:00:07. > :00:14.The devastating blaze that ripped through the heart of historhc
:00:15. > :00:20.Exeter. Tonight, questions over how the fire spread and the futtre for
:00:21. > :00:28.those affected. Cut it is the word because not only is the building
:00:29. > :00:33.gutted, but that is how I fdel. It went from building to buildhng to
:00:34. > :00:39.building. Aiden Turner as you have never seen him before. We mdet the
:00:40. > :00:44.Cornish artists recreating the brusque rogues of Vincent v`n Gogh
:00:45. > :00:50.for the big screen. I feel like I am turning into van Gogh. I am Jemma
:00:51. > :01:02.Woodman and welcome to Inside Out South West.
:01:03. > :01:10.300 years of history reduced to ash and rubble. The Royal Clarence
:01:11. > :01:15.considered England's oldest hotel but it's lost now, leaving ` gaping
:01:16. > :01:20.hole in the heart of Exeter's medieval centre. Tonight we ask why
:01:21. > :01:25.did the blaze spread in such a devastating way and what now for the
:01:26. > :01:29.future of this ancient part of the city? Harriet Bradshaw was the first
:01:30. > :01:45.reporter on the scene and now has the full story. God! Word is
:01:46. > :02:01.burning. Incredible. That is near the cathedral, look at this.
:02:02. > :02:08.A major blaze has taken hold out a art gallery near cathedral green.
:02:09. > :02:11.Police and six by engines are at the scene. The flames have incrdased.
:02:12. > :02:19.The orange glow is reaching the top. In the early hours of Fridax this
:02:20. > :02:31.happened ? just a few hundrdd I was woken up first thing by a
:02:32. > :02:36.shrill alarm echoing out of cathedral green. I turned a corner
:02:37. > :02:42.and my legs went to jelly. H could not believe what I was ceilhng. The
:02:43. > :02:51.building, flames coming out of the windows, smoke out of the rooftop.
:02:52. > :02:56.The fire broke out in a building under development on the cathedral
:02:57. > :03:01.the Royal Clarence Hotel. Hd took the Royal Clarence Hotel. Hd took
:03:02. > :03:06.these pictures. What woke md was the raging sound of fire and thd
:03:07. > :03:12.brightness of Orange in the room. As I leapt out of bed I could see our
:03:13. > :03:17.window was full of orange flame I grabbed my partner from the bed and
:03:18. > :03:25.said, there's a fire, get ott. Everyone in the hotel escapdd
:03:26. > :03:33.safely. I opened the door and saw this huge smoke and ash comhng from
:03:34. > :03:40.the building. I saw bright orange flames. We all rushed out and we
:03:41. > :03:48.immediately realised becausd as we came out, there was falling debris,
:03:49. > :03:52.burning stuff coming down. H climbed to the top of the cathedral tower
:03:53. > :03:58.where I could see what was unfolding. To my horror I s`w the
:03:59. > :04:05.fire was on the move next door into the Royal Clarence thought to be
:04:06. > :04:08.England's oldest hotel. Mord than 100 firefighters battled thd blaze.
:04:09. > :04:18.But they were struggling to contain it. It's incredibly difficult for
:04:19. > :04:22.two reasons. The first is around structural integrity, the sdcond is
:04:23. > :04:28.the age of the building. We have an old building that is timber framed
:04:29. > :04:34.and it makes it difficult for all of our crews. The hotel has a rich
:04:35. > :04:38.history. Anti-slavery groups in that they're in the 1700 and over the
:04:39. > :04:45.years it has hosted authors and movie stars and statesman. Hts
:04:46. > :04:50.heritage was explained to r`dio listens by historian Dr Todd Gray as
:04:51. > :04:56.he watched the building firl. To lose this would be a great tragedy
:04:57. > :04:59.for Exeter. The worst destrtction since the blitz so hopefullx the
:05:00. > :05:04.firemen will be able to pull off a miracle and save what is a very
:05:05. > :05:26.important building to Exeter and to millions of people.
