The aircraft was carrying seven people but officials said there were no signs of survivors. Earlier, localjounalist blaze lovell told us what will happen next in the investigation. A british man who won one of europes biggest lottery jackpots, has died after a short illness. Colin weir and wife, chris, from largs in north ayrshire, claimed the £161 million euromillions prize in 2011. At the time it was one of europes biggest ever lottery wins after a series of rollovers boosted the jackpot. The duchess of cambridge has praised the work of midwives in an open letter to the profession. Highlighting the work they do, Kate Middleton said it was of fundamental importance to the Early Years Development of children. Kensington palace released these pictures of the duchess, after she spent two days at a maternity unit. She described the experience as a privilege. If you got a remote controlled car for christmas, it probably wont match up to the one that nasa has just unveiled. Sorry about that. This is the latest mars rover which will be heading to the red planet injuly. Its fuelled by a mini Nuclear Reactor and is fitted with 23 cameras, articulated arms, a drill to collect samples, and a laser to analyse them. It will cruise the surface of the planet for around two years. Now, take a front row seat as film critic mark kermode takes a look back at the big releases of the year in his review of 2019. And a warning, this film contains some flash photography. Hi, im mark kermode. Were here at the Cinema Museum in south london. Over the next half an hour, ill be looking back at some of the best movies released in uk cinemas in 2019. Films from around the world, from big budget blockbusters to smaller indie gems, from widescreen full colour spectacle to more intimate black and white experimentation. As always, 2019 kicked off with awards season and the uk release of several films that opened in america in 2018 in time to qualify for the oscars. In a weird echo of the 1990 academy awards, when driving miss daisy won best picture for which category spike lees infinitely superior do the right thing wasnt even nominated this year, the likeable but bland green book beat blackkklansman to the top prize. Although spike lee did triumph in the screenplay category, earning his first Competitive Academy award. That child is your grandchild what difference does it make how it gets here . In the acting categories, regina king and Mahershala Ali proved deserving winners for their supporting roles in if beale street could talk and green book respectively, while rami malek won best actor for his remarkable turn as Freddie Mercury in bohemian rhapsody. For me. For british audiences, however, it was 0livia colmans winning turn as queen anne in greek director Yorgos Lanthimos the favourite that proved the highlight of the evening, with one of the funniest and most self deprecating acceptance speeches ever. Did you just look at me . Stop it i am the queen. But you are mad. You look like a badger. I have sent for some lobsters. I thought we could race them and then eat them. Particularly significant was the fact that roma won three 0scars, including best Foreign Language film, dispelling any doubts about the cinematic legitimacy of netflix productions, about which institutions such as the Cannes Film Festival had previously proved very sniffy. This year, netflix has a number of productions up for awards consideration, with titles as diverse as Noah BaumbachsMarriage Story and Martin Scorseses the irishman shaping up as serious 0scar contenders. Both have already picked up best picture nods at the Golden Globes alongside other netflix releases the two popes and dolemite is my name. Youre going to jail for a long time. You going to have to take me cut, cut although arguments about big and Small Screen Productions continue to rage, fuelled in part by Steven Spielbergs comments about tv movies not deserving 0scar nominations, the area in which netflix really proved their worth this year is in the realm of animation. Got to work. What happened . You just sit there and be all magical and awesome. Along with the release of their first self produced animated feature klaus, an adventurous christmas tale from spanish director sergio pablos, netflix also picked up the distribution rights of one of my favourite films of 2019, the french gem i lost my body. A tale of broken hearts and severed body parts, jeremy clapins feature debut, freely adapted from the book happy hand by guillaume laurant, is a genuine wonder, which made history by becoming the first animated feature to take the top prize in the critics week section at cannes in may. There were a number of historic firsts at cannes this year. Parasite, a biting social satire from director bong joon ho, which doesnt open in the uk until february, became the first korean film to win the palme d0r. Meanwhile, mati diop, a french senegalese film maker, became the first black woman to helm a palme d0r contender with atlantics, which went on to win the