the local theatres meant everything to me because i was so inspired by them. i look back on the dreams that i had, but they all started regionally. the theatres in each of these towns, in liverpool, they belong to the people of that city. not at the moment they don't. covid—19 has forced theatres to close, leaving many of those in the regions in a perilous situation. a southampton theatre group, a centrepiece of the city's cultural quarter, has gone into administration. the lighthouse theatre down the coast in poole is also facing a grim future, with cash reserves fast running out. we have got six to eight weeks where we can survive. but beyond that, it would be very difficult to continue. opening with social distancing would give us about 16 to 20% maximum capacity, which, for any venue, is not going to cut the mustard in terms of its financial capabilities.

so it is not economically viable for most theatres to open under social distancing rules. which means the show will not go on until we can, once again, gather in large numbers, which might be too late to save struggling regional playhouses. and that would be a big problem for london's west end, a cultural and economic powerhouse which relies on shows created in the regions, like everybody‘s talking about jamie. that was made in sheffield. the moment i saw it, i went straight away and said to the director, "i want to bring it to london. i'll give you a theatre and produce it." london is the capital, but we are a country of many voices and many points of views, and we need to represent those. the government says it is working closely with the arts and cultural sector to plan for its future and find solutions to the challenge it faces. ultimately, that is likely to mean providing access to more money.

at a time when there will be many competing calls on the public purse. will gompertz, bbc news. time for a look at the weather, here's nick miller. it was cold last night, a statement from one of our weather watch is about still having to scrape ice off the car at this time of year. it was particularly cold in northern ireland, you have to go back a0 yea rs ireland, you have to go back a0 years to find a cold domain night. but gradually over the next few days and nights, temperatures will be creeping up. there will be sunshine everywhere, even rain in the weekend forecast, but not for all if you are wanting some rain on the garden. some showers in scotland and northern ireland tonight, some cloud syncing southwards but staying mainly clear for syncing southwards but staying mainly clearfor much syncing southwards but staying mainly clear for much of wales and the south of england where temperatures will fall low enough for a touch of frost. not as widely chilly to start the day tomorrow but

nah as sunny as today. there will be cloud around tomorrow, still on a stiff breeze with showers in scotland, though much of england and wales will stay dry. temperatures a little drier. for the weekend, high pressure squeezed away southwards, some weather fronts getting closer, particularly by sunday. 0n some weather fronts getting closer, particularly by sunday. on saturday is the case again of some showers in scotland, especially the north and west and northern ireland. for england and wales, it will be mainly dry with sunny spells and temperatures into the mid teens. those weather fronts coming into play on sunday as we see thicker cloud and outbreaks of rain heading into northern ireland, and scotland looking wet on sunday. we may see some rain in north—west england, that's not guaranteed. much of england and wales will be staying dry but if you see the sunshine temperatures are heading up. more widely into next week, still a lot of dry weather around. thank very

much. that's all from the bbc news at six, so it's goodbye from me and, on bbc one, we nowjoin the bbc‘s news teams where you are. hello, welcome to sportsday. i'm gavin ramjaun. the government have called again tonight for the premier league to allow more games to be watched by a wider audience if the season starts again. bosses from the premier league, efl, and football association have met with the government today, over plans to resume the football season. culture secretary 0liver dowden said they all agreed they'd only go ahead

when it was safe for players, coaches and staff, and said the government is opening the door for competitive football to return safely injune — including widening access for fans to view live coverage and ensure the finances from the game's resumption supports the wider footall family. —— football family. the premier league are aiming for a restart on 12 june. but the deputy chief medical officer said this evening that tere is stil a lot of work to be done before players can even start full training. —— there is still a lot of work. is taking quite some depth to be able to do that. and that will be a stepwise thing. we will have to see how that goes before it is time to move on, or even think about moving on to the return of competitive football matches, as you have outlined in your question. so i think, you know, we have to be slow, we have to be measured.