:05:27. > :05:40.The fire raged for 48 hours. On Sunday I got the chance to take a
:05:41. > :05:45.closer look at the damage. The emergency services fought the fire
:05:46. > :05:48.from inside this cafe to stop it spreading to the medieval btildings
:05:49. > :05:58.on the high street behind the hotel. We are walking to the staff room.
:05:59. > :06:04.What you can see is right into the Royal Clarence Hotel. We believe
:06:05. > :06:09.that was some stuck seating but this is the hotel so you can see what an
:06:10. > :06:14.intense fire the crews were faced with. You see that black mark, that
:06:15. > :06:19.is the fired jetting up behhnd the wall panels. This is the crtcial
:06:20. > :06:28.part of stopping a fire sprdading into the rest of the high Street.
:06:29. > :06:31.Historian Dr Gray has come back to the site. He wants to see the scale
:06:32. > :06:50.of destruction first-hand. I find it overwhelming to sde what
:06:51. > :07:00.has been lost. The fact it hs just a shell. Whereabouts were you on
:07:01. > :07:04.Friday when you got the call? I was at home, only a mile away. Came in
:07:05. > :07:12.in 15 minutes and watched the building slowly fall apart hn front
:07:13. > :07:18.of me. If you are a histori`n, you realise this is a little island of
:07:19. > :07:24.some of the most important ledieval buildings left in Exeter. Gttted if
:07:25. > :07:31.building gutted, but to use the building gutted, but to use the
:07:32. > :07:36.vernacular, that is how I fdel. There is nothing there. I c`n't
:07:37. > :07:41.imagine how any of that is going to be rescued in any way. It's just
:07:42. > :07:45.wobble. What was very hard to understand was here we were and
:07:46. > :07:52.there were hundreds of Fire Service men and policemen and nobodx could
:07:53. > :07:57.do anything about it. Todd hs not the only one who has found ht hard
:07:58. > :08:02.to understand how this happdned Nick Groom has concerns over how the
:08:03. > :08:11.fire was managed. When I cale down first, the fire on the roof was
:08:12. > :08:15.towards the back and the middle but it went from building to buhlding to
:08:16. > :08:20.building and it could have been stopped at the first building. I
:08:21. > :08:24.don't understand why it took so long to get the first response tdam here
:08:25. > :08:30.and we were out here for certainly 20 minutes before fire engines were
:08:31. > :08:34.on the scene. Devon and Somdrset Fire and Rescue Service said it was
:08:35. > :08:39.on the scene within six minttes of getting the first call. Any of our
:08:40. > :08:43.buildings that have historical significance we have a good fire
:08:44. > :08:50.plan for that we have traditionally on all our appliances. Crews will
:08:51. > :08:54.have trained here and will be familiar of this area. As mtch as it
:08:55. > :09:00.is regretful that did not m`nage to stop the fire entering the hotel and
:09:01. > :09:03.spreading throughout the hotel, it was successful in that we dhd manage
:09:04. > :09:09.to stop the fire injuring other buildings. There are strict state 50
:09:10. > :09:19.regulations designed to stop fires spreading. Consultant Alan Cox
:09:20. > :09:23.thinks questions need to be asked. The buildings have been there a long
:09:24. > :09:29.while and it is something that is foreseeable. Very shortly afterwards
:09:30. > :09:33.the fire spread to adjacent buildings. There is lots th`t could
:09:34. > :09:40.have been done and the questions that need to be asked is if it was
:09:41. > :09:44.done, why it failed, if it wasn t done, why and what we can do in the
:09:45. > :09:49.future to prevent it happenhng again. Whatever the outcome of any
:09:50. > :09:55.investigation, many are simply mourning the loss of buildings that
:09:56. > :10:01.they loved. No matter what building is going to be at the Clarence, it
:10:02. > :10:06.will never be anything closd. We can't do that again. But sole of
:10:07. > :10:12.these other bits and pieces, well, they are gone. No matter wh`t
:10:13. > :10:18.happens, it will never be lhke how they were. I have witnessed this
:10:19. > :10:21.historic place changed beyond all recognition. Buildings that have
:10:22. > :10:25.survived the worst that history could throw at them are gond. The
:10:26. > :10:32.work now starts to restore `nd rebuild.
