hello. this is bbc news with ben brown. the headlines... brexit talks will now continue as both sides agree to carry on with negotations after being unable to come to an agreement on trade. lam afraid i am afraid we are still very far apart on some key things but where there is life, there is hope. we are going to keep talking. the uk will not be walking away from the talks, people will expect us to go the extra mile. we had accordingly mandated our negotiators to continue the talks and see whether an agreement can be reached, even at this late stage. —— we have

accordingly mandated. following the decision to continue the talks, the prime minister has held a conference call with members of the cabinet. the body which represents nhs trusts in england warns the prime minister that relaxing coronavirus restrictions will lead to a third wave of infections. chancellor angela merkel has announced tighter coronavirus restrictions that will apply across germany from this wednesday tilljanuary the 10th. anthony joshua knocks out kubrat pulev to defend his heavyweight world titles and set up a potential super fight with tyson fury. now on bbc news, it's time for the travel show. on the show this week... the panto survivors keeping the show on the road. hello, my darlings. the native american woman making waves in the grand canyon. the roman empire's sunken party town. and how to run up a sand dune.

it's tough. ijust keep thinking, relentless forward motion, just one step in front of the other. hello, and welcome to the travel show, coming to you from the festive windsor. now, in spite of the glimmers of hope we are hearing on the news, for many of us, travel is still impractical but never fear, we are here to bring you inspiration amid all these dark and gloomy nights. first, though... for britain's theatres,

christmas can only mean one thing — panto. singing, dancing, comedy, romance and belting catchphrases. oh, no he wasn't. oh, yes he was. all based in a traditional fairytale setting. pantomime has every ingredient needed for a fun family night out. except in 2020, many of our much—loved pantomimes don't have a stage to perform on. with only a limited number of shows still running across the country this year, panto, like the majority of the arts, has been dealt a heavy blow by covid. data from play association uk theatre revealed ticket income from its members‘ productions grossed £60 million last year, the highest amount ever. this winter, however, things couldn't be more different, and for many much loved regional theatres, it's had a devastating impact.

lincoln, for instance, is normally brimming with christmas magic in december. not this year, though. it's hugely devastating, and when we took on the theatre in 2016, it was completely on its knees. it was in desperate need of some tlc, its reputation was dreadful, so we had a real hard slog and a battle to win the hearts and minds of the community, never mind the industry, and throughout our four—year journey, we got several awards. 0ur pantomime that we just did last year, robin hood, was nominated in the top five pantomimes in the country for the british panto awards for best pantomime, which was huge, it was brilliant. and we really worked hard to get to that stage, and for it to suddenly stop and bejust culled instantly wasjust like, yeah, i can't even put into words how

soul—destroying that was. pantomime's origins can be traced back to italian street theatre in the early 16th century. from there, they spread across europe from italy to france before becoming popular in the uk. i've got to say i've always had a real affection for pantomime since i was a child and then i took my children to the theatre. but you know what? i've got a sneaking sympathy, affection for the bad guy in pantomime because the bad guy, everyone boos and hisses them but actually, they are really important. hang on, hang on, hang on a minute. it's notjust the bad guys who are important in panto, it's also the good guys and i happen to be one of them as well. why are you important, basil brush? really, when you are in pantomime, it's about good winning over evil, it's a very moral story nowadays, you see, and i think that's very important, you have the bad guys everybody boos and the good guys who get the cheer. yay!

basil, i've got to say you are a veteran of pantomime, you've been doing it for decades and decades. this year has been tough. what effect has it had on you and your colleagues in theatreland 7 i've got to tell you, it's been one of the most toughest years since ever. i've been a furloughed fox since march. i was supposed to be at the glastonbury festival and the edinburgh festival and i had a very full diary and it was pulled like most other entertainers but actors and musicians and performers are a very versatile bunch, they are good at getting other jobs because unemployment is part of being an actor, but this year was particularly terrible because those otherjobs didn't exist. they couldn't go and work in restaurants and shops and all of that so for most actorfriends of mine, and musicians, this has been a terrible year. while there have clearly been a lot of covid—related panto closures this year, there is a glimmer of hope. some productions are still happening like this one, cinderella at theatre royal windsor. i better go start pampering myself and getting ready for the royal ball.