england captain harry kane has joined forces with leyton orient by sponsoring their shirts next season and donating the space to three good causes. kane made his senior debut for 0rient in 2011 while on loan from tottenham. the club's home strip will carry a message of thanks to front line workers tackling the coronavirus pandemic. 0bviously obviously i had spurs as a teen growing up, but i think everyone has that local... lane 0rient were mine. soi that local... lane 0rient were mine. so i consider a great opportunity to help them, especially in a time where there's a lot of uncertainty whether financially how it will affect them, and obviously if the league don't finish this season, things like that. so it is a really good way to help them out. 0rient's chief executive danny macklin thanked kane and told me the shirt sponsorhip was a hugley emotive arrangement. from what we've spoken to him, he was very keen to do this. he knew it

was very keen to do this. he knew it was the guard they gave him his first professional start. so i think he sees it as a real opportunity to say thanks to the club, but at the same time, saying thank you to those workers. so it is a win—win situation. from a financial stance, how does it help layton orient? a lot of that money will go to charities, so how much will go to charities? we donated 1096 of the proceeds from the sales, which we believe will be high. we obviously, this provides vital income for the clu b this provides vital income for the club at a very difficult time, it is well—documented, like every industry, we will struggle with covid—19, we are already seeing the effects of that already, and this will help to some degree in ascertaining that help. looking at the season ahead, is it likely to finish? how do you feel the efl have handled things so far?”

finish? how do you feel the efl have handled things so far? i want to give some praise. the efl have received a lot of criticism in the past, but right now under the current leadership, he and his executive team have done a great job. they've done an almost impossible task, managing 71 clubs, and that is a challenge in any environment, but especially in this environment. i know they will reach the right decision at the right time, and their communication has been absently first—class. i know they are doing everything and they can to reset football and give every clu b can to reset football and give every club a fighting chance to survive this, and hopefully come out of it ina this, and hopefully come out of it in a situation where one day, football at all levels can be sustainable. a quick look at some other sports news. dele alli trained today, despite suffering minor facial injuries, after being held at knife—point by men who broke into his house in north london. the tottenham and england midfielder thanked fans for their support. the intruders stole items ofjewellery including watches. a review into the salary cap scandal that saw saracens relegated, says that similar offences

in the future could see teams stripped of their titles — and even suspended from competition. the review was commissioned after reigning premiership champions saracens were found to have breached salary cap regulations in each of the past three seasons. september's tour of britain has been cancelled for this year. the eight—day event was due to start in penzance and finish in aberdeen. that route will be followed next yea r. and professional golf has returned for the first time since march. the korean lpga championship is taking place at the lakewood country club in yangju. three of the world's top ten, including major champions park sung hyun and jeong—eun lee6, are involved. the england men's cricket team will start limited training next week — a plan safer than going to the supermarket, according to director of cricket ashley giles. with the sport postponed until at leastjuly due to the coronavirus pandemic — he says the initial steps are tentative. only a few bowlers will begin isolated sessions, but england

are positive international matches will return. joe wilson has more. initially seven different venues will be used for english cricket to resume training. my local cricket thatis resume training. my local cricket that is not one of them, probably just as well. i don't think it is quite international standard. initially it will be test match bowlers, red ball bowlers — who come back to training first. they can have a coach as long as the coach remains socially distance. clearly england wants their fastball or to get match come preparation time to get match come preparation time to get ready for a test match injuly, and hopeful the west indies will come to play those test matches. now they might place without spectators and some kind of bio secure environment to ground. but what about the players living in some prolonged period of isolation, effectively in quarantine, away from society? ashley giles spoke today — he does not feel it is feasible that

players could be completely separated from their families. one think we know about our players is that they'll do everything they can to get this going. we've got a good bunch of players, but it isn't realistic to expect them to be in a bubble for ten weeks. so we will either have to be smart with how we can get guys in their environment, testing, tracing and tracking would've probably changed a hell of a lot by then. and that should help us. a lot by then. and that should help us. otherwise we will have to be smart with selecting as well. so far ashley giles feels all players are ready to come back to playing. although he has made clear there is the option there for anybody to opt out. draw from archer, for one this week, has told us he's feeling it tricky to live without cricket.