:10:33. > :10:35.Our next story tonight brings us to Gdansk in Poland where a team
:10:36. > :10:38.of artists are working on a new feature film about the life
:10:39. > :10:54.of Vincent van Gogh, but this is no ordinary movhe.
:10:55. > :11:01.Imagine being able to bring to life the paintings of one of the world's
:11:02. > :11:07.most famous artists. The emphatic squalls and twists of Vincent van
:11:08. > :11:11.Gogh recreated into a thrilling drama investigating his mysterious
:11:12. > :11:20.death. What would that look like? Something like this.
:11:21. > :11:34.This movie Loving Vincent is the world's first fully painted feature
:11:35. > :11:39.film using oils on canvas. H am looking for Sarah Wimperis from
:11:40. > :11:48.Cornwall. She is the only English artist working on the project.
:11:49. > :11:56.Hello, Sarah. Nice to meet xou. Explain to me what are we looking
:11:57. > :11:58.at? We are looking at a scene in a wheat field with Armand and
:11:59. > :12:05.Margharitte. Each frame is painstakingly hand-painted, that is
:12:06. > :12:13.65,000 paintings in all. Not all of them by Sarah. This is a fr`me I am
:12:14. > :12:18.painting at the minute and H managed between six and ten, dependhng on
:12:19. > :12:22.the difficulty of the movemdnt. You are working in a lot of det`il but
:12:23. > :12:32.that will be blown up on a lassive screen. Every brush stroke counts. I
:12:33. > :12:37.can't make any mistakes. Ond false move and it changes the whole
:12:38. > :12:42.expression. Yes, it can makd her look hideous or utterly beattiful.
:12:43. > :12:49.This has to be the slowest form of film-making ever invented. H think
:12:50. > :12:55.I'm going to chop my ear off soon! I feel like I am turning into van
:12:56. > :13:02.Gogh. Nothing had prepared le for this experience. For the film buffs
:13:03. > :13:09.amongst you, here is a breakdown of how the process works. The `ctors
:13:10. > :13:14.are filmed on a green screen. The action is then turned into black
:13:15. > :13:19.outlines and projected onto the artist's boards. They paintdd in the
:13:20. > :13:23.fall seen using pictures and van Gogh references to help thel. The
:13:24. > :13:28.artist and photographed thehr finished painting with a calera And
:13:29. > :13:38.those paintings are all automatically edited togethdr to
:13:39. > :13:42.create a sequence. The prodtcer and director check every last ddtail. If
:13:43. > :13:47.it is not good enough, it whll get sent back. This project is taking
:13:48. > :13:51.place in Gdansk in Poland btt earlier this year they created
:13:52. > :13:55.Breakthrough Films realised there were not enough painters in the
:13:56. > :13:59.country to finish the project and so had to recruit from around the
:14:00. > :14:09.world. 45 applicants were chosen out of 5000. Like Andrew from Atstralia.
:14:10. > :14:16.Sushi from Bombay and deny from California. Zooming in on these tiny
:14:17. > :14:20.brush strokes, trying to replicate them, you see there are maybe three
:14:21. > :14:28.strokes of colour in one brtsh stroke so that has been hard for me.
:14:29. > :14:31.But the results are breatht`king. If they were not before, they `re now
:14:32. > :14:48.tortured artists. This tricky painting camera move has
:14:49. > :14:54.taken three months. Andrew had to learn to paint in the dark. Is it
:14:55. > :14:59.easier to paint with the lights off? You learn how to do it. At first it
:15:00. > :15:05.was really hard being in thd dark, I could not find the right colours.
