the headlines at 9. a wave of strikes ahead of christmas — around 3,000 staff at crown post offices walk out for three days overjob security and pension changes. southern rail workers also begin two days of industrial action in the row over the role of conductors. the evacuation of aleppo resumes — dozens of buses carrying hundreds of people left the city overnight for rebel—held territory. among them is seven—year—old bana alabed, who had tweeted about conditions in the besieged city. the number of people taking their own lives in england is unacceptably high, says a report by a group of mps. also in the next hour, tributes to a hollywood icon. actress and socialite zsa zsa gabor dies after suffering a heart attack, aged 99. and andy murray is crowned the bbc‘s sports personality of the year — for the record third time.

good morning and welcome to bbc news. thousands of post office workers are beginning strike action today. the walk—out by the communication workers union is the latest move in a dispute over pension changes, job security and closures. 3,000 staff at hundreds of crown post offices are expected to walk out today, tuesday and saturday. but the post office says fewer than 300 branches across the uk will be affected. southern rail passengers are also due to face more misery as conductors begin a further two days of strike action. their dispute is over who should close the doors on trains. and there's a cloud hanging over british airways as up to 7% of it's cabin crew are due to strike on christmas day and boxing day over pay and conditions. —— its cabin crew.

representatives from the unite union and the airline are due to meet at the conciliation service acas later today. there's also ongoing disputes with swissport baggage handlers, london underground workers and virgin atlantic pilots. 0ur correspondent keith doyle reports. this last week before christmas is already busy and stressful. but strikes and industrial action could make it a christmas of discontent for many. 0n the trains, southern rail passengers face more disruption as more than 400 conductors strike today and tomorrow. it's not expected to cause the same level of disruption as last week's strikes by drivers, however many routes and services will be affected. 3,500 workers at crown post offices are starting a five—day strike today in a dispute overjobs and pensions that may see the closure of larger high street branches, although the post office says disruption to the public should be minimal. airline travellers face double trouble this week as baggage handlers working for

swissport are set to strike on friday and saturday. this will mainly affect regional airports. but a strike by 4,500 british airways cabin crew over pay could also see flights disrupted on christmas day and boxing day. there are efforts being made to resolve these disputes. ba management and the union unite will meet today and a meeting tomorrow to resolve the baggage handlers‘ dispute is due to be held but the post office strike is on and there seems little prospect of an early end to the long—running dispute between the rmt union and southern rail, meaning 300,000 commuters face even more disruption. mark davies is from the post office and he's in our central london studio. thank you forjoining us. a busy and important time of the year. what impact of the strokes going to have? as you said in your report, the

strikes in post offices will potentially impact on the 300 branches we directly owned and managed as a business. there are still 11,300 branches across the uk which will not be affected by the strike action and it will be business as usual for customers using those branches. i can update you that of the 300 branches that potentially could be affected by the strike action, the latest figures i've just strike action, the latest figures i'vejust had in is that 190 of those are open for business today. that is a moving picture. we will update you throughout the day. and we will update customers. it looks as if the impact in those 300 branches will be minimal for customers. that's good news for them. we will do everything we can to minimise disruption for customers. this is an important time of year as people are sending their

christmas cards and parcels. are the strikes being coordinated for maximum impact? the union is clearly taking the actions it feels are right to do. our focus taking the actions it feels are right to do. 0urfocus is taking the actions it feels are right to do. our focus is entirely on how we ensure that we minimise disruption for our customers. all of oui’ disruption for our customers. all of our focus is on post office customers today and tomorrow and for the rest of the week as we seek to minimise any disruption which could impact on them potentially. presumably the timing before christmas is not by accident? presumably the timing before christmas is not by accident7m presumably the timing before christmas is not by accident? it is really disappointing the union is taking this action before christmas, absolutely. this is not a great time of year to be taking strike action. millions of customers relied on post office services. it is great, therefore, to say that it looks like many colleagues across the post 0ffice have come to work as normal today. i would like to thank them for showing the commitment they have shown 365 days of the year for their customers across the branches,

particularly at this critical time of the year. the strike action is disappointing. it is clearly disappointing. it is clearly disappointing that we are in a position where we need to reassure customers that it'll be business as usual. but that is the message. for those unsure if their branch will be open, i advise them to check the website, and check twitter. we will make sure that we provide information about the nearest post office to them. but it is a disappointing thing, the strike action taking place at this time of year. particularly as we are keen to talk to the union. we made many offers to do so. but we simply did not hear back from the union in relation to this. thank you. paul nowak is deputy general secretary of the tuc. thank you forjoining us. good morning. one labour mp, meg hillier, chairman of the commons financial

