to the british mandate times in the early 20th century. and there is a special affection for the bagpipes with their scottish heritage. caught out there. now it is time for a look at the latest weather forecast and that comes from matt taylor. like yesterday, it is another day of sunshine and showers, some of those that heavy and thundery, but in scotland, them a bit heavier than yesterday, but in other parts who may stay dry. the strongest of the wins will touch 40 or 50 mph. temperatures down on yesterday afternoon. as we go into this evening and overnight, showers fade, but turning milderfrom this evening and overnight, showers fade, but turning milder from the south later is more clout, persistent rain pushes in an already saturated ground and here temperatures will start to rise into

the morning. these are the lows for a while but by morning we could see temperatures around 9 degrees. a wet start for england and wales in particular, we saw plenty of cloud and rain and drizzle, brightening up toward scotland and northern ireland during the afternoon but colder here at six or 7 degrees. a mild 13—15 in the south—east. hello, this is bbc news.

the headlines... millions in england and wales are told to stay at home, as tough new coronavirus restrictions come into force. last night's tier 4 announcement prompted a rush to london's stations — footage on social media shows large crowds trying to board trains — the transport secretary says extra police officers will be deployed to enforce the rules. similar restrictions will follow in scotland — swathes of the country will be placed under the toughest restrictions from boxing day. netherlands, italy and belgium have banned flights to and from the uk due to the new coronavirus variant. a uk government source says there will be no post—brexit trade deal between the uk and eu unless there is a "substantial shift" from brussels in the coming days. now on bbc news, the travel show. this week on the show: santa locked down in lapland.

we try to offer all the visitors that christmas spirit and joy, despite of the challenging times. fixing the world's longest wall with the help of technology. is it true that 30% of the original wall has vanished? i think so, yeah. and a little warm holiday glow as months of enforced separation comes to an end for one couple.

hello and welcome to the programme, coming to you this week from a rather rainy norfolk in the east of england. well, christmas is most definitely on its way, and so many of us love to travel during december — but unfortunately this year isn't quite the same. still, sit tight, stay patient and let us bring the world to you. first up, traditionally, many of us love to travel around this time of year, but with so many restrictions currently, what's happening in those places where christmas is a year—round obsession? well, it feels like a long time ago now, but around this time last year i was in the village of thursford for the uk's biggest annual christmas show. for over 40 years, people have been flocking here to see a traditional all—singing, all—dancing seasonal spectacular that's broken records and become a regular fixture in the christmas calendar of many people here in the uk.

150 artists take part each year, and last year, for one night only, i was lucky enough to be one of them. of course this year, things will be different. but christmas is far from cancelled. sadly there is no show — instead the vast performance spaces and grounds have been transformed into a huge, dazzling light trail for people to explore. since first opening back in 1977, the cushing family have run the site and put on the annual christmas extravaganza. this is your baby, you've built this up from nothing, this business. yes. how hard was it personally for you to take the decision not to have the performers here? well, it was rather like a bereavement to stop it, so yes you're right, i have worked on christmas here for over 40 years.

it starts almost as soon as one show is finished, and to produce it, write it, and direct it has been a major part of my life. so it is notjust me, it's the team i had around me, which have all, a lot of them have been living in the area for 20 years or more, the production team. so that emotional loss was difficult to cope with. in theory you could have shut down entirely, kept hold of those pennies and waited until 2021, but you didn't, looking around you really took steps to do something different. really a new business. i was confident that it would work, and confident it'd be a success because of the loyalty we have had from so many people, i have had literally hundreds of letters to say "we are coming to yourjourney of light because we have been coming to thursford for years," and i think that when they get here they won't be disappointed, because we have been working on this since july.