the chief executive of west indies cricket, says he believes this summer's tour of england will go ahead, but says players will be "very nervous" about travelling. the three—test series was due to start on ajune, but has been postponed until at leastjuly. our players will be very nervous in terms of going to the uk. the most paramount us is that health and safety of our players. the ecb have lots of money writing on this in terms of tv, but there will be no sort of coercing players into the store. we need to be absolutely clear that it is safe, first and foremost, and if it is, share the information we have, and obviously try and make life as nonverbal as we possibly cut for those players. hammer thrower, mark dry, has described a four—year ban for doping as a huge miscarriage of justice. dry, who won two bronze commonwealth games medals for scotland, said the saga to clear his name turned into his worst nightmare. he was initially cleared after wrongfully claiming he'd gone fishing on the day of a missed drugs test in 2018, and is continuing his appeal. here's kheredine idsan.

he's been turning things over in his head for months. now, mark dry has broken his silence exclusively to the bbc. he lied about a miss drugs test in 2018 and was banned from athletics for four years. test in 2018 and was banned from athletics for four yearslj test in 2018 and was banned from athletics for four years. i wasn't thinking straight, i wasn't training, i wasn't paying attention to anything. i got an e—mail about it saying they had been to test me, and why wasn't i at that address? i panicked and said i was out fishing, and that i forgot to fill out the paperwork. it is a lie that has had serious repercussions. the double commonwealth bronze medallist was actually acquitted in his first hearing. but uk anti—doping appealed and won. that decision is final. they told the bbc...

it has just turned into my worst nightmare. and i've just it has just turned into my worst nightmare. and i'vejust been thrown under the bus. it is a travesty for sport, it is a dangerous decision and sets a horrible precedent. it is clearly cherry picking who they want to target, who they don't want to target in the situation. ijust think it is disgusting. financially it has destroyed me and my family trying to do defend myself, which i can trying to do defend myself, which i ca n afford trying to do defend myself, which i can afford to do. but i will not sit down and be bullied because i'm poon down and be bullied because i'm poor. they fully support him, saying... so what now for mark dry? a four year saying... so what now for mark dry? afouryear ban saying... so what now for mark dry? a four year ban effectively and democrat ends his career, unless rolled athletic, the athletics integrity unit, or world anti—doping agree he's been treated unfairly and

ta ke agree he's been treated unfairly and take his case further. kheredine idsan, bbc news, glasgow. daniel ricciardo is leaving renault at the end of the year to replace carlos sainz at mclaren. sainz is moving to ferrari to replace sebastian vettel, who leaves at the end of the season. the spaniard has recorded this message to his team explaining he'll miss them. i cannot be more grateful to every single member of the mclaren family. i really look forward to competing this year. it is an honour to be pa rt this year. it is an honour to be part of your tradition, and all i can say is, thank you. it has also been a pleasure to work with you, my friend. let us finish it off on a high. even though this pandemic has put on hold our possible momentum, 20/20 is not over yet and we will be back very soon to give our best —— 2020. will you just beat them at the end of the year. keep our heads down and let's keep pushing. an exciting

time for him. that's all from sportsday. i'll see you all later on. good evening, you're watching bbc news. the transport secretary, grant shapps, led the government's daily coronavirus briefing today. he started by reading out the daily testing and death figures. more than 126,000 tests were carried out yesterday — the highest daily testing figure since the crisis began. a further a28 people have died with covid—19 in the past day, the transport secertary announced. that means the offical uk death toll now stands at 33,61a. the transport secretary said it was everyone's "civic duty" to avoid public transport if at all possible, as social

distancing measures would only allow for one in ten passengers to travel safely. and a two billion pound package for roads and rail was announced. the transport secretary says the fund will help britain "bounce back" and help to "get the economy growing again". for two months, we've remained locked down. travelling as little as possible. and in doing so, the whole country has protected the nhs and help to reduce the number of covid—19 infections. as we begin making tentative steps towards restarting our economy, and people in some sectors who can't work from home are beginning to return to workplaces, it is clear that transport has a critical role to play. whilst saturday, i explained how it is our civic duty to avoid public transport if at all possible, because even when we have 100% of the services up and running, there