watchdog and public accounts committee, said union leaders are in danger of shooting themselves in the foot with strike action all over the place in the run—up to christmas. that's not the case. these different disputes have different root causes, different problems at the hearts of them. the one thing they have in common is that you had unions and their members trying for months to get management to sit around the table and negotiate. they haven't been able to achieve those fair settlements. i can guarantee you that if you are a post office worker, a work on southern trains, the last thing you want to be doing is taking strike action which impacts on people you serve day in day out. unfortunately the staff feel they have no alternative. this is the only way they can get management to listen to them and ta ke management to listen to them and take their concerns. you say they don't want to be doing this, but they are, and this will impact on peoples lives in very important time of the year. people won't be able to necessarily get the post they were expecting, send the items through

the mail, train issues, plain issues, and it is the run—up to christmas. take the post office dispute as an example. this is not the first time they have taken industrial action. they did earlier this month. consistently for months, possibly longer, the union has been asking post office managers to sit down with them and map out the future. we are talking about the specific timing in the run—up to christmas. i appreciate you are saying these are not disputes which have suddenly started. they have been ongoing. but why have this action in the run—up to christmas when it is a time that is going to upset people out there trying to get things ready for christmas. upset people out there trying to get things ready for christmasli upset people out there trying to get things ready for christmas. i don't think any time is a good time for industrial action to take place. the reality is that workers feel they don't have an alternative. they feel managers are not listening to them. they feel they have to do something for the issues which are important for the issues which are important for them. i message to the post

office would be sit down with them and talk about it. we need to make sure that there is a service there that people can rely on, that people can be proud to work in, for it to bea can be proud to work in, for it to be a successful business moving forward. do you believe strike action in the run—up to christmas will focus the minds of those involved in the strike? you can clearly see that a dispute was planned in one of our course's delivering companies. that was cancelled. that is an issue that the union has been trying to resolve for two years. —— one of argos's delivering companies. the companies and organisations will sit down with their staff, sit down with them, ta ke their staff, sit down with them, take their concerns on board, take them seriously. the way you resolve any dispute is to have a frank discussion. i know that is what

staff at the post office and southern trains would want. thanks very much. 0ur correspondent keith doyle is at victoria station in central london. what is the impact where you are? good morning from victoria station. it's been a busy morning. but not as busy as usual. the board behind me of arrivals and departures has been flashing constantly throughout the morning with delays and cancellations to southern trains. many making their journeys cancellations to southern trains. many making theirjourneys in during the rush hour faced many making theirjourneys in during the rush hourfaced a long and difficult journeys. that the rush hourfaced a long and difficultjourneys. that is likely to be repeated later on this afternoon and this evening. this overtime ban... the overtime kicks in in the afternoon, which is why there seems to be more cancellations and delays in the afternoon. commuters going home this evening will face further delays than those

did this morning. most of southern's services have been cancelled or delayed. that is what is happening at victoria. looking at some of the other disputes committee were talking about the post office dispute, we have been told that 97% of branches will be open today. there is a big rally going onjust down the road from here later on this morning where post office workers will be protesting about those closures. they are also saying that if many union members decide not to close picket lines, that could escalate the problem. british airways are having talks today with unions. tomorrow those baggage handlers will be having talks, as well. we will have to see how things develop and see if that will be resolved by the weekend. for many people, many hundreds of thousands of people, these are services which

are very much front line, which are affecting people, and in christmas week this is not what we want, not delivering any festive cheer at all. thank you. have you been affected by the strike action? if so, how are you dealing with it? you can get in contact with us by texting 61122 or e—mailing us at bbcnewschannel@bbc. co. uk. the evacuation of civilians fleeing the fighting in east aleppo in syria has resumed. dozens of buses containing hundreds of people — who aid workers say are in a terrible condition — were brought out of the city last night on buses, but thousands are still waiting to leave. among those to have left is seven—year—old bana alabed, who had tweeted about conditions in besieged areas of aleppo. her departure was confirmed by the head of the syrian—american medical society aid group. the united nations security council will later today vote on plans to send in un observers to aleppo. greg dawson reports.

not as soon as they'd have liked, not in the circumstances many would have wanted, but at last the buses arrived to take hundreds out of eastern aleppo. these people may now be refugees in their own country, but their relief is obvious. some were met by charity workers in turkey who provided medical care, food, and comfort. many, though, have nowhere else to go, so end up in places like this. this camp is in idlib province. it's crowded, it's muddy, but for now, it's much safer than where they have come from. translation: it's better than it was in aleppo. there's no bombing. we have new friends walking and playing together. there was a food shortage back there but we're eating food here. we hated life but here we're eating biscuits and everything!

