments stop. peace is the moment when we can contain our arguments. and that's where we are really struggling at the moment, it seems to me. we can't enjoy our variety. you have to be this or that. i think the gospel suggests this and that, they are both god—given. we can do this together. the story of a child refugee born in perilous circumstances is not the image depicted on most christmas cards. and yet, as the dean of this historic abbey makes clear, redemption and reconciliation are possible, though the task ahead is a challenging one. martin bashir, bbc news. in the last few minutes, the queen has given her annual christmas message to the nation. her majesty acknowledged 2019 had

been a ‘bumpy‘ year. it comes after a year of intense political debate about brexit, as well as a number of personal events affecting the royal family. with me is our royal correspondent, nicholas witchell. what struck you, nicholas? two themes. reconciliation, a very normal thing. the less usual theme is what she said about the environment. it is not a theme but it is quite striking that she said she has been struck by the sense of purpose, as she described it, young people to protecting our environment and our climate. whether that will be seen to be an endorsement of greta thunberg from queen elizabeth remains to be seen. that is quite unusual. i am sure it reflects the interests and priorities of younger members of the family, prince charles, not a young member, of course, but she is reflecting that. certainly the main theme is reconciliation. she recalled the

75th anniversary of d—day. and talked about the site of former sworn enemies, as she describes them, settling their differences, putting past differences behind them. of course, that theme of reconciliation then leads into this much discussed phrase of quite a bumpy year. and it is still not definitively clear what it is that she was referring to. is she referring to the difficulties within the royalfamily, referring to the difficulties within the royal family, or the referring to the difficulties within the royalfamily, or the political divisiveness of brexit? i think, given that it is in the context of reconciliation, i think it is more than likely to be a reference or an encouragement to the country to move on behind the divisiveness of the political situation. yes, it is obviously possible that she is making reference to more than one form of bumpy year, the personal and the wider. just on the one penis for the wider. just on the one penis for the royalfamily, the wider. just on the one penis for

the royal family, they the wider. just on the one penis for the royalfamily, they have had a difficult year. and they have a difficult year. and they have a difficult last few weeks? yes, nothing like on the scale of her annus horribilis of 1992 or in 1997. it has been a bumpy year in some respects. the duke of edinburgh, his illness, or whatever it was, that kept him in hospitalforfour nights. back at home in sandringham 110w. nights. back at home in sandringham now. most particularly difficulty of the royal family this year is focused on prince andrew. and that was evident again today because prince andrew was not with the main body of the royal family when they went to church. at 11 o'clock this morning he went to an earlier private service. and i think that is an acceptance that he was going to bea an acceptance that he was going to be a rather negative distraction to the family group going to church. his two daughters were there. beatrice, with her fiance,

his two daughters were there. beatrice, with herfiance, eugenie with her husband. one would normally have seen him with them. on this occasion, not. that is an acceptance that he has, well, i suppose we have to say he has become something of an embarrassment at the moment to the royal family. also embarrassment at the moment to the royalfamily. also noticeably missing harry and meghan, who for the past two christmases, before and after their marriage, were very much pa rt after their marriage, were very much part of the family seen there? yes, they are in canada, of course, with artie. and having this six—week break. i think that is a recognition that they need some time away, family time as it's being presented. but i think there have been signs that the stress of their position has been getting to them. the statement by harry at the end of the tour of southern africa attacking the british tabloid media. meghan‘s decision to take the mail on sunday to court over its publication of a letter from her to her to court over its publication of a letterfrom her to herfather. and i thinkjust generally, there is a certain amount of unease within the

royal family that harry just certain amount of unease within the royal family that harryjust needs to settle down, calm down a bit. and iam sure to settle down, calm down a bit. and i am sure they will be hoping that this break will rectify matters. thank you very much. the australian prime minister scott morrison has praised his country's firefighters in his christmas message. hundreds of firefighters — many of them volunteers — have been battling bush fires in new south wales — which first began in september. the public too have been showing their gratitude to the fire service, as shiamaa khalil reports. taking a brief christmas break before heading back to the fire front lines. many of these firefighters have been working nonstop for weeks. despite a lull in the weather, with cooling temperatures and predicted rain in some areas, the risk is not over. teams brace themselves for hot conditions later in the week. the new south wales rural fire service is the world's largest volunteer organisation,

with more than 70,000 members. most are local volunteers who have taken on the task to project the rural communities. and many have been overwhelmed by how people responded to their work. just overwhelming support, like. obviously all the presents and stuff for the kids. that's just what they need at the moment. i haven't even got my christmas shopping or anything for my daughter. she's about to turn one injanuary. just thank you, thank you very much. last week's catastrophic fires have been fuelled by record temperatures of more than 41 degrees. an extreme heat wave swept across the country, combined with strong winds and dry conditions. australia has been fighting wildfires for months. the early start to the fire season is stretching already scarce water resources. pictures of a thunderstorm in the north—eastern city of brisbane showed some respite