laters, losers. the theatre, and our director, had just done the most amazing job. i can't imagine the hours that were put in, so that we are all safe, the audience is safe and staging it, because as you do your lines, wherever someone moves to, you've got to keep that distance so if there are other lines you move around to out of the corner of the eye, you just have to see that you're in line. tell me about how bad the impact is on a theatre if it has had to cancel pantomime this year? economically, it's incredibly important to theatres, so those that can't do anything this christmas, unless they been able to replace that income in some way, they are finding that incredibly difficult. but the other thing is pantomime is the lifeblood of audience development for theatres as well. it's the time of year when children experience theatre often for the very

first time in their lives. it was the case for me in the wooden theatre many, many years ago with cilla black in aladdin, i can remember it years ago, but pantomime is incredibly important for the theatre world on multiple levels, and i think theatres are going to miss it economically, they are going to miss it in terms of develop and, in terms of outreach into their community. one, two, three, four, five, six. here at theatre royal in windsor the running costs of staging cinderella are £50,000 a week. they say that with reduced capacity because of covid restrictions, they pretty much need to sell out to make it all financially viable. maybe being a prince isn't all it's cracked up to be. in terms of the kind of compromises you've had to make, what are they, and where are they obvious? well, the big obvious one is social distancing in the auditorium, and so we are limited to 50%, so it's every other row of seats and we've had to make changes to our ventilation system as well, and we are spraying the auditorium

with antiviral disinfect before every performance, and then on the staging of the show, we've had to work quite carefully to make sure we are working in fixed teams to make sure we are social distancing backstage as well, and also things like audience participation, we don't want singing and cheering along because it can lead to aerosol transmission, so we have to tweak the way we do things, to keep the magic of pantomime but make sure we're doing it in a secure way. it's clear to see that because of covid, many regional theatre pantos have had a severe knockback this year but in 2021, you can tell it's such a big part of british tradition, it'll be back even stronger. well, let's hop over the atlantic now and head, like 6 million others every year, to the grand canyon. until recently, no navajo woman

had ever been given a licence to run tours at the site. well, we've been over there to meet the guide who is changing all that. my name is nikki cooley and i'm from the towering house clan born through the reed people the clan. my maternal grandparents are of the water that flows together and my paternal grandparents many goats clan, and i come from shonto and blue gap, arizona, and this is how i always introduce myself to anyone as a navajo woman. when commercial river guiding started in the grand canyon, it was primarily dominated by men, and women were only allowed to be helpers, or the cooks, or spouses of the male river guides, and so when i received this invitation from my friend,

it was an invitation i took up very quickly. i grew up on the navajo reservation with my paternal grandparents, as my parents were out working. i grew up in shonto, arizona and blue gap, arizona, where i had no running water or electricity but i also grew up herding sheep, i grew up raising corn and squash and other crops with my grandparents. i rode horses, and really living off the land. i was very fortunate to grow up with my elders, who taught me to respect and care for the earth. when i was a river guide, i would get a lot of people saying, "tribes are extinct, "i didn't know that tribes still existed," when, in fact, we are alive,

we are prospering — wejust want to be acknowledged. mathew point overlook provides that opportunity. it teaches them and it shows them that the tribes are still here and living, and they are not extinct, and that this place is a place of spiritual and cultural significance to the tribes. my heritage, my culture is very important to me because the environment, mother earth and father sky, are very much intertwined with my daily life. my clans are all related to the earth. my life's work in working with tribes on climate change is very much intertwined with the waters, the sky, and the animals. for native and indigenous people, we have a long and rooted history with the environment and the sky, the waters, in the sense that we still honour those