but of course, it's notjust thursford that's had to adapt this christmas. even for santa claus himself and his helpers up in santa's village in finnish lapland, things are a little different this year. i am antti nikander, the busy elf. my position is head of development in this village. santa claus village is an international tourism centre in the middle of the official hometown of santa claus, rovaniemi. we have normally more than 500,000 visitors in a year, they are coming from more than 100 countries. christmastime is the busiest time in our village, and we will receive during the busiest days, more than 5,000 people, and now we will receive maximum one third of that amount. 2,260 kilometres

from here is london! finland has imposed strict measures on incoming visitors, effectively closing the borders to international tourists, which means that almost all of the visitors this year are from finland. we try to offer all the visitors that christmas spirit and joy, despite of these challenging times. the most valuable christmas present is that vaccination. after that, we are able to focus and plan for the future. santa receives around half a million letters each year from children around the world. the elves sort them for santa in the post room and this year they have been as inundated as ever. i am riitta, riitta the elf, and i am working here in santa claus‘s main post office at the arctic circle. this is a real post office, but also i am helping

santa claus with his letters. so children write to santa claus, they make wish lists, also they tell about their families. and the letters, they are a little bit different when they come from western countries, then they have a little story about themselves, about the children's life and hobbies, but they have bigger lists. because of coronavirus, the post office was forced to close this year for seven months, for the first time in its history. people, they cannot receive now, theirfamilies, but they can send a parcel. it is like santa claus sends those, although it is them. but of course the real magic happens in santa's office. in grottos around the world, children traditionally meet santa and reel off their wish lists for presents. but this year, social distancing means that santa has to do most of this virtually.

although on the plus side, this does mean that a chat with santa is now open to anyone, like me earlier on today. 0h hello christa! hello santa. how are you today? very well on this dark morning in london. christa, what do you think — are you on the nice the naughty list? you know what, i think given this year i have been stuck at home, i haven't had many opportunities to be naughty, santa, so i would like to think i am always on the nice list, but i think especially in 2020 i am on the nice list. so santa, tell me a bit about your year this year. of course it is difficult because we are doing it like this, people aren't so close, but this is the new way to do things and everybody should think about this way to do things, because you have to be close with people, and at the moment it's not possible in the normal way, so it is a very

good way to do it. so i like it actually. and have you noticed any difference in the kinds of gifts that kids are wanting from santa this year? small changes — of course, the toys and those things, but quite many children want to have time with their parents, and that is quite heart—warming, i think, and this is the christmas to do that. and so this year, i imagine you have lots of questions about what your activities are going to be on christmas eve — it is your big night of the year, how is covid going to affect you this year, santa? not too much, because that is the magic of christmas. yes. i'm going to deliver all of those presents normally, don't worry, they are going to come there, but for social distancing, please stay in bed and sleep.

back here in thursford, christmas celebrations are already in full swing. i guess it can't match the energy of the big show we saw last year but there is plenty of noise and the set is spectacular and the people here seem to be really enjoying themselves. and there are people, on a rainy night in the middle of a pandemic, which is in itself quite incredible. still to come on the travel show: we are in china, watching the cutting edge science being used to restore parts of the great wall. and the couples forced apart by border closures getting back together for christmas. up next, the latest in our series about the brand—new tech being used to restore and protect our most ancient

treasures. the question is this week, how do you protect a monument that is 20,000 kilometres long? amanda headed to china to find out. this part of the great wall of china, located a two—hour drive from beijing, is not where tourists normally go. thejiankou section is perched on a mountain ridge at 1200 metres above sea level. you have to hike up a mountain to get here. this didn'tjust make it less accessible to tourists, it also made it very difficult to repair. so give me a sense — what kind of shape was this section in before the repairs started, because we are sitting on a part that has been repaired. yeah. what did it look like before? how bad was it?

was it dangerous before? yeah. every year, maybe one or two people are dead on this period of the wall. hiking? hiking, yeah. some — some hiking and fallen — falling down. for years, thejiankou section of the wall was considered so dilapidated, it's even been given a special name, part of the wild wall. so 25 years ago, i came up with this term wild wall to differentiate it from the tourist wall. the tourist wall are the places where the wall is being rebuilt, you buy a ticket, there's often a cable car.

but the wilderness wall, which is, you know, there are thousands of kilometres of it, actually constitutes the world's greatest open air museum. william lindsay is a historian who fell so in love with thejiankou section of the wall, he moved here in the 1990s. is it true that 30% of the original wall — or walls, i should say — has vanished? i think so, yeah.