although hundreds have escaped eastern aleppo, thousands are still stranded. over the weekend, the evacuations were put on hold, with both sides blaming each other for breaking their word. later the un security council will vote on a deal to allow their workers to monitor the process. in the short term, those who have left aleppo may feel the relief of safety, but there are no guarantees. idlib province, where many are heading, may well be the next battleground in this long conflict. let's get the latest now. 0ur correspondent james longman is in nearby beirut. what are you hearing about how the evacuations are going and what it is like for those getting out, and where they are ending up? since midnight last night there have been something around the region of 3500

people who have managed to be evacuated. that is since midnight last night on 65 buses. they left east aleppo. they are now being looked after in a holding area towards the west of aleppo city. they will make their decision about where they want to go next. at the same time there has been a further evacuation of people in those two government villages, which has been under rebel siege. 500 people have made their way out of there. at the moment, this coordinated evacuation of different parts of syria seems to be back on track. people are getting out of places where they were stuck. where do they go next? most will go to west aleppo, which is still government controlled, and those from east aleppo will make the decision about whether they want to go to western aleppo, which is

government—controlled and largely unscathed by the war. 0r government—controlled and largely unscathed by the war. or they go to idlib, the large rebel stronghold. there are camps there. they know people they can stay with. the conditions there are not amazing if they are going to stay in those tented camps, but nevertheless they are better than what they have been living in so far. we've heard from medical volunteers who are receiving the evacuated from aleppo that a lot of children have been suffering from malnutrition. it has been very cold. it is getting cold as we head into winter. they will be looking to get the medical care and food and all of the medical care and food and all of the supplies they've been lacking over the last few months in that place to the west of aleppo. there isa place to the west of aleppo. there is a long way to go yet. before the evacuations started there was something like 50,000, that was a united nations estimate, in the eastern aleppo area so we will see them continue. there were reports that at checkpoints people are going to these classes and taking off young men whose names are on lists.

are you hearing much about that? well, activists have said for a long time that the one thing that was stopping the evacuations, well, many things stop them, but one of the stopping points was the fact that the government had lists and they we re the government had lists and they were trying to identify sthraidz they wanted to take into custody that the buses were being raided by government troops. we can't verify whether or not these things are indeed happening, what we do know is the government will probably have people that they want to find because there are people inside east aleppo they want to find and locate and put in prison. the united nations will meet to discuss sending in observers who can monitor the evacuation process and so, if that does happen, we are a long way from that happening, but it seems that the united nations security council are on the same page about that. if that happens, the allegations about government troops getting on to buses and the videos of hezbollah

shooting up into the air over civilians as they have left east aleppo, the process of evacuation will hopefully be made a little easier. thank you very much, james. let's now speak to adbul rahman. he's a white helmet volunteer who is currently in turkey. thank you very much forjoining us abdul. tell us what the situation is where you are. thank you. now the situation more than 50 buses took people and they started noon until midnight. civilians in the buses they don't allow them to go out and there is no water and there is no food. after midnight they

brought the buses to the western countryside. then about 5am in syria time, they sent 21 buses and more about one hour, 21 buses arrived to the one side. the situation now, it is about 51 buses arrive from eastern aleppo to the western countryside. how concerned are you? i know you're in turkey and want to get into syria today to help with evacuations. how concerned are you about volunteers working in the rebel—held areas of syria? now our vehicles and ambulances and vehicles they are waiting in the

western countryside. we are waiting for people at the checkpoints and then we have people transferring people from ambulances to our ambulances and we take them to turkey if needed. we help people to reach their homes. that's our work now. thank you very much. the number of lives lost due to suicide in england is unacceptable according to a group of mps. it remains the biggest cause of death in men under 49. in a report, the health select committee says a government prevention strategy for england in 2012 didn't result in any improvements. it's due to be updated early next year. our health editor hugh pym reports. it was 13 years ago. angela and her partner, mark, had two young sons. he had no history of mental illness, but he took his own life.

one minute you're talking to them on the phone and the next minute you never going to speak to them again. i think that the shock of that almost... your head kind of tricks you into thinking this can't be real. she now heads a national charity supporting those affected by suicide. she also presented a bbc documentary encouraging people to talk more about the issue. my work and the work of the trustees and volunteers was to really kind of break that isolation that exists. the report says a government suicide prevention strategy for england in 2012 did not achieve its aims. the report's proposals include: the key message here is that suicide is preventable. and what we heard from one witness very powerfully was that

when she said it wasn't my son that was hard to reach, it was the services that were hard to reach. a department of health spokesperson said every death by suicide was tragic for families and an updated strategy during next year would address many of the issues raised by the committee. angela has welcomed the report. she hopes it will make a difference and will help prevent more of the sort of devastating losses she had to endure. the government says it's carefully considering analysis which suggests british—made cluster bombs may have been used by saudi forces in yemen. the weapon releases multiple smaller bombs over a wide area, and it's illegal to supply them under british law. a government spokesperson said britain had raised the issue with the saudi—led coalition. a special sitting of the stormont assembly will be held today to examine a green energy scheme that's been described as the "biggest financial scandal