relationships each day. stay with us, because still to come on the travel show, the roman empire's sunken party town. and i wonder if your idea of a fun run involves sand and dunes? well, it does in dubai. it's a great sense of achievement when you get up to the top and you run down the other side. so don't go away. the next in our series now exploring the future of our past. amanda ruggeri's been looking at some of the brand—new tech letting scientists uncover and restore some stunning archaeological treats. this week it's italy,

and the sunken treasure not far from the city of naples. here in italy, in the gulf of naples, the ancient roman city of baiae has been explored by archaeologists and travellers for years. what many people come here for actually lies underwater, and this incredibly preserved site cannot last forever. so i have come to see firsthand how a centuries—old problem is finding a 21st century solution. baiae was a luxury resort with incredible architectures connected with the most eminent men of the late republic and early imperial times. the ancient authors wrote a lot about baiae, and they described baiae as ‘little rome,‘ as a place for the holiday. a place crowded with

all the aristocracy, but also with young people, with people working on the beach, looking to the sea, people drinking wine. how much did the water level rise? it depends on the part of baiae, but normally between four and six metres. wow. that's why you can see underwater not only the floors but also the walls. there are no other sites in the world with this concentration of mosaics from the roman times, underwater. the roman partygoers were drawn to the city's hot springs, but it was the same underground volcanic activity which eventually sank the city's ground level, leaving its ruins underwater. even today, the roman architecture remains under threat from volcanic activity, but being underwater brings other challenges to the artefacts too. especially places that are not

protected by layers of sand. if they are on the seabed, open, not covered by the sand, they are attacked by marine organisms. and we call it bio—erosion. for example, this is the reason why some statues that are recovered from the sea are completely destroyed, or partially destroyed by the bio—erosion. i was invited to join the team testing new technologies to help better monitor the erosion, but also help the public engage with the site in new ways. so which technologies are you testing this week? this week we are testing underwater drones, underwater wireless sensors which gather data on the conservation status of this site, and also images that we can transmit in real—time from the underwater environment.

so finally, it was time for me to go down and see it for myself. under the water, a whole world opens up. the sculptures here are replicas. the real ones are safe aboveground in the nearby archaeological museum. but the other artefacts, from the walls to the mosaics, are original. it's extraordinary to see it all in person, and to learn how these innovations could dramatically improve the way the site is preserved by archaeologists and experienced by travellers. using a new way of communicating underwater information and pictures about any problems in the site, like erosion or even looting, can be communicated much more quickly. and the 3d imagery gives tourists a whole new way to experience the site, letting them imagine what it would have actually looked like.

we have developed a way to represent how this underwater cultural heritage site was in the past, using virtual reality, so you can actually have an experience without visiting the site, and you can also chat in a whatsapp—like manner with the rest of the divers and your loved ones on the other side of the planet and exchange images, or exchange your feelings, even when you are diving. we are supporting the archaeologists and they will be able to find more, faster, and at the same time i think they will be safer in the way they actually excavate the site, and hopefully also common people will be able to enjoy, through, you know, the 3d reconstruction, what the archaeologists excavate for us. this is going to change, actually, whatever we are able to do in terms of exploring and

understanding this environment. amanda there in the sunken city of baiae. now, there aren't many warmer places at this time of year than the deserts around dubai. that's where some locals, after months of restrictions and weight gain, are taking on the dunes in a bid to shake off what's been a pretty tough year. we have been there to meet some of them. do you know your table number? four — you're this side, thank you very much. i'm juliejohnson, i'm recently new to ultramarathon running. i've been doing desert running for around a year. and i'm here today for the first desert run race of 2020.