but repairing a section of the wall like this is not easy. you cannotjust drive up here, so getting machinery to the wall is almost impossible too. that means this repair project has had to incorporate both cutting—edge technology and tradition. you can see the mountains here. the machines can't come here. we have to use people. but we should use technologies to help these people to do this work better. you have seen that even in nowadays, people rebuild the walls using ancient ways — they use animals to carry the bricks and they use people

to carry all the bricks. other bricks! yeah, all the bricks on the wall! we can't use any machines or mechanic ways to rebuild the wall. we use people to do this. people whose work is now being helped by cutting—edge technology. so can you take me through, step by step, how this process actually worked? 800 photos? and how long does it take? and if you did not have drone own footage and people had to go up and do all of this just themselves —

so looking at things, taking photos themselves, measuring — how does that compare to this process? that drone footage was used with an algorithm to create a 3d model of the wall. it meant that every stage could be closely monitored. if, for example, 100 stones were taken off part of the wall and then had to be replaced, the engineers could refer to the 3d model of the original wall to know exactly how they needed to be put back. the project has been so successful, they are now repairing a different part of the wall at xifengkou, 300 kilometres, or 185 miles, from beijing, using the same software and the same principles.

this is the second project of the rebuilding ofjiankou great wall. the third one will it start maybe next year. ooh! yeah. that's exciting! yeah. drones? hmm, of course! laughs. yeah, of course! amanda reporting there from the great wall of china. and there will be more from our future of the past series next year. this christmas, many of us will be spending less time with our loved ones than we would like and there are some couples who have been separated because of border closures and travel bans who are desperate to see their partners. well, tens of thousands of people in this situation have rallied together to share tips and advice, as well as their own sweet successes, and we have met one of them. ryan ejezie ended up making the longest layover of his life when he was desperate to see his partner elena in america.

and the only way he could get there was to fly to croatia and spend two weeks in quarantine before heading first to istanbul, and then finally onto the us. all i was seeing, all year, was just news. you'rejust bombarded with covid news. it's just like this travel is not happening. lockdown is getting worse. cases are rising. so when i started to see other people, real human beings, in the same situation, tackling the same challenges and being able to ask them just straight up on facebook and get a response, i — then that planted the seed and then, i could think "yes, this is possible". love is not tourism is a grassroots global movement dedicated to reuniting binational couples and families who have been separated by travel bans and border closures, shutting down of the visa processes due

to the pandemic it was very meaningful to meet people, even just online, and to hear their stories. also to hear our successes and to collaborate. i wake up in the morning and then i'm like "let's do it! let's just commit! let's just go for it!" so friday morning, book a flight to croatia, booked two weeks airbnb. saturday, i'm in croatia. stewardess over pa: on behalf of the captain and the entire crew, i'd like to welcome you here to zagreb. i'm too deep! i'm too — too committed to this! i'm either going to go all the way and get there or it's not going to work. phew! i was worried! for sure, i was worried. i think when i initially booked everything, i got a huge rush. i'm excited, i'm like "well, i've booked this, i'm flying tomorrow, there's not even time.

let me pack everything, let me get to heathrow, let me get to croatia". really empowered, i'm taking control of everything. i have not even told work that i'm going to be working in another country, haven't told work i'm going to be in america, working in another completely different time zone. we are more than willing to quarantine before, after — that is not an issue for any of us, and it never has been. we have always advocated for safe protocols where we prove that we have a real relationship and that we abide by any rules that are in the country and we will go actually above and beyond those rules if need be, because we want people to know that we want you to be safe but at the same time, we understand that love is essential and our relationships are absolutely vital right now. only the night before i actually flew to turkey did i then check on the website just one last time. i did not get much sleep that night because i'm like everything is running through my head of everything that could go wrong but when the actual date came,

it was just like a regular travel day. once i finally got in, it was just like finally! finally! it's all come! i have completed it! and it felt like a good accomplishment. a lot of stress was relieved from my shoulders. just for the whole notion of the whole idea of doing a two—week quarantine, or the longest layover i will ever do in my life, that was filled with a lot of sense of empowerment, of taking control of myself and taking control of my life. but when i got to america, it was just relief! it was just relief that it was done. i think as a community, we give each other hope every time that we successfully reunite, one partner at a time, one family at a time. that gives us hope. there is light at the end of the tunnel.