grand prix. Oh, and netflix picked that one up, too. Other cannes Prize Winners included celine sciamma, who won best screenplay for portrait of a lady on fire, and emily beecham, who won best actress for little joe, both of which open here in february 2020, just in time to qualify for the baftas. No, i have to run. Meanwhile, the cannes best actor award went to Antonio Banderas for his brilliant portrayal of a film maker struggling to move forward in Pedro Almodovars semi autobiographical pain and glory. Pain and glory was just one of several Foreign Language films which opened in the uk in 2019, reminding us that cinema is a Truly International art form. This year, uk cinemagoers could feast on a wide range of treats from around the world. From colombia, we had birds of passage, an arresting tale of gangsters and spirits from the creators of embrace of the serpent, who described its birth of the drug trade narrative as addressing the great tragedy that will curse us forever, the great taboo that were not allowed to discuss. Writer director nadine la baki, the deserved oscar nomination for capernaum, which became both the highest grossing arabic film and the highest grossing middle eastern film of all time. The story concerns a young boy growing up in lebanon who attempts to sue his parents for bringing him into a world so full of suffering and strife. From german director Florian Henckel von donnersmarck, who won an oscar for the lives of others, came never look away, an impressive meditation on art and morality, inspired by the early life of gerhard richter. Meanwhile, swedish actress Halldora Geirharosdottir excelled in woman at war, a jet black comedy about an eco warrior fighting to save the planet from destruction, accompanied by an on screen musical trio that provides surreal greek choral accompaniment with drums, accordion and sousaphone at the ready. Music, of course, has always been at the heart of cinema, and this year saw a plethora of brilliant scores breathing life into a dizzying range of movies. My own favourites included clint mansells moody, jazzy score for out of blue, a murder mystery about life, the universe and everything which was rather overlooked when it opened here in march, but which i predict will go on to become an enduring cult classic. Makes me want to lay across all the water. April saw the uk release of eighth grade, a coming of age tale boasting an mesmerizing electronica accompaniment by anna meredith. Whats wrong, dad . Please tell me. Your nanas dying. She does not know, so you cant say anything. In september, the farewell served up a bittersweet tale of chinese family loyalties played out to alex westons unexpectedly quirky music. And in november, we got monos, a fable about child soldiers from colombian ecudadorian writer director alejandro landes, from which mica levi conjured sounds that are as strange and enthralling as the movie itself. My favourite film score of the year, however, was by icelandic composer hildur guonadottir, whose brooding themes lent real depth to one of the years most successful and controversial releases, joker. Would you please stop bothering my kid . Sorry. Directed by Todd Phillips best known for the hangover movies joker, which drew in equal measure on alan moores the killing joke and scorseses king of comedy, premiered to an eight minute standing ovation at the venice Film Festival in august, where it scooped the top prize. But almost immediately, a backlash began, with critics using words such as toxic, cynical and irresponsible to describe the films relentlessly embittered and allegedly glorified tone. But none of that could stop it from becoming a box office hit, surpassing deadpool to become the highest grossing r rated movie of all time, albeit unadjusted for inflation. Joker also arrived on the scene at exactly the moment that some old School Directors decided to get off their bikes about comic book movies. In a year in which the Biggest Box Office hits included captain marvel, spider man far from home and, of course, avengers endgame, Martin Scorsese caused uproar among fans by claiming that marvel movies arent cinema, comparing them instead to theme park rides that said little about the human condition and had no mystery about them. Francis ford coppola, who lets be honest about this hasnt made a decent film in decades, went further, calling marvel type movies despicable. Now, all of this sounds suspiciously like a bunch of grumpy old white men complaining that everything was better in their day, when men were men and movies were real movies. But as black panther star Chadwick Boseman told my bbc colleague simon mayo, the mystery that scorsese is talking about, its is in black panther, but he didnt get that there was this feeling of being unsure, of not knowing what was going to happen that black people feel cos we never had a superhero like this before, said boseman. Maybe scorsese didnt get that when he watched it thats cultural. Oof there was a similar sense of cultural change