ever in northern ireland". stormont‘s first minister arlene foster will face a motion of no confidence during today's proceedings. but she's rejected calls from sinn fein to step aside during an investigation into the project which is thought to have overspent by £400 million. 0ur ireland correspondent chris buckler reports. arlene foster was a popular choice when she was selected to become dup leader and northern ireland's first minister almost exactly a year ago. but she's now under pressure and facing damaging accusations, some of which come from within her own party. mrs foster was enterprise minister when a badly flawed green energy scheme was set up. it's left 2,000 businesses in a position where the more they burn, the more they earn. the renewable heat incentive scheme works like this — for every £1

of you company uses they are paid around £1.60, that was to encourage them to buy environmentally friendly boilers. but because initially there were no caps or limits its projected to have gone £400 million over budget. last week, a dup politician accused officials from within his own party of delaying crucial changes to the scheme despite warnings. the special advisers of the dup interfered in my decision—making. i had this to close to a less lucrative rate. mr bell's claims have been denied by the dup and he has been suspended from the party. but they've stirred up old divisions at stormont with the dup rejecting calls from their partner in government, sinn fein, for arlene foster to step aside during an investigation. the first minister will face a motion of no—confidence today. it's expected to fail but it will be the most heated debates. the hungarian born actress and socialite, zsa zsa gabor, has died. her age was a closely guarded secret, but she was thought to have been 99.

her husband announced her death yesterday evening. she made more than 70 films, but as one of the first socialites, she helped invent a new kind of fame from multiple marriages and conspicuous wealth. by her own reckoning she was only married eight—and—a—half times. she didn't really count a spanish duke, who she left after a few hours. this report from nick higham contains some flashing images. zsa zsa gabor may have been a great beauty, but she was never a great actress. i know everything — i heard the verdict. it's dangerous for you to come here. i must take that risk, and so must you. her screen career was undistinguished, though it did include camp classics like the truly terrible queen of outer space. if you must go, promise me you're going to come back to me. her greatest role was as herself, one of the first professional celebrities, famous for simply being famous. she was rich, she was gorgeous, she was outrageous and she ate men for breakfast. her last marriage, in 1986, was her eighth, or ninth, if you include an illegal ceremony conducted at sea. women don't even get

married any more today. theyjust have love affairs. i was raised in a convent. they said you have to get married, legalised, which was dumb but now ijust leave myself to live in sin, it's wonderful. girls, don't get married. it's insanity. you have to become their servant! you have to look after their house and they cheat on you. who the hell needs that? in 1989, she was brieflyjailed for hitting a hollywood traffic cop twice her size. she was well into her 70s, though during the court case she was accused of doctoring her driving licence to disguise her age. by then, herfilm career had collapsed into self—parody. here she is with frankie howard. every time i see you, i get lumps in my throat. but she never lost a certain innocence, nor her wit. as she once said, "i'm a marvellous housekeeper. "every time i leave a man, i keep his house". now the weather with carol. this

morning we have had quite a foggy start especially across eastern and central parts of the uk. we have got patchy rain coming in across the south east and we have got patchy rain coming in across scotland and northern ireland sinking south. behind that, it will brighten up in western scotland and northern ireland with sunshine. elsewhere, it is going to be fairly cloudy, any sunshine will be limited. through the evening and overnight, our weather front pushes westwards and joins forces with the other one coming south. so we will have a period of heavier rain across western parts of england and wales. under clearer skies in scotland and northern ireland, there will be a touch of frost and possibly freezing fog patches. into tomorrow, we've got quite an active system coming our way. it will introduce some rain and increasingly strengthening winds particularly in the evening. so we start off on a quiet note across

much of england and eastern scotland with some sunshine. a little bit of rain in the west. but heavier rain and stronger winds arrive in the north—west later. this is bbc news withjoanna gosling. thousands of workers are launching a wave of strikes this week hitting postal, rail and air services in the run—up to christmas. the disputes include issues overjobs, pay, pensions and safety involving some of the country's biggest trade unions. the evacuation of thousands of people trapped in eastern aleppo has resumed with around 350 residents moved out on buses last night. a separate evacuation of government—controlled parts of idlib province, besieged by rebels has also begun. a group of mps are asking for more to be done for people who take their

own lives. and the actress and socialite zsa zsa gabor, has died at the age of 99. andy murray has won sports personality for the third time. nick skelton came in third. the bbc sports personality of the year is andy murray. applause elevation which echoed all the way to florida where at his training base andy murray received the famous trophy from lennox lewis. murray received more than twice as many votes as anybody else, although he revealed it was no thanks to his wife. i've got a bit of a bone to pick with my wife because she told me about an hour ago that she voted for nick skelton, so...

