hampden park. we've had two results in the premier league so far, leicester have moved up to second in the table, after a 2—0 win at tottenham. jamie vardy scored a first—half penalty and then forced an own goal. elsewhere, brighton against sheffield united was 1—1. the 67th bbc sports personality of the year show will take public vote will decide which of the six nominees takes the main prize. welcome to the studio here in sa lfo rd. welcome to the studio here in salford. behind me is the famous trophy, but for obvious reasons, this is a very different sports personality of the year than normal. usually there would be a huge arena with thousands of people watching, but tonight there will be just a small audience of winners and contenders. there are six contenders, as you say, for the main award. in alphabetical order, they

are cricketer, formula i driver, lewis hamilton, ronnie o'sullivan and other awards too including a special award for marcus rashford to recognise his campaign against child food poverty. it all gets under way at eight o'clock and it is live on bbc one. much more about tonight's award on their bbc website. that's sulphur didn't know. that's it from us sulphur didn't know. that's it from us tonight. we'll be back at ten o'clock tonight. and now the news where you are. goodbye. hello there. today it's been another day of sunshine and showers. the showers have been pretty widespread. you can see the speckled shower clouds here on the satellite picture, butjust to our west, we've got a rather bigger area of cloud. this is the next area of low pressure that is going to be bringing some fairly strong winds

and cloud and rain as well. overnight tonight, showers for northern ireland and scotland. it will turn quite blustery here for a time. the winds pick up later in the night further south as cloud and rain spreads in. the rain associated with increasingly mild air, so by the end of the night, plymouth is seeing a temperature of about 11 degrees celsius, and nine in cardiff. tomorrow, rain to start the day for england and wales. the rain pushes eastwards with time. could bring some low surface water flooding, eventually turning a bit brighter later on. showers could merge together to give some lengthy outbreaks of rain further north and particularly in western scotland. very mild day for parts of england and wales, temperatures reaching as high as 15 celsius towards london and south east england, but turning colder across the north. now, on bbc news... the ancient city of baiae was the las vegas of the roman empire. over centuries, it slowly disappeared beneath the sea — in italy's sunken sea.

the roman settlement of baiae was the las vegas of the roman empire — a place where the rich and powerful came to relax, party and carry out illicit affairs. lured by baiae‘s volcanic hot springs, the romans built opulent villas and baths here on the gulf of naples. today, it is still famed for its precious marbles, mosaics and sculptures. ancient authors wrote a lot about baiae and described baiae as a little rome, as a place for the holiday, grounded with the aristocracy and also with the young people, with people working on the beach, looking on the sea, people drinking wine. a fun atmosphere, sounds like a party town. exactly. but over several centuries, the city

slowly sunk beneath the sea. this is more dangerous than there. i wish you told me that when we were over there. why did you tell me that when we're here? the underwater site is a treasure trove of mosaics and marbles dating back 2,000 years. but today, they are at risk. now, a team of archaeologists and engineers are developing some surprising new technologies to protect the underwater site forfuture generations. we know baiae as the underwater city. baiae is not an underwater city, it is kilometres of the ancient

waterfront that are now underwater because of a sudden change of sea level. you can see underwater, the remains of the villas and also the remains of marble streets, shops. is there anything else like that in the world? i do not think that you can find other underwater archaeological sites in the world like baiae. baiae on the gulf of naples is one of the most extraordinary ancient sites in italy. the romans came here for the same reasons we do — the sparkling mediterranean, the balmy weather, the lush vegetation. they were also drawn to the areas thermal springs, the result of the volcanic activity beneath their feet. as the roman republic lapsed into empire, baiae‘s reputation only grew. in ad 39, caligula built a bridge

made up of merchant ships linked together and then covered with earth from baiae to nearby pozzuoli, three miles long and rode over it in a chariot. and in ad 59, nero had his mother murdered in her villa here. the later emperor hadrian would have a more peaceful end to his life, dying of natural causes in his baiae palace in ad 138. university of naples archaelogist michele stefanie showed me around. baiae was a luxury resort with incredible architectures connected with the most eminent men of the imperial times. the ancient authors wrote a lot about baiae, and they described baiae as a little rome, as a place for the holiday, a place crowded with all the aristocracy,

but also young people, people working on the beach and looking to the sea, people drinking wine. a fun atmosphere, it sounds like a party town. exactly. men like seneca decided to have his villa not in baiae but on a hill in that direction. just to stay a little bit isolated. it was too loud for him. too crazy for seneca. exactly. and when did this whole area disappear? we know that after this, this part of the territory of the region was abandoned. how much did the water level rise? it depends on the part of baiae, but normally between four and six metres. wow. that's significant. yes, it's a very big change. that is 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. so, you can dive under water and read the mystery about 5 or 6 centuries long. tell me what happened. how did it get submerged? the history of the change of the sea level in this territory is connected with the volcanic activity. most of us have heard of mount vesuvius, but it turns out there is another volcanic zone near naples. this area is more dangerous than... i wish you told me that when we were over there. why are you telling me that now that we're here? this area is still active. it is also why baiae is now underwater. the movement of magma underground actually sank the ancient city's ground level.