in the hot weather. but firefighters say a lot more rain is needed in many more places, with not much for over the next few weeks. the mayor of the chilean city of valparaiso has warned of a dire situation as a forest fire continues to encroach there. the authorities say they re investigating suspicions that the fire was lit deliberately. david waddell reports. the fire in a poor neighborhood of valparaiso dominates the skyline of chile's major port city. residents' christmas eve celebrations were shattered — with their homes damaged or destroyed as firefighters struggled to contain the spread of the fire. the entire fire service of valparaiso, a city of more than a quarter of a million people, has been mobilized to tackle the blaze. crews from neighbouring areas —

and even the military — have also been drafted in to help. translation: at least 60 homes have already been damaged. this number is likely to increase because many are in bad shape, so it's difficult to know at the moment. the residents of two districts regarded as high—risk have been ordered to leave their homes. warm, dry conditions, along with strong winds, have aligned to whip up the flames. translation: all the houses are burning and now the fire is coming here and there's my mum's house down here and the fire is up here. firefighters say the fire started in a forested area and spread into an inhabited area. it's a city known for colourful wood houses, a construction that would have been a particular risk to these homes. the mayor says he believes the fires were started intentionally and this is now being investigated. david waddell, bbc news. the headlines on bbc news: the queen speaks of 2019 being a bumpy year in her christmas speech.

three members of a british family have drowned at a holiday resort on the costa del sol — spanish police are investigating. in the vatican, pope francis says "god loves everyone" — "even the worst of us" — thought to be a reference to abuse scandals in the catholic church. it's the bookies' favourite to be the most watched programme this christmas — gavin and stacey is back on our screens with a one—off special tonight. james corden has been telling our entertainment correspondent colin paterson why they decided to bring it back. are you asking me to step in? what? are you asking me to... # step into christmas! # we can watch the snow fall forever and ever... james corden, i never thought this would happen. back on the set of gavin and stacey, what made you decide to do it again?

it was more of a sense of i think — ruth and i thinking, why don't we just explore it, see if there's anything there, if there's a story there, it would be interesting to see where they are. we didn't tell the bbc, we didn't tell any agents or anything, we just did what we did the first time around, really, which was sit in a room and talk about it and see what we have. we used the house up here is our sort of greenroom. and look to you find in any these houses, it is ruthjones and joanna page, relaxing between scenes. ifeel like i have walked into the show, this is very peculiar. yeah, yeah. it is quite funny, we're sort of like our characters, just gossiping. what are you reading? mind your own business. for ruth and i there was very much a feeling of like, well, the time to do

it is when you don't need to. the last thing we wanted the show to look like was sort of emergency, break—glass quest to get back on television or for relevance somehow, you know? and so, look, it comes with a huge amount of pressure. it's a strange feeling but we hope people enjoy dipping back into their lives for a moment, you know? they're all hyped up about tomorrow, they are. hyped up? how do you think i feel? we send each other little things like i heard someone say this today in the supermarket and i thought it would be something pam would say. you were as fascinated as the fans are? we are as interested as everybody else in it to see where it is at. we are lucky we get to find out first. we've just been filming upstairs, it's 101. ha! when people watch this they will go, ‘oh, i remember, that was the hottest day

of the year', that's what it is. basicallyjames is rushing around in the hot room and i am lying under a very synthetic, thick duvet. the thing with the show has always been trying to find the extraordinary in the ordinary, you know? that's where the show was born from. it's that, like, something so small as two people, seemingly so small, as two people choosing to spend the rest of their lives together has a monumental impact on lots of other people's lives. this is where we shot a scene the other day, the top of the stairs here. matt and i. it was incredibly tight for space. we always want to try and shoot it in its surroundings. so the famous scene where gavin and stacey talk that they had been engaged... was on this very doorstep. it was right here, on glenda's doorstep. ijust had a drink with your ex—fiance. oh, my god. how do you think i feel, stace? was it clifford? no. leyton ? no. howell? no, ahmed!

but he's moved to swindon! he's home to see his mum. it's an iced, erm, oat latte. it's incredible. there's been a lot of cold acting, isn't there? kind of like... but only when you remember to do it. so there's gonna be some takes where people are going brr, and other takes where they're like, ah... here we go. have you not got suncream on? no, i haven't. you got it? i don't know what i'm looking at. hello. hang on, hang on. you are back here in barry island. mm. when you think you have a us talk show, it mustjust blow your mind. yeah, the trick is not to think about it too much. because i think it's dangerous to have a sort of rear—view mirror and looking at the things you've done, you have to keep looking at the things that you're going to do or want to do. i think that's the trick to sort

of holding yourself together and not perhaps starting to think that you're a bit more of a dude than you really are. fan: hello! hello. anywhere — i don't care. are you sure? yeah, yeah — i'm positive. i'll sign it. but do not get this tattooed. what's going to surprise people about this? surprises? there might be a couple. you might find some things that you've been wondering about, mostly all we want it to be is a joyful hour. here we are, all set, ready, and action! oh, my god, oh, my god! stacey, would you kindly inform everybody that dinner will be ever—so—slightly delayed? well done, ben. could this become a regular thing, every ten years you revisit the characters? oh, that would be a terrible idea.