not smart from her with christmas coming up. it's been an amazing year for british sport. i'm very proud to be a part of it. so thank you and i hope you all have a great night. applause well, 2016 was certainly an incredible year for british sport. tonight was all about celebrating that success and once again, there were plenty of winners. especially leicester city. the shock premier league champions took the team award while their manager claudio ranieri won coach of the year. there was an emotional reception for michael phelps, the american swimmer collecting a lifetime achievement award but the night belonged to andy murray, britain's history maker has done it again. ingram's bowlers having a tough england's bowlers are not having a good time in chennai.

india are continuing to pile on the runs on day 4 of the final test. karun nair has reached a double century. his maiden in test cricket — easing over the milestone unlike his team mate rahul who was out on 199 yesterday. vijay and ashwin are the only wickets to fall today — lbw to liam dawson. the latest score is india are 616—6 in theirfirst innings 139 behind england. manchester city came from behind to beat arsenal 2—1 at the etihad to move second in the premier league. theo walcott put arsenal into the lead after only five minutes. but a second half equaliser from leroy sane was followed by a raheem sterling winner. it's the second successive game arsenal have led and then lost — and the manager felt the officials were at fault and says the group in charge of referees isn't doing itsjob properly. two offside goals. that is difficult to a cce pt two offside goals. that is difficult to accept in a game like that. i believe a lot is going on at the

moment which is not serious. it is unbelievable. southampton also came from behind to beat south coast neighbours bournemouth 3—1 at the vitality stadium. this was the stunning second goal of the game for man of the match jay rodriguez, helping them up to 7th. and tottenham were also down but went to beat burnley. the final score was 2—1. saracens won a record—equalling 13th consecutive match in europe when. they beat sale in rugby union's champions cup. england's 0wen farrell scored a late try and kicked 14 points in the 26—10 victory. cup holders — saracens are now a long way ahead in their pool after scarlets shocked french giants toulon with an historic win. elsewhere ulster lost to clermont auvergne. that is the sports for now. thousands of workers are expected to strike this week in the run up to christmas. staff at hundreds of crown post offices will start a five day walk out in a dispute overjobs.

southern rail services will be disrupted for 48 hours by members of the rmt union in the row over safety. and the unite union will hold talks with ba today ahead of cabin crew strikes planned on christmas day and boxing day. live to westminster — and our assistant political editor norman smith. there are a lot of strokes. there are a lot of strokes. there have. —— strikes. there has been talk about bringing in legislation to put tighter curbs on strikes. use and ministers are not in the mood to do that now. why? let's be honest, they have a lot on their plate, particularly with brexit. they —— the last thing they need is another dispute. we had a trade union act introduced just the other year. even on that there was enormous controversy about increasing the threshold before union members could come out on strike. ministers actually had to

water down some of those measures. and there is nothing about further tighter curbs in the conservative ma nifesto. tighter curbs in the conservative manifesto. when you put all of that together, my sense is that, even though there was political unhappiness, there isn't really the wa nt unhappiness, there isn't really the want in government to push ahead. however, chris phelps, who is commuters are affected by southern rail, he is pushing for new industrial legislation. —— chris philp. changes need to be proportionate. what is happening on southern, where 300,000 people are unable to get to work, unable to the theirfamilies for the unable to get to work, unable to the their families for the better part ofa their families for the better part of a month, simply over who presses the button to open and close the doors is not reasonable and is not proportionate. chris grayling says he wants to look at possible options

once this dispute is over. the truth is that for ministers the important thing is to try and create an environment where both sides can at least talk. if you go down the route of legislation that can take months and months. it'll be of no use whatsoever in the current climate. it may even make the possibility of getting a deal even harder. i would be cautious about suggestions of new legislation. the focus will be on creating a climate on which both sides can talk and hopefully get the resolution on all of these different disputes. thanks very much. police officers in england, wales and northern ireland have seen mental health—related call—outs increase by more than a quarter injust three years, according to figures obtained by bbc news. 30 out of 49 forces answered the freedom of information request. the government says it has halved the use of police cells to deal with people undergoing a mental health crisis and that officers are now working more closely with health care services. john maguire reports.

a kind of mattress... it was a weird environment to be in. the last time declan barnes was at this police station he had been detained under the mental health act and taken to the cells for this own safety. —— to the cells for his own safety. there were no secure hospital beds available. given the relative severity you know you need specialist care, especially when you are in a situation like that where you feel suicidal, notjust stressed or anxious. dealing with mental health is a major issue for police forces and incidents are increasing. freedom of information figures obtained by bbc breakfast show a rise of over 25% in recent years. of the 49 forces contacted, 30 responded. not including the metropolitan police, they recorded over 184,000 cases in 2012. that number has since risen to almost 232,000.

i would estimate that our officers currently spend about 20% of their time dealing with people with mental health issues. the use of police cells is declining. the devon and cornwall force previously threatened to sue the nhs. so far this year 58 people had been detained in cells. three years ago it was 800. that, for us, was completely unforgivable. we cannot sustain that position. we worked really hard with partners and we got a lot of protocols in place, we really worked hard to make them realise that a police cell was not the place for a person suffering from a mental health issue. we are out on the night shift with what is known as the mental health triage team in leicestershire. comprised of a specially trained police officer and a mental health nurse they can respond to incidents and offer advice to other offices. —— advice to other officers. they are deployed to reports of a man threatening tojump into a canal.