afoot when pinar toprak became the first woman to score a movie from the marvel cinematic universe with captain marvel, a film that, like dcs wonder woman, has started to rebalance long standing gender stereotypes. Other big hitters at the 2019 box office inevitably included Family Friendly sequels, such as disneys long awaited toy story 4 and more recently frozen ii. Wow this place is amazing. Wasnt buzz going to meet us here . He must be held up somewhere. Up here, astro boy. If you think you can take our top prize spot, youre wrong. Dead wrong. Help me get out of here. 0h, ill help you with my foot how do you like that . To infinity and my foot boom in the vacuum of space, they cannot hear you scream the house of mouse also continued its mission to repackage its back catalogue through live action remakes, like guy ritchies aladdin. You look like a prince on the outside. But i didnt change anything on the inside. Showtime. No, im in charge, 0k . I say when its time. Really . The most baffling of these, however, wasjon favreaus reboot of the lion king, which used photorealist animation to create something that looked absolutely real while remaining absolutely unreal. And in my opinion, absolutely pointless. If you want reality, the best place to find it is in documentaries. And one of the most powerful documentaries of 2019 was for sama, an astonishing front line account of life under siege in aleppo filmed by a syrian citizen journalist. Constructed as a letter to her daughter, the film asks will you blame me for staying here or blame me for leaving . A question raised as we see her and her medic husband returning to the besieged city to tend to the wounded, dodging bullets and barrel bombs with young sama in their arms. Altogether less traumatic was amazing grace, a music documentary that took the best part of five decades to make it to our screens. Shot over two nights in 1972, it documents Aretha Franklins performance at the New Temple Missionary Baptist Church in los angeles, which became the biggest selling live gospel album of all time. Oscar winner Sydney Pollack directed the shoot, but with his background in drama rather than music docs, he failed to use clapperboards or markers, making it virtually impossible to synch the resulting picture to the recorded sound. Now, finally new technology solved the problem, and it was worth the wait. Going to say it one more time. Im so glad so glad ive got religion three years before aretha made those extraordinary Baptist Church recordings, Neil Armstrong became the first man to set foot on the moon, an event which marked its 50th anniversary in 2019. Unsurprisingly, cinema joined in the celebrations with the documentary apollo 11 using remarkable footage to revisit those epochal events, putting the viewer right there in that tin can that miraculously made it to the moon and back. On the fictional front, there were also several movies this year that portrayed space as the final frontier. The most high profile of these was james grays ad astra, which was pitched as 2001 meets apocalypse now but was actually more like Event Horizon with added interstellar overdrive. Ad astra may have had a big star name to fall on in brad pitt, but so did french director claire denis altogether more adventurous high life, in which Robert Pattison joined a misfit crew on a voyage into the heart of darkness. Even though were forwards, getting farther from whats getting nearer. But my own personal favourite was aniara, an astonishing existential adventure adapted from an epic poem by swedish Nobel Laureate harry martinson. I saw echoes of solaris and silent running in this tale of a transporter ship travelling from a ravaged earth to mars which gets knocked off course, leaving its passengers to unravel as deep space beckons. Down to earth and closer to home, 2019 proved a remarkable year for british film makers, with a string of home grown projects giving us some of the highlights of the year. Ladies and gentlemen, Rose Lynn Harlan music. And i lost my mind somewhere in mexico. In april, Jessie Buckley earned her musical spurs in wild rose, a tale of a single mother living in glasgow but dreaming of travelling to nashville to find fame and fortune as a country singer. On my side. And i think its going to be a long, long time. In may, dexter fletchers rocketman channelled the spirit of ken russell as it turned eltonjohns life into a rip roaring pop fantasia, centred on a barnstorming central performance by taron egerton. Big night . Wheres your mask . June saw the release of dirty god, sacha polaks film about the survivor of an acid attack which boasted a starmaking performance from feature first timer vicky knight, an extremely versatile actor who, on this evidence, could have a long and varied successful career ahead of her. She really is astonishing. Then in september, we had a trio of home grown modern classics that showcased the diversity of film making in the uk. Shes not coming to take him away. You promise . Theres so much