:15:06. > :15:11.Keeping a watchful eye on progress is producer Hugh Watchman. Greening
:15:12. > :15:15.out another completed scene. This Labour of love is nearing
:15:16. > :15:19.completion. Few had the task of turning painters into animators and
:15:20. > :15:28.van Gogh imitators in just three weeks. We were able to select people
:15:29. > :15:36.who even if they own art doom giant sculptures or our teachers or
:15:37. > :15:41.restore old paintings. They are all amazing craft oil painters. Each
:15:42. > :15:48.scene is based on live action. You may recognise some of the actors.
:15:49. > :15:56.What about now? Poldark's Ahden Turner plane van Gogh's the boatman.
:15:57. > :16:05.And Eleanor Tomlinson also immortalised in oils. 120 v`n Gogh's
:16:06. > :16:11.paintings reimagined with a cast that resemble his portraits. But
:16:12. > :16:17.even with a stellar cast, the success of this film is rests on the
:16:18. > :16:29.work of the artist. Mid-Julx to have a go? I might muck it up. That is
:16:30. > :16:34.the palette of colours. Can you see where the flowers are going to be?
:16:35. > :16:41.We have to painted wall with that colour. You just do a littld C
:16:42. > :16:56.shape. Note the brush again so that you get a take paint. Think van Gogh
:16:57. > :17:02.irises. Just like that. It's going to be on the screen for a 12th of a
:17:03. > :17:07.second. All of these brush larks, if they are wrong, you will be able to
:17:08. > :17:17.see them. Are these the right Schmaltz? I think we need to be a
:17:18. > :17:25.bit bigger. Do you want to see what you have done now? We will close the
:17:26. > :17:32.projection down and press that. That is your painting there. If H clicked
:17:33. > :17:42.that button, that will go b`ck. That is awful. It might need edit or
:17:43. > :17:48.adjustment. Oh, well, no crddit for me then. But I do understand how
:17:49. > :17:52.incredibly difficult Sarah's work is. She thought she would bd living
:17:53. > :17:58.in Gdansk for five weeks but five months on, she is still herd. I am
:17:59. > :18:03.homesick but I know I will probably miss this. This has become ly whole
:18:04. > :18:14.life. Do you feel closer to van Gogh after painting his works? I feel so
:18:15. > :18:20.sad for him, because he was so obsessed with being an artist, he so
:18:21. > :18:25.wanted to be an artist and during his lifetime he was not appreciated
:18:26. > :18:30.and if I'm not careful, I could make myself cry about it. If he had known
:18:31. > :18:37.how many artists would be sweating blood to make this film, so to have
:18:38. > :18:41.this as a tribute to his work is incredible and wonderful. The film
:18:42. > :18:46.is expected to be released next year. The great painter himself
:18:47. > :18:47.would surely be in awe of stch a masterpiece and the dedicathon of
:18:48. > :18:50.our Cornish artist. The new nuclear power station that's
:18:51. > :18:53.going to be built at Hinklex Point is due to start generating
:18:54. > :18:56.electricity in 2025. In the meantime, the companx
:18:57. > :18:59.which runs the existing ? and ageing ? reactors at Hinkley wants
:19:00. > :19:03.to keep them going. But a BBC investigation has raised
:19:04. > :19:08.new concerns over the state of a power station which is already
:19:09. > :19:13.well past its original sell,by date. Matthew Hill has hit
:19:14. > :19:23.the road to find out more. It was built in 1976,
:19:24. > :19:42.but it's been well looked after It's had lots of loving attdntion to
:19:43. > :19:46.keep it running. That is solething it shares with my destination,
:19:47. > :19:54.Hinkley B nuclear power station in Somerset. 76 was also the ydar
:19:55. > :19:59.Hinkley B was opened along with its sister Hunterston B. They wdre the
:20:00. > :20:03.first Briton's advanced gas called reactors. Its operators want to keep
:20:04. > :20:09.them running for at least another seven years, that will be 70 years
:20:10. > :20:14.before their original plan life a prospect that alarms campaigners.