may only be socially distant space available for one in ten passengers. therefore, in order to help reduce grounding, we've set up a £2 billion programme to help cycling and walking at the heart of the transport, with £250 million of that emergency money spending already under way. let's speak now to shadow health ministerjustin madders. thanks so much forjoining us on bbc news. we will get to some of the health angles that came out in that briefing shortly, but ijust wonder ifi briefing shortly, but ijust wonder if i can get a comment on that phrase that he used about it being people's civic duty to avoid public transport if at all possible. what do you think of that?” transport if at all possible. what do you think of that? i think it is a bit unrealistic for a lot of people, i'm afraid. not everyone has the luxury of their own vehicle, not eve ryo ne the luxury of their own vehicle, not everyone works within cycling distance of their job. everyone works within cycling

distance of theirjob. clearly people don't want to put themselves ina people don't want to put themselves in a situation where they might be at risk of catching the virus. but we have to be realistic that actually, for a lot of people come much public transport as their only option to getting into work. when it comes to the issue of testing and the antibody test that looks very promising, do you think that this will change things for the way in which the lockdown can be approached? well, it is certainly very positive news that this antibody testing seems to be pretty reliable. but i don't think it will have a massive impact in the short term. first of all, it will only tell you whether you've actually had the disease, not whether you've actually currently got the disease. and therefore, we know for example that about a quarter of 1%, according to statistics out today, have exe had the virus. so it won't

exactly impact on that much of the population. also, we don't know at this stage how long that protection will last, and that will clearly be critical as we probably have to deal with this over a number of years. i think the really important thing is the ability to test people who are displaying symptoms or feel that they may have had contact with someone they may have had contact with someone who has the virus is freely and easily accepted the micro accessible as possible. that's how we will defeat the virus in the. in tracing their contacts too? absolutely. we hope that get some more details soon from the government on their tracing strategy, because if that's going to work, that will see a relaxation of the lockdown, and we need to be absolutely confident that that will be sufficient and robust in being able to trace people and isolate them as quickly as possible. we've heard other figures out today suggesting a very sharp drop in patients in england turning up at

amd, and also an increase in waiting times —— acts in an emergency. how do you read these figures? we knew anecdotally from hearing people on the front line that there were a lot less people turning up at a&e, for example. we don't think for a minute that have as many people have needed to go to a&e, so we think people who have been putting it off going for symptoms, they absolutely need to be treated. so we have to make sure the people are confident that they can go into a&e, as they always have done, get their issues sorted out as quickly as possible. that will help ease the burden on the nhs moving forward. in terms of the operations, certainly it is a concern that a number of people are now waiting more than a year for their operations has increased, and we don't have figures on the number of urgent operations that were cancelled last month. this is clearly a battle that must be dealt with in the next few months as well,

so we need to understand how the government are going to approach that. and this backlog to her mind has been because hospitals are so focused on treating covid—19 patients? that's right, and i think that was absolutely the right decision to take. as we move forward we know there will be more times where there is more demand on non—covid 19 resources, as there may be times where we may see u nfortu nately a be times where we may see unfortunately a spike in covid—19 cases. so we need a strategy going forward where we can flip between those two competing demands, making sure that the most urgent cases are treated as a priority. we have to leave it there. thank you very much for talking to us. the hospitality sector was the first to shut down when borisjohnson introduced lockdown restrictions back in march and the industry has been hit hard by the government's lockdown. the prime minister announced in sunday's speech that some parts of the sector may partially re—open injuly depending on the rate of coronavirus infection. but what has the impact

been on the industry and how can hospitality move forward post—lockdown? earlier, i spoke to chef and restaura nteur yotam ottolenghi. we had to shut down in march. and the situation is that, you know, the vast majority of the staff, almost all of them are furloughed, waiting to come back to work when we are allowed to reopen. some of my businesses will reopen for take—out only, and deliveries. but the vast majority of the staff are waiting at home ready to get the go—ahead to come back to work and reopen the restaurant. that's the situation. so even if you are allowed to partially reopen injuly, how do you envisage that experience being? anyone who has been to any one of your restaurants knows it's very communal dining, people often sit at the same table. how can that happen? look, our company and others are thinking of all kinds of clever

ways to create a certain degree of distancing within the restaurants. as an industry, we have been famous for creating convivial atmospheres and serving great food, and service in our establishments. the uk restaurant industry is one of the most innovative and creative in the world, and i think we'll find ways to do that. i want to say, it will be extremely hard. because we will have fewer people walking into our restaurants — either from their own volition or due to government regulations, which we understand. but we are all planning to work extremely hard to make this happen and to make this industry — which is absolutely vital to the economy, i mean, millions work in this industry, and it isn'tjust us, it is farmers, to suppliers, it is cleaners, it is laundry people, it is a whole ecosystem that relies on the restaurant industry.