i think many of us have seen the successes in various countries, and that has motivated us to ask for the same kinds of protocols and exemptions in our own countries. she's coming here tomorrow for a month, which is amazing. and can't wait! can't wait! she just has to do a quarantine in england, as is the current rules, which is a bit nicer for her — no loneliness in croatia for her. but, yeah, i'm excited. it should be a fun christmas because of it, so... hey, travel show. we are currently at home quarantining and getting ready for christmas. it's been a crazy year but we managed to make it work. we are getting engaged and now spending christmas and new year's together, so from the both of us, merry christmas. well, that's all we have time for on this week's programme butjoin us next time,

when ade‘s taking a look back at the year that was 2020. a disastrous year for anyone who loves to travel. but among all the gloom, some moments of inspiration that give us hope for the months to come. groans. laughs. i can't do it! until then, you can find all of our recent adventures on the bbc iplayer. we are on social media, too, in all the usual places. but for now, from me christa larwood and the rest of the travel show team, take care and we'll see you in 2021.

the afternoon is characterised by sunshine and showers but the showers are widespread in many of us will see them. showers for the most part lasting around ten or 15 minutes and then sunshine come back. sunlight shows a rash of showers across the uk. they are pretty widespread for most of us today. slip slightly thicker cloud arriving into cornwall and that is the first signs of the next weather system in the way. some areas dodge the downpours, london does not look too bad and the moray firth will stay dry, northern ireland is dry but showers this evening with strengthening winds, quite windy and west of scotland. later tonight, the next area of low pressure m oves later tonight, the next area of low pressure moves in, bringing strengthening winds, cloud and rain back into the south west but it will turn increasingly and by the end of the night temperature is about 11 in plymouth and nine in cardiff. here is that low pressure for monday, it will be pushing east bringing wet

weather and also, with south—westerly winds dredging up some mild air, we will see those temperatures rising significantly across temperatures rising significantly a cross m ost temperatures rising significantly across most of england and wales, but it will be pretty wet. there is also simmering further north pushing into the west of scotland, particularly through the strengthening winds here. slowly brightening up for wales and the west of england, but look at the temperatures, through the afternoon reaching heights of up to 15 degrees towards london and south—east england, but with scotland and northern ireland in the far north of england it is turning colder, temperatures closer to six or seven. through tuesday and wednesday, the areas of low pressure is the last one that we have to get rid of before we head into the christmas break. the weather eventually turning colder across northern areas. tuesday, a lot of cloud around for the south of wales, damp weather with rain to come, turning heavier through the afternoon across the south west. northern ireland, scotla nd the south west. northern ireland, scotland and the north of england brighter with sunshine but quite cold, temperature six or seven, showers in the north of scotland and

further showers for scotland on wednesday but they will turn to snow on wednesday. across a swathe of the north of england, wales and the midlands, a bit of low cloud, mist and fog patches of the high ground, further south across much of wales, the south midlands and england it is cloudy and wet. that is the last of the ring that we have to come through on wednesday, heading into thursday and friday, for most of the country are looking a cold and frosty conditions to start, sunshine for most of us through the afternoon, but there will be showers running down affecting some of the north sea coast and northern scotla nd north sea coast and northern scotland at times as well. that is your weather for now.

this is bbc news with the latest headlines... 18 million people in england are told to stay at home on the first day of new tier 4 coronavirus restrictions. the new variant is out of control and we need to bring it under control, and this news about the new variant has been an incredibly difficult end to, frankly, an awful year. similar restrictions are introduced across the whole of wales and a three—week lockdown will be imposed in mainland scotland from boxing day. the health secretary labels crowded scenes at london stations last night as "irresponsible" — the transport secretary says extra police officers will be deployed to enforce the rules. the netherlands, italy and belgium ban flights to and from the uk