it is a large—scale response from all three emergency services. the firstjob is to check if one of the secure hospital beds in leicester is free tonight. potential will be if he is not cooperative... while his colleague talks to officers on the tow path. whether they are presenting as mentally unwell, seeing things, hearing things. i just want to guide a fluid situation. after a few hours the incident is under control and is not being treated as a mental health case. the team's next task is in the city centre of leicester police station where a man is said to be agitated and acting irrationally. we need to see what is going on to try get the best solution for you. he is presenting with mental health issues which i think would be harmful in the community setting. their objective is to make sure the people are treated appropriately and not criminalised.

all sides recognise a major problem, even a crisis. 0ne as complex as it is contentious and one for which there is still no quick fix. he has been wowing audiences for the last four months. 0n strictly come dancing, where he was so good he was often confused with the professionals. and although actor danny mac narrowly missed out on lifting the glitter—ball trophy, he's not getting much of a break before setting off on the strictly tour — he's about to start rehearsals for a new musical based on the film, sleepless in seattle. let's remind ourselves of his performance in strictly. # i

#iset # i set fire to the rain # i set fire to the rain # watched a poor —— watched it pour as it streamed down your face chicks i set fire to the # i #iset # i set fire to the rain # i set fire to the rain # the last time, the last time, oh! #. cheering i'm joined from our salford studio by danny mac now. good morning. good morning. how are you feeling now it is over? good. it

isa you feeling now it is over? good. it is a nice sense of relief. i am exhausted. i have suddenly realised. but it is a welcome break over christmas. how exhausting is the whole process? it is fantastically exhausting. it's brilliant. you want but all of the work in as you can, ta ke but all of the work in as you can, take as much out of it as you can. and you know you have the end to look forward to. you put everything you have into it and just hope that, sorry, i've just started you have into it and just hope that, sorry, i'vejust started hearing you have into it and just hope that, sorry, i've just started hearing you play the music and it has shocked me. you get everything you can into it. but it is a nice welcome break. you put everything in and it is great fun, totally worth it. you are a fantastic dancer, as we have seen. the first in the history of strictly to get a perfect 44 the samba. did you know you would be that good when he went into it? —— perfect 40 for the samba. not really. i have the

best teacher. she brought so much out of me. the week where we did the samba was so good. we put in so much work. it was difficult. 0n the wednesday it was horrendous. so to go out on saturday to perform like that, thursday was an important day in rehearsals, and i learned the most about myself that week. what is capable of. and it was nice to go out and be myself. i let loose for the first time. when you do that and everything goes right when it matters, it was a special performance come about, and i will ta ke performance come about, and i will take that with me for the rest of my life. tell us about how you do that, how you put yourself into a different environment from the one you are used to, and embrace it in a way that you become so good that people thought you were one of the professional dancers?” people thought you were one of the professional dancers? i know, amazing. being an actor, i go out andi amazing. being an actor, i go out and i think that helped a lot in terms of looking like i knew what i was doing, even though i didn't actually. i had the feel well. in terms of the technique and quality

of performance it just terms of the technique and quality of performance itjust got better and better because of the teaching. it is such a strange setup, but it isa it is such a strange setup, but it is a special one. you said you had the fear very well. did you really feel much fear? i was terrified. week after week. it was nerve wracking. but i was out of my comfort zone, you know? i like being other people. i don't like being myself. 0n other people. i don't like being myself. on that show you go about being yourself, doing the best you can, but it was strange on the dance floor. really daunting being danny mac for once. i always had behind a character. she gave me a character to play each week. but for the samba i was myself. she told me i could do that and have a party. and i did. and that was the biggest lesson for me, what i could achieve. people often talk about the chemistry between the contestants and the

professionals. what is it about that environment that does, i know you are thrown into something together where you are reliant on each other, but tell us what it is like being caught up in that? you spend every minute of the day with each other. brea kfast, minute of the day with each other. breakfast, lunch and dinner. you have a focus on it all together. that is the most helpful thing. but you get on as friends, you know? you help yourselves out through tough times. it is a strange thing to do, ta ke times. it is a strange thing to do, take a step out of your comfort zone. you rely on that person. you need their help. they are your safety net. had he taken her away from me in that process i think i would have crumbled. you mean so much to each other. they look after you so much. they see you —— they see you develop and grow. you are a product of their ability. it is an achievement for both of you. so incredibly. you just become so close. she is such a good friend of mine now. it just close. she is such a good friend of mine now. itjust means the world to me now i can learn that much from