campi flegrei is one of the 20 known super volcanoes on the planet. capable of erupting with the volume thousands of times stronger than an average volcano. vincenzo tells me that if it were to blow at maximum capacity today, it would make the ad79 eruption of mount vesuvius that destroyed pompeii look like a puppy sneeze.

carmine minopoli is a researcher at the national institute of geophysics and volcanology. he walked me through how the monitoring system works, but before he did, we spoke in one of the stranger places i've

ever done an interview — inside a building that had been abandoned because of the heat and gases caused by the volcanic vents beneath it.

all of that volcanic activity remains a risk today. but it is also what put baiae under water 1,500 years ago. the water has helped preserve the artefacts, but it can also damage them. barbara, director of the unit of underwater archaeology at italy's high institute for conservation and restoration, has been working at baiae since 1993. so 1,500 years these artefacts have been underwater. what does the sea water do to artefacts over such a long period of time? archaeological remains well protected under the water, thanks to the sea. but if they are on the sea bed, open, so not covered by the sand, they are attacked by marine organisms. we call bio erosion.

there are sponges and bacteria, also bivalve animals, organisms, so there is a big variety of bio eroders. some statues that are recovered from the sea are completely destroyed or partially destroyed, or sometimes we have found that the neck or the head, the hand is lost. and all the portion of the statues that are covered by sand are in good condition. concerning the mosaics, for example, we can see some small holes that don't look so dangerous for the artefacts, but if we analyse with a microscope these holes, we will see that inside the stone, the hole is not small but is big, large.

and the monitoring of the site is the solution of this. at the archaeological museum of campi flegrei, one piece of artwork after another shows the damage animals can do. while it is common to see ancient roman statues missing arms or heads, the items in this collection are different. a veiled woman has been covered with what almost look like pock marks. a base with a dedication to emperor hadrian loses all shape at the top, like a half—melted candle. this 7a cm statue of zeus on his throne, dating to the first century bc, is covered with what looks like white scrawlings, the remnants of marine and crustaceans. but these organisms were not his only challenge. the zeus was likely stolen

from the sea by looters. he wound up in the collection of the] paul getty museum in los angeles, acquired by a curator later indicted for conspiracy to traffic in illegal antiquities. he was returned to the campi flegrei museum in 2018. the other sculptures in the museum are now safe from marine organisms. but the artefacts that remain below the sea, including the precious floors that make up the largest collection of underwater roman mosaics in the world, remain at risk. finally it was time for me to go down and see it for myself. i was invited to join the team testing new technologies to help better monitor the erosion, but also to help the public engage with the site in new ways. chiara petrioli is professor of computer science at the university of rome.

and the interdisciplinary project site coordinator. she is behind one of the more ambitious aspects of this — its underwater wireless sensor networks. so, what are the technologies you are testing here this week? this week, we are testing underwater drones supporting archaeologists in discovering the site. we are testing underwater wireless sensor networks that allow real—time data on the conservation status of the site. the water quality, the co2 because here we have very active volcanic activity and it's important to know what's happening there. and also images that we can transmit in real time compressed through algorithms from the underwater environment. these innovations represent a major change from how things were done in the past. they mean that information

and pictures about any problems in the site, like erosion or even looting, can be communicated much more quickly. not only can underwater archaeologists communicate while they are diving, but we can get data in real time about the site, even when archaeologists are not there. so, we have also developed a system for divers. on the other hand, we are able to localise where the damage is, and we have developed a way to represent how these underwater sites were in the past using virtual reality so you can actually have an enhanced experience visiting the site. and you can also chat in a whatsapp like matter with the rest of the divers and loved ones on the other side of the planet and exchange images or exchange your feelings even when you are diving.