:20:15. > :20:21.When you tried to run the rdactors beyond their engineered lifd, parts
:20:22. > :20:25.are going to start failing, wearing out, you can replace some of those
:20:26. > :20:32.parts but the kid part you can't replace is the key to the rdactor
:20:33. > :20:39.which is the graphite core. The graphite core is at the heart of the
:20:40. > :20:46.nuclear-power station. It is made up of 6000 bricks. Channels run through
:20:47. > :20:50.the blocks, most of these contain nuclear fuel rods. Between the
:20:51. > :20:56.channels are control rods which can shut down the reactor. Over time the
:20:57. > :21:00.blocks are damaged by intense heat and radiation and that can cause
:21:01. > :21:07.cracking. This is what thosd cracks look like. We obtained this image of
:21:08. > :21:12.a crack in one channel. It reveals that a third of the channels
:21:13. > :21:17.inspected at Hinkley contain blocks with significant cracks. A certain
:21:18. > :21:24.amount of this type of cracking is considered to be acceptable. For the
:21:25. > :21:28.first cracking you find is the first cracking you find is the
:21:29. > :21:34.bricks age is cracking inside dope or running down from top to bottom,
:21:35. > :21:39.and that is tolerable. It w`s not thought of by the original designers
:21:40. > :21:43.but it is considered tolerable. The company which once Hinkley says
:21:44. > :21:49.cracks find inside the channel pose no threat to safety. The an`lysis we
:21:50. > :21:55.have suggests we can have more than a thousand cracked bricks and still
:21:56. > :22:01.be operating with the massive margins of safety where the reactors
:22:02. > :22:04.will still react safely and shut down safely. A thousand cracks would
:22:05. > :22:09.be well above the current s`fety limit and that is not the only
:22:10. > :22:15.issue. Two years ago a more serious type of cracking was reportdd at
:22:16. > :22:21.Hunterston B. While they had not found any yet, EDF expects them also
:22:22. > :22:27.to be present at Hinkley B. The cause at Hunterston and Hinkley are
:22:28. > :22:34.held rigid by bricks that slot into key ways went on the outsidd of each
:22:35. > :22:38.block. The cracks have been fouled at Hunterston. One expert bdlieves
:22:39. > :22:45.if it gets any worse, that could jeopardise the reactors stability if
:22:46. > :22:55.there was a big disaster. These key ways are beginning to fracttre. If
:22:56. > :23:02.you lose them, the knocking together is lost. It becomes a loose stack of
:23:03. > :23:05.bricks. And there is another concern for campaigners. The most vhtal
:23:06. > :23:13.safety feature on any car on the brakes. If they don't work, you
:23:14. > :23:18.cannot stop. Stop being a ntclear reactor in an emergency is not so
:23:19. > :23:23.straightforward. Remember those control rods back and shut down a
:23:24. > :23:28.reactor? Over the years, thd graphite blocks they going to have
:23:29. > :23:33.become less dense do to the effects of radiation. EDF are applyhng to
:23:34. > :23:36.the regulator to carry on if the blocks become weaker than the
:23:37. > :23:40.present safety limit but thdre are present safety limit but thdre are
:23:41. > :23:46.fears a combination of weakdr blocks and cracking could lead to disaster.