her. and i will take the things i've learned for the rest of my life, not just for dancing, but all of the personal realisations and things about myself, and who i am. shejust really taught me to believe in myself so much more than i thought. i never realised how much i blocked myself mentally with so many things and put myself down a lot. and didn't have a lot of confidence, which seems strange as an actor, but this process has been great, it has taught me i can do so much more than i thought i could. your next project isa i thought i could. your next project is a musical version of sleepless in seattle. are you out of your comfort zone again with singing? when i went to drama school i trained across—the—board when i went to drama school i trained across—the—boa rd in everything. the singing hopefully, i can pick back up again. i did a musical earlier on in the year, i did legally blond and it was a great experience to get back to that after spending four orfive experience to get back to that after

spending four or five years in tv. this time it is nice to be really creative. a brand—new show that no one has seen. it is based on a film that we know and love and it is a fantastic that we know and love and it is a fa ntastic story that we know and love and it is a fantastic story aye get to work with my fiancee. there will be so many fa ns wa nt to my fiancee. there will be so many fans want to go get tickets for the musical to see you. what do you say to those fans who feel disappointed that you, having been the favourite, the fact thaw didn't win? well, i meani the fact thaw didn't win? well, i mean i thank them firstly for their support because they put us through to the final and it was the greatest experience of my life so far and without them i wouldn't have have had so i will be forever grateful and they have given me that, if nothing else, it is brilliant and that's the most important thing. they have been great. now, we have got the tour as well, the strictly tour, so i'm really looking foornd to going around injanuary and february and hopefully getting to see as many people as we can and perform live for them because they have given us so much, it is nice to go out and give that back too and hopefully, they will come along and

see the show as well. it is a great platform for me and it is a great platform for me and it is a great platform for me and it is a great platform for the show. it is a great project. it is so nice to be creative and go in and create something from nearly scratch, the music and the script is there and it is fantastic and to go in and put my stamp on that and share it with everything, it is hopefully going to bea everything, it is hopefully going to be a successful project. good luck with everything and enjoy a break over christmas. i will do. take care. in a moment a summary of the business news this hour but first the headlines on bbc news: thousands of workers will launch a wave of strikes this week, hitting postal services, rail companies and airlines in the run—up to christmas. the evacuation of hundreds of people from the ruins of eastern aleppo has resumed. the un security council will vote later today on a plan to allow international observers into the city. mps on the health select committee call on the government to do much more to reduce what they say is the "unacceptably" high rate of suicides in england.

an update on the market numbers for you. all red there. aid workers have told the bbc that an increasing number of migrants are returning to the northern french port of calais, two months after the notorious camp known as "thejungle" was cleared by local authorities. the charity, care for calais, says several hundred migrants are still aiming to illegally make their way to the uk, and are therefore hiding in the region, or sleeping rough. gavin lee reports. wow. well, you have to see this place to believe that there was once a population the size of a small town here with the makeshift restaurants,

shacks, a boxing club in front of me. the heart of the camp was here. there was the ashram kitchen where people would go for food, a church, the mosque. and all that's left is over this side — the containers. these were for vulnerable families and children. they still stand. there's no one in them. completely empty. there are less refugees here at this moment in time than there were before. but that, i see, is a temporary situation. just like other evictions that have taken place, we will return to the situation where we have desperate refugees here, living probably in even worse conditions and they are going to need our help. and you're still trying to get to the uk? yeah, we try. every day. try to get on the lorries each night?

yeah. we try to get on lorry. why don't you go to an immigration centre? why wouldn't you leave and go to warmth and the comfort of perhaps asylum in france? no, france is horrible. better is uk. people there get everything. here, their life is hard. the woman at the centre of a scandal that's led to the impeachment of the south korean president, park geun—hye, has appeared in court. choi soon—sil is accused of extortion and abuse of power. 0ur correspondent, steve evans, has been following developments in seoul. the interest in this case remains

absolutely unflagging. choi soon—sil came to court today in a police vehicle, a police bus hidden behind the opaque glass. in the court she said virtually nothing. through her lawyer she denied that anything she had done was criminal. there may have been misjudgement, but it didn't amount to serious crime. she said nothing apart from saying, "i agree with my lawyer." this matter may now proceed pretty quickly. this is the main court in seoul. separately, president park who is stripped of her power, though she remains the title president has also denied that anything that was done, that was wrong, amounted to serious crime. president park's argument is that it was misjudgement and not crime and certainly not anything serious enough to mean that she should be stripped from office and kicked out of the presidency.