it definitely will not become a thing that happens every decade. i can guarantee you that. people might watch the special be like ‘that was awful, why did you ruin it?‘ and that's the pressure of it. they all like each other, our characters, really, they‘ re really lovely bunch to be around. we love our characters, they are a lovely bunch so it will be nice to see them having christmas day again. the gavin and stacey christmas special airs tonight at 8:30 on bbc one, and colin paterson's full behind—the—scenes tour is available now on the bbc iplayer. they are not the only ones who can do christmas special. many of you have been doing them as well. santa claus is known for travelling the globe in his sleigh, but over the last 2a hours, he's been spotted testing out some other modes of transport. rebecca bailey's been taking a look at what he's been up to. cheering. swapping reindeer power

for horsepower, santa claus wows spectators with his water—skiing skills on the potomac river in virginia. i thought it was really cool. it was really cool, it was definitely worth it. santa and food and drinks — you can't get better than that. he's always had an incredible ability to defy the space—time continuum, which could explain how, whilst all this was going on... ..almost 600 santas were riding the waves at cocoa beach in florida. looks like david hasselhoff‘s got nothing on santa. meanwhile, in kosovo, he was seen abseiling down the walls of a children's hospital with batman, spider—man and superman. cheering. also spotted injapan — five paragliding sa ntas. but luckily, it looks like his love of extreme sport hasn't got any way of deliveries. cheering. merry christmas! rebecca bailey, bbc news.

idid try i did try to get some of the production team to abseil into the studio for us. but if they are all a bit shy. we will try that later. now the weather. hello. after the wet weather lately today feels like a christmas miracle. blue skies and sunshine for the rest of this christmas day. it looks fine if you're heading out for a stroll later on. on the satellite picture you can see this lump of cloud to the west. that will change things a little tonight and into boxing day. temperatures in single digits this afternoon. with some late sunshine and clear skies after dark. that will allow some fog to form, particularly in central and eastern england. some of that could be quite dense for a time. as you go through the night, the fog will tend to lift because we will see more cloud rolling in from the east. the breeze will pick up and outbreaks of rain

in northern ireland and the south—west of england. further east and north another chilly night. that will get down below freezing for a time. for tomorrow we see this frontal system pushing its way eastwards a cross frontal system pushing its way eastwards across the british isles. and that will bring some outbreaks of rain. this first round and pushing its way north—eastward. a little bit of snow mixing and of the highest hills of the pennines and the highest ground in scotland. behind that these guys will brighten. there will be some further showers and persistent rain in the south—west. temperature wise through the afternoon many of us in single figures. five to 8 degrees. two in plymouth. quite a windy day as well, particularly across the far south—west of england. as we go through thursday night into friday, outbreaks of rain continuing to drift north eastwards, some clear spells as well. as we get into friday high—pressure to the south trying to keep things settled. to

the north we have frontal systems. this warm front here, as it moves its way through, will open the door to some much milder air pushing up from the south. we end this week, on friday, very mild note indeed. outbreaks of rain tended to clear eastwards. for the rain into the north—east of scotland. generally speaking, a decent amount of dry weather, spells of sunshine, temperatures higher than they have been, 10 degrees for aberdeen, 12 for birmingham. we stick with the milder weather towards the weekend. some rain in the north—west. many of us some rain in the north—west. many of us will be dry. enjoy the of your day. . the queen speaks of 2019 being a bumper year . the queen speaks of 2019 being a bumperyear in her . the queen speaks of 2019 being a bumper year in her christmas speech. three members of a british family

have drowned at a holiday resort on the costa del sol. spanish police are investigating. in the vatican, pope francis says god loves everyone, even the worst of us, thought to be a reference to abuse scandals in the catholic church. hundreds of people in australia have been forced from their homes for the holidays as the country battles some of its worst bushfires in years. now on bbc news, we are chasing the land speed record with the british bloodhound team, hoping to smash the current record of 763 mph. andrew harding was given exclusive access to the team on the salt flats of the northern cape of south africa. well, the thing about the land speed record is it is the last of the amateur corinthian sports. it is done purely for the love, the fascination of it. some people argue, well, the old cars are no more, but forget it is a car,

we are pushing the boundaries of engineering to its absolute limit. every day i go, why are we doing this? it may be the last land speed record as we know it. this is a story about stubbornness and ingenuity, and yes, about speed, too. it is the story of a quest to design and build the world's fastest car, and then to find a place flat enough, long enough, to actually drive it. there are not many spots on this particular planet suitable for racing faster than the speed of sound. you can't just pick a straight stretch of road. at 500, 700, 900 miles an hour, the wheels would rip apart mere