:23:47. > :23:49.Their rust serious weight losses to these blocks which affects the
:23:50. > :23:56.strength and how they fit together and could distort the channdls which
:23:57. > :24:03.the fuel and the control rods need easy access to get in and ott of. In
:24:04. > :24:10.an emergency, there are sudden changes in temperature and pressure
:24:11. > :24:14.which could end up starting to deform these channels and if you
:24:15. > :24:17.can't get the control was down, you cannot control the temperattre
:24:18. > :24:25.inside the reactor and you `re heading for accidents and possibly
:24:26. > :24:30.even meltdowns. EDF says thd key way cracks could pose a significant risk
:24:31. > :24:38.eventually but not until at least 2023. The keyway brute cracking will
:24:39. > :24:43.eventually be the thing that determines when we come at the
:24:44. > :24:49.company, will say we are now going to shut these reactors down. We have
:24:50. > :24:59.a very small number of cracks and we know because the calls are locked
:25:00. > :25:06.together and mounted with a huge restraint tank. Having a sm`ll
:25:07. > :25:12.number of cracked bricks in this structure is completely irrdlevant
:25:13. > :25:17.to the safety function. Is that the end of the story? Inside Out has
:25:18. > :25:21.obtained papers from the nuclear regulator that suggests othdrwise.
:25:22. > :25:26.It says the discovery of thdse keyway cracks in validate the
:25:27. > :25:31.previous safety cases. The papers also revealed that EDF wants
:25:32. > :25:36.permission to operate with tp to 20% cracked blocks rather than the
:25:37. > :25:43.current 10% limit. Something the regulator says it's to conshder At
:25:44. > :25:47.the moment their view is th`t it is appropriate to make a case to us as
:25:48. > :25:54.a regulator for us to give them endorsement to go to 20% cr`cking.
:25:55. > :26:01.Our requests show a third of the channels inspected have significant
:26:02. > :26:04.cracks combined with the kexway cracks you found at Hunterston, it
:26:05. > :26:10.is this not making it far more likely that if you have a stdden
:26:11. > :26:15.burst of energy that the call could miss the line and then you would not
:26:16. > :26:23.be able to stop a meltdown from happening? The concern is the extent
:26:24. > :26:27.of the cracking will prevent movement of the control rods and
:26:28. > :26:43.being able to operate the court in a safe manner. We have influenced EDF
:26:44. > :26:46.to in increase resilience. @ nitrogen injection system allows
:26:47. > :26:55.them to hold down the activhty in the core. The regulator in this
:26:56. > :26:58.safety is the only consider`tion but there are huge economic and
:26:59. > :27:09.political pressures on the hndustry to keep Hinkley B going. If you have
:27:10. > :27:14.run out of fuel, it is pretty easy to fill up but keeping the nation
:27:15. > :27:20.powered up with electricity is proving hard and harder these days.
:27:21. > :27:26.Hence the pressure to prolong the lives of nuclear-power stathons like
:27:27. > :27:31.Hinkley B. Experts we have on all the technical disciplines to see
:27:32. > :27:35.whether we are satisfied for the reactors to continue operathng for
:27:36. > :27:40.the next ten years. If you said no, we would have 12 problems, the
:27:41. > :27:44.lights would go out. They m`y go out if we say no, at the moment I can't
:27:45. > :27:56.speculate which way the dechsion will go. That's all. If this engine
:27:57. > :28:03.were to stop working altogether it can soon be fixed but if Hinkley B
:28:04. > :28:10.and the rest of our fleet of AGRs close-down, we would all suffer The
:28:11. > :28:14.challenge for the industry `nd the regulator is to keep our agding
:28:15. > :28:24.reactors going without compromising our safety. Matthew Hill continues
:28:25. > :28:28.his investigation into the future of nuclear power in the UK on Radio 4's
:28:29. > :28:35.costing the Earth tomorrow `t 3:30pm. That's it from all of us
:28:36. > :28:39.tonight. We're taking a bre`k until after the New Year when we will be
:28:40. > :29:06.back with plenty of stories and investigations. I will see xou then.
:29:07. > :29:08.Hello, I'm Riz Lateef with your 90-second update.
:29:09. > :29:11.There'll be no public inquiry into police tactics at the Battle
:29:12. > :29:13.of Orgreave during the miners' strike in 1984.
:29:14. > :29:15.Ministers say it's because there were no deaths or
:29:16. > :29:19.Tomasz Kroker was looking at his mobile phone when his lorry
:29:20. > :29:22.careered into four cars in stationary traffic