christmas is less than a week a way, and it's not only the children who are excited — it's one of the busiest times of year for the toy industry. it's a critical season for the likes of mattel, lego and hasbro and hundreds of others all hoping their toy is top of the present wish list. aaron heslehurst is at one of the oldest toy shops in the world — hamleys in london. you have changed a bit, aaron! yeah, i have. hey, joanna, how are you? this right here is the oldest toy shop in the world started by william hamly in 1760 and this is a big market. globally toys are worth $90 billion is that enough? yeah, that's enough because it is killing my hand! welcome to hamleys. a crucial, crucial time for this industry and all the toy makers because a third of their annual sales co m es because a third of their annual sales comes from this period. i tell you what, you brits, you love to

spend on toys, you spend more per child on toys than the french, the germans and the italians and the spanish. it is a big market in the uk. the uk is the biggest toy market in europe. it is worth £3.3 billion and it is all a go. these doors, ah, the doors are about to open. the doors are going to open in ten minutes and 35,000 people are going to flood through here and the average time spent in the store is an hourand 40! average time spent in the store is an hour and 40! that's a long time and a lot of shopping! 0ne an hour and 40! that's a long time and a lot of shopping! one of the magic things about hamleys is the demonstrators. i got the key, the head demonstrator. tan come in. welcome to the news channel. you come rolling in. you have got a drone. i have, indeed. can you talk and fly? of course, i can. you teach all the other demonstrators to do demonstrating? yeah, it is about the magic in the store. it is about creating that theatre that everyone

comes in to see, makes the kids smile and the families love it because they come in smiling and laughing. this is unique to hamleys. you get the toys out of the box, and that i can only imagine helps sales? well, we bring the store to life. that's the idea behind it, you know. anybody who comes into the store wants to see these things out of the box and that's what brings it to life and in the whole store do you have to train to do this? a little bit. you don't want to be hitting people in the face or anything! hey look, that's great stuff. a busy time for you? a very, very busy time. it is the best place to work at this time of year 100%. second busiest trading day for hamleys. thanks guys for sending me down today! we pulled out the top items. the top wish—list pressies for christmas and this is one of them. it is theimals. you hatch it and

this you can't buy for love nor money. this is the last one, but we saw it on ebay, this is worth $60, whatever that is, about £50, but you can buy one on ebay for £800. that's how much this thing is in demand! i'm going to sign off and play with my favourite toy. it is the mega nerf gun. so i will see you later! it is not working! laughter i hope they get him out of there before the kids come in because he won't let anyone get their hands on the toys! aaron, thank you. now the weather. we can join carol. the weather is not as exciting. it

has been foggy and that's lifting into low cloud, but we will hold on to some of it through the vale of york. we have two fronts coming our way. they will merge, but that will be later on tonight. what we have is a cloud crisis start. some patchy rain developing from the weather front we saw across the south east and another weather front coming in across scotland and northern ireland. there is not a lot of rain on that, but behind it, it will brighten up. so across southern counties of england, a loft cloud and limited sunshine and here is the rain, through the channel islands and hampshire and up towards the wash. we are not immune to dank, cloudy conditions and as we move northwards, again, one or two brighter breaks across the far north—east of england, but the brightest will be across northern ireland and western scotland. as we traverse further eastwards, here we have the dregs of the weather front continuing to sink southwards. tonight, those two systems will

merge giving more prolonged rainfall across parts of western england and wales. behind that, a lot of cloud and murky conditions and for northern ireland and scotland, we are looking at a cold night under clear skies with frost and patchy fog. tomorrow, we start off with clear skies in both scotland and northern ireland, but not for long because the cloud will build and then we will see the arrival of rain and strengthening winds. for england and strengthening winds. for england and wales, the rain becomes ensconced in parts of west wales and the south—west as the weakening featurement for the rest of england, it will be a fine day with sunny spells. as we head on through the evening, the wind will become a feature across parts of northern ireland, northern and western scotla nd ireland, northern and western scotland with gusts to gale force, even scotland with gusts to gale force, eve n severe scotland with gusts to gale force, even severe gales. something to keep an eye on. as we head through tuesday and into wednesday, our wearing front bearing the rain sinks towards the south. that will bring in some rain too. so here is the first one with all that rain. gusty winds around it. the second one

comes in from the west, weakening and producing showery outbreaks and in between, there will be bright skies and sunshine and showers across parts of scotland and some of those will be wintry. mainly dry. there is a wee drop of rain around. spells of rain from midweek and it is going to turn that bit windier. but as always, you can find out more where you are on our website. this is bbc news. i'mjoanna gosling. a wave of strikes ahead of christmas, around 3,000 staff at

crown post offices walk out. southern rail workers begin two days of industrial action in the row over the role of conductors on trains. the evacuation of eastern aleppo resumes — dozens of buses carrying hundreds of people left the city overnight for rebel—held territory. among them is seven—year—old bana alabed, who had tweeted about conditions in the besieged city. the number of people taking their own lives in england is unacceptably high, says a report by a group of mps. also in the next hour, tributes to a hollywood icon. actress and socialite zsa zsa gabor dies after suffering a heart attack, aged 99. and andy murray is crowned the bbc‘s sports personality of the year —