the way this is being done is through an underwater internet. that's more difficult than it sounds. wi—fi, for example, does not travel far underwater. instead, petrioli's team came up with the idea of using acoustics, inspired by marine mammals. so, you have to use a completely different way of communicating for very short range, a few metres, which is short range in this environment, you can use wireless optical. but mostly you have to use the way of communicating of marine mammals, so you need to use acoustic communication. and this is challenging because the sea parameters may change. the temperature and salinity change. and this affects the way communication works. and it's also a ship passing by, like, we had right now or a water motorbike. this affects the ability to communicate. even the wind rising so that changes

the communication and then we're no longer able to communicate. so, it's very complex, but we came up with an idea. let's have mesh networks, like multi—networks, and let's use artificial intelligence techniques to keep changing, the product we use some of the route the information flow has to go through, the parameters of our communication system. and we came up with some novel fundamental understanding and it works. what was not possible before is now possible in terms of performance, transmitting even more information like images, in terms of real ability of communicating. and this is a gorgeous application in underwater archaeology and this is going to change actually whatever we are able to do in terms of exploring and understanding these environments across the blue economy.

under the water, a whole world opens up. the sculptures here are replicas. the real ones are safe above ground in nearby archaeological museum. but the other artefacts, from the walls to mosaics, are original. as we swam, statues began to appear out of the water. this was the nymphaean of emperor claudius, a place where the first century ruler would have strolled and admired his sculptures. i pressed a button on my tablet and held it up. a 3d version of how the nymphaean would've looked appeared on screen. this is one of the other main goals — to help divers understand and appreciate the ruins they are looking at. but the best was yet to come. my dive guide stopped on the sea floor and started

to push the sand around. with each sweep of his hand, more of the mosaic revealed itself until we were hovering over on intricate pattern of circles and hexagons. this was once the floor of a room just off the atrium of a magnificent villa dating to the second century. there is nothing quite like seeing ancient ruins like this. for one thing, there's the eerie silence of being underwater, hearing only your own breathing. for another, there is the intimacy. forget the crowds at sites like the colosseum. down here, where only scuba divers can go, you can experience this ancient landscape almost alone. and knowing that it's being protected for future generations could not be a better feeling.

the team installed the monitoring system at baiae permanently in summer 2020. the project is also being unrolled elsewhere, including at an ancient underwater site in puglia. it's a privilege 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.

hello, there. it's been another day of sunshine and showers, some of those downpours pretty intense. this weather watcher picture shows a looming thundercloud over the skies of hanley in stoke—on—trent. here, on the underside of the cloud. always a tell—tale sign of a hefty downpour imminently arriving. now, to the south—west of the uk, we've got our next area of cloud that's waiting in the wings. another area of low pressure that will be bringing rain our way. now, for this evening and overnight, there will be showers for northern ireland and scotland. the winds staying pretty gusty, here. the winds will strengthen later

in the night as our next area of low pressure spreads cloud and rain in across wales, the midlands, east anglia and southern england. it will turn increasingly mild through the night across the south west. temperatures about 11 by the end of the night in plymouth, and nine in cardiff. here is that area of low pressure, then. it is going to be a wet start to the new working week on monday. with that rain, we've also got south—westerly winds. the air coming from a long way south—west, bringing very mild conditions across parts of england — and parts of wales, too. it might be mild but it's also going to be pretty wet. with that rain slowly pushing eastwards, brighter skies gradually arriving from the west later in the day. we'll also see some rain at times moving into scotland. now, england and wales mild, temperatures reaching a high of 15 celsius towards london, but it's actually going to be a slightly colder day for the far north of england, for northern ireland and for scotland. temperatures around 6—7 degrees through the afternoon. now, tuesday and wednesday sees the next area of low pressure slide across particularly england and wales, bringing rain. this is the last low pressure before christmas. now, for tuesday, the rain is going to be mostly focused

to the south of wales, southern areas of england, turning heavier in the south—west. sunshine for many, but there will be some showers across northern areas of scotland. it's not out of the question that we could see a little bit of wintriness over the higher ground, the mild air still hanging on across the far south. rain more extensive on wednesday. probably quite murky for a time over the hills, with hill fog patches — wales, midlands, northern england, too. sunshine for scotland and northern ireland, but we'll probably see some snow showers pushing in to northern areas of scotland as we go through wednesday, particularly over the higher ground. that colder air is going to be pushing southwards. through christmas eve and christmas day, we'll see some pretty widespread frost. a lot of dry weather with sunshine, but there will be some showers working down the north sea coast. that's your weather.

after this is bbc news. the headlines at six: millions of people in england and wales are told to stay at home on the first day of tough, new coronavirus restrictions, as action is taken on a new variant of the virus. 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. 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 republic of ireland is to restrict air and sea travel with britain from midnight — and the netherlands, italy and belgium and germany ban flights between the uk, as concern gi’ows over the new coronavirus variant.