my typical race around the uae has usually been in the mountains or on the road, so this is going to be very interesting today, running seven dunes, i believe, so it's going to be a lot of fun. i've been running for seven years now, and the reason i started running is because it's a great way to stay fit. for the first two years, i absolutely hated it. it was hard, it hurt, and it was boring. but it was also rewarding. i started to lose weight and actually began to enjoy it. running on soft sand, though, is a whole different experience. gravity feels stronger, the sand seems to want to drag you down, and you get

tired a lot quicker. 5k here feels more like 10k on tarmac, and once you mix in the heat out here in the desert, it feels pretty brutal. getting there! i've always been a competitive person, but this is something totally new to me. in terms of technique, the trick is to think light and keep moving. slow down and you get weighed down. and that's when it starts to get really hard. i'm about, just touching 3kms, i think it is. 100 metres from 3kms. it's tough, it's getting tougher now, because we're getting into bigger dunes. i haven't been counting! ijust keep thinking, relentless forward motion, just one step after the other.

lockdowns and restrictions have been hard on everybody around the world, but to be out here in the desert, in the early morning, running and doing what i love again, just feels amazing. in a strange way, maybe because we couldn't get out here and do things like this during lockdown, it's made us appreciate what we've got on our doorstep here in dubai more. 50 minutes to do 5k over sand isn't bad. i'm really pleased with that, even if i could cover that distance in half that time on tarmac. for me it was never about winning, i just wanted to get out here, maybe to show that despite covid and the current restrictions, we can still take part in sport and do the things that we love. maybe a little differently, but we can still do them.

it was just a beautiful, beautiful run. seeing so many people out there, you can see that there are many out there for the very first time, to get their first experience in the desert, it really puts a smile on my face. and i'm sure they will be back for more. the hardest part, actually, was the very last dune, it was a real tough one. but it's a great sense of achievement when you get to the top and you run down the other side. the dune runners of dubai there. right, that's it for this week. coming up next time: santa in lockdown, and how he and the rest of lapland are missing all the girls and boys who normally pay a christmas eve visit at this time of year.

until then, if you want to catch up with more of our recent shows, you can find us on the bbc iplayer, and we're on social media as well. we're in all the usual places. for now, from me, rajan datar, and everyone else standing at a safe social distance from me here in windsor, it's goodbye. hello. a soggy sunday stop more rain where that came from as we go through the week ahead. there will be drier and brighter moments at times. further spells of rain

brought in by areas of low pressure. this is sending these weather fronts across us this is sending these weather fronts across us with rain. when that place there will be showers to come and some of them will be heavy through the night and into tomorrow. this evening persistent rain but clearer way north and east. there will be clear spells. showers will move then. all the while milder air is pushing on across the uk. temperatures in scotland will push up temperatures in scotland will push upafew temperatures in scotland will push up a few degrees. all parts will get off toa up a few degrees. all parts will get off to a mild start in the morning. there will be sunny spells with showers, heavy impossibly thundery. some spots in the east may have a couple of showers and heavy downpours with the rest of the day dry. another windy day, windy and the northern isles. gas around 60 miles an hour. 0n the coast around

40, 50 miles miles an hour. 0n the coast around 40,50 miles an hourat miles an hour. 0n the coast around 40,50 miles an hour at times. it is a mild start to the week, quite windy and there will be heavy showers. into the evening, still showers. into the evening, still showers to come. by tuesday, there will tend to be the showers around and more in the way of some sunny spells to come. the isobars are opening up so it will not be quite as windy. still the chance of catching a heavy downpour. perhaps not everyone well by the time we get to tuesday. a few heavy showers in the south and west. there may be a longer spell of rain in the south—east of england. there will be sunny spells around. tuesday is not looking quite as windy. temperatures come down a couple of degrees but it is still mild with temperatures above average for the time of year. 0vernight and into wednesday, a stronger area of low pressure in the

west, turning windy at times. more wet weather to come. showers on thursday before another spell of milder, wetter weather on friday.

this is bbc news with the latest headlines... another deadline extended. brexit talks will now continue as both sides agree to carry on after being unable to come to an agreement. i'm afraid we're still very far apart on some key things but where there's life, there is hope. we're going to keep talking to see what we can do. the uk certainly won't be walking away from the talks. i think people will expect us to go the extra mile. we have accordingly mandated our negotiators to continue the talks and to see whether an agreement can be reached even at this later stage. following the decision to continue the talks,