and we are planning to fight extremely hard for every single job and every single penny that can come our way post—lockdown. but you'll also need customers who are willing to come, who feel the situation is safe enough for them to come. you've got a very loyal following. do you have a sense from people whether they might be prepared to come back or not? i feel that there will be a really pent—up demand for going out and socialising, combined with a certain reluctance to get too close. and i think with these two pressures, you know, kind of going head—to—head, it will be a bit difficult. but i feel people will want to go back to normality of a certain kind. people in clacton have been paying tribute to one of their local gps.

applause. for a0 years, dr karamat mirza ran a gp surgery in essex, until he contracted coronavirus two weeks ago. he died in hospital on sunday. the 8a—year—old was believed to be the oldest working gp. his wife, estelle mirza, said her husband loved hisjob, his staff and his patients, and that he "wouldn't have wanted to live while not working". lockdown has been lifted in the chinese city of wuhan, and things are getting back to normal with rush hour traffic almost at a standstill this morning. wuhan was the original epicentre of the coronavirus outbreak and had its strick lockdown lifted in early april, but local authorities reported new cases on monday — the first since the lockdown was lifted in the area. eastenders and top gear are set to resume filming by the end ofjune after production was halted due to the coronavirus outbreak. the bbc‘s director of content charlotte moore said her team is "exploring ways to restart shooting on dramas and other major bbc shows", while working

within the government's guidelines. cast members will do their own hair and make—up and social distancing will be observed. now it's time for a look at the weather with nick miller. hello. it may have turned into a pleasant afternoon out there but it was a chilly start for the time of year this morning, and here is one of our weather watchers in derbyshire making a statement about the frost, ice and the date. and there will be a touch of frost again tonight in places but things are changing. the blue, the chilly air, coming down from the north or north—west but a gradual change with the air beginning to edge in from the south and temperature is heading up over the weekend, not with sunshine everywhere because there will be rain in some spots but not for everyone. we have had a few showers today and some will continue overnight across particularly the northern half of scotland, may be a rogue one pushing into north—western parts of england.

for many of us, temperatures are higher tonight but through wales and the southern half of england, staying clearest for the longest overnight, this is where temperatures will get close to freezing for a touch of frost in the coldest spots. starting with sunshine, but cloud will increase and it is a cloudy day across the uk tomorrow particularly into england and wales, some cloud and sunny spells into ireland and scotland, chance of a shower across the northern half of scotland but you might see one in the north—west of england, wales, and temperatures a little bit higher. high pressure has kept many of us dry this week. that's now into the we can squeeze southwards with weather fronts coming closer from the atlantic, more by sunday. for saturday, pretty much as you are, with a few showers running into the northern half of scotland, one or two for northern ireland, much of england and wales sting dry, some cloud and sunny spells with temperatures around the mid—teens.

part two of the weekend, sunday, that is when the weather front start to come into play but not for everyone so if you want to rain, it is just towards northern ireland and scotland, in particular western scotland will see the rain move in. we might see some in the north—west of england which isn't guaranteed, and much of england and wales sting dry with hazy sunshine and temperatures edging up a bit where you get to see some sunshine and temperatures will be heading up into next week.

this is bbc news with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. a test that can tell whether you've ever had the coronavirus is approved in england — the uk government says it could be available in a few weeks. we are keen to get as many as we can and get them out primarily to the front line first, the nhs, social care, and then more widely because this really will be coming the prime minister said to come of this has the potential to be a game changer. health bosses in england are alarmed by the number of people staying away from hospital — accident & emergency visits fall by more than half since the coronavirus outbreak. a former top us vaccine official turned whistle—blower, who was removed from his governmentjob last month, testifies before congress.

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