23/12/2016 Look East

A key section of the region's rail network is preparing

to close tonight for the entire festive period.

Network Rail say the shutdown, which will disrupt hundreds

of journeys, will allow for upgrade work on the main line out of London.

For the next ten days, there'll be no direct services

from Liverpool Street to Essex - the only exception being

There are no trains on Christmas Day and only the Stansted Express

Additionally, next weekend, the line between Ely and Cambridge

Replacement bus services will be laid on.

Robby West has spent the day at Colchester

The Christmas holidays for Army medic Jake Ricketts begin here.

Now a five-hour drive for Jake and his

girlfriend to Wales lays ahead of them.

I was able to get on the one o'clock.

For the next ten days, the line effectively

closes down for Network Rail to carry out planned engineering work.

Of course, there never is a good time to close the railway.

We picked Christmas because it really affects

We need to bring this railway up to a standard,

so we can get the performance out of it that people want.

But people using the drains today were angry about

the trains not running over Christmas.

We don't drive, that's why we use public transport.

I mean, it's left us with no family over Christmas,

We're going to have to get a hotel in

London and stay up there for three days.

And it's been the busiest Christmas on record for

Check-in has been quite interesting this year, with

some of the items that some people are trying to take on board.

And party crackers, because they contain small detonators.

Back here at Colchester Station, it's

Earlier on, these car parks were gridlocked with

people trying to make it home before the planned engineering works.

Robbie West, BBC look East, Colchester.

And if you are travelling tomorrow your BBC Local radio

station which will have regular travel bulletins

There's still no official explanation for a blaze which killed

a mother and her daughter in a house fire in Essex.

The deaths of Alina Kordaszewska and her daughter, Emilia,

have had a big impact on the local community in Braintree.

All morning they came with flowers and toys.

In the end, there were so many outside what remains of the

house, community support officers had a job keeping the pavement

And still they came, as a community paid their respects.

"The words can never say how much we miss you.

We will never forget the fun times we had.

Emilia and Jasmine go to the same school.

So we actually watched them grow together.

As time progressed, they became very good

Really close friends, because many times Jasmine slept

The last time Jasmine spoke to her was on Monday.

What do you think of the response, the flowers?

Well, it's an indication they have been loved.

A family that has been part of the community

The house is very, very badly damaged.

That must make the fire investigation difficult,

because anything that might indicate how the fire started may have been

A fundraising page Set up for the family has

Back at the house, more flowers, many here

have been moved by this double tragedy just days before Christmas.

Thieves have carried out another raid on a church roof in Norfolk.

The raiders stripped lead from the roof of the village church

Dozens of churches have been targeted in the past 18 months.

Police are searching for the driver of a van which crashed

into the central reservation of the A14 near Ipswich

They had been chasing the van, which went

He's most famous for writing The Snowman, but Ramond Briggs also

wrote a book about his parents - Ethel and Ernest.

And now that book has been turned into a film.

It will be shown on the BBC this Christmas, and it was directed

Ethel And Ernest is the story of Raymond Briggs' own parents.

Originally a graphic novel, it has been brought to the screen

His studio, at home in Wivenhoe, is in the spare room.

Roger was one of the animators on The Snowman in 1982.

As director, Roger likens his role to that

In this case, a rather big orchestra.

For the animation process itself we have over 100 people and that

includes the animators, their assistants, but also

the clean-up people who put the final line to the drawing.

We've also got background artists, all the people who do the ink

The end credits go on for a long time.

The film stars Jim Broadbent and Brenda Blethyn.

Well, Ethel, how about coming to the pictures with me?

We all felt that it was such an important thing to get right

because it's such a personal story for Raymond and we could not

Roger Mainwood and his team have done a fine job,

and Ethel And Ernest looks set to be a highlight of the Christmas

That's all for tonight - we're back at 25 past

From me and the rest of the late team, have a Happy Christmas.

Good evening. We had some rain earlier. We have a dry night with

clearing skies. A blustery wind. Temperatures dropping to between two

and four Celsius. Most places will be frost free. Long spells of

sunshine tomorrow. More clouded by the afternoon. It will stay dry

through the day. Blustery south-west winds. Eight to nine Celsius. Maybe

ten in some spots in Essex. Her Christmas Day, we are looking at

some drizzle. A cloudy and mild day. Temperatures may be 14. The average

is about six Celsius for this time of the year. The National forecast

is next. Mild weather for Christmas Day.

big day? Christmas Day. It will stay mild and temperatures could reach

14, 15. He is down bet that the national picture.

It will be more northern parts of the UK that see the worst of the

weather. Another storm is developing in the Atlantic. This will turn into

Storm Connor. This cloud has wrapped around storm Barbara. It brought

gusty winds in the West. Some localised flooding in Scotland