we can do here now that youre home. From writer director shola amoo came the semiautobiographical second feature the last tree, the story of a young man of nigerian heritage being uprooted from an idyllic rural childhood to face life on the mean streets of london. Its a very powerful film featuring a breakthrough performance by sam adewunmi. I have not got that much room. Youve got a foot on that side. And i literally am on the ledge. Ive got nowhere to go. Also in september, we had the release ofjoanna hoggs the souvenir, recently voted best film of 2019 by sight sound magazine. Another autobiographically inspired work, the souvenir starred honor Swinton Byrne as a young film maker who falls into a relationship with tom burkes sinisterly mysterious anthony. Its a very personal film, wryly tender, frequently funny but insidiously suffocating. Im just playing, julie. Stop torturing yourself. Im not torturing myself. Youre inviting me to torture you. For me, howver, the very best film of the year was bait, the breakthrough feature from cornish film maker markjenkin. I cant speak for everyone. Give it a bloody good go, then. As a resident, as a homeowner. A tourist. Chairman of the committee. Someone who spent a lot of time investing a great deal of money in supporting local industry a refreshingly authentic tale of tensions between locals and tourists in a once thriving fishing village, its an evocative portrait of familiar culture classes in an area where traditional trades and lifestyles are under threat. Shot with clockwork cameras on grainy 60 mm stock, whichjenkin hand processed in his studio, bait is both an impassioned celebration of cornwalls proud past and a bracingly tragicomic portrait of its troubled present and possible future. Its a genuine modern masterpiece which establishesjenkin as one of the most arresting and intriguing british film makers of his generation. Now, i hope that bait get the recognition it deserves at the baftas. Its exactly the kind of film that a british Award Ceremony should be celebrating. So, if i have to come in, you wont come and visit me . Theyre not going to bring you injust for a cyst. All i knew is it felt serious. Thatsjust because of all the sick people around you. You see the nonsense you talk . How do you get through life . Youre still here with me. Im just doing that out of spite. Id also like to see bafta nominations for ordinary love, in which Lesley Manville and liam neeson face up to a diagnosis of breast cancer. Brilliantly written by belfast playwright Owen Mccafferty and directed by Glenn Leyburn and lisa barros dsa, who made the life affirming good vibrations, ordinary love is a remarkable picture that approaches a difficult subject matter with wit, honesty and a large dose of humour. It feels weird. Due to a delayed american release, ordinary love wont be eligible for the forthcoming 92nd academy awards. So what are the likely contenders . Im rick dalton. Its my pleasure, mr schwartz. Call me marvin. Put it there. Is that your son . No, thats my stunt double, cliff booth. Well, alongside the films revert he mentioned, we can probably expect to see some recognition for once upon a time in hollywood, Quentin Tarantinos paean to the end of cinemas age of innocence. After all, oscar voters traditionally love movies about making movies. Line cut i intend to make my own way in the world. No one makes their own way, least of all a woman. Youll need to marry well. But you are not married. Thats because im rich. Theres plenty of oscar buzz, too, around Greta Gerwigs little women. Its the latest adaptation of louisa may alcotts timeless novel and its drawing critical plaudits. Particularly for leading lady saoirse ronan. Who is that guy . Mr blanc is a private investigator of great renown. Rian johnsons knives out is a possible contender, too, using an all star cast to breathe new life into an old Agatha Christie style whodunit. I suspect foul play. Wheres jason . And jordan peeles us is an outside contender with its mix of horror and social satire. Who knows how these movies will fare with oscar voters . As always with awards, the one that you can be certain of is that the results will probably make you want to scream as much as cheer. Ill leave you with a taste of something thats become a modern christmas tradition a new star wars movie, still packing out cinemas for 42 years after a new hope first landed, reminding us that, when it comes to the movies, some things remain the same. We spotted the fugitives. 0h, they fly now they fly now . They fly now good morning, welcome to breakfast with Nina Warhurst and charlie stayt. Our headlines today a new year honourfor world war ii veteran, harry billinge, who won the hearts of millions for his Fund Raising Efforts around the summers d day commemoratons dont say im a hero, im no hero, i was lucky. Im here. All the heroes are dead and ill never forget them as long as i live. Singer and actor, Olivia Newton john, is made a dame for services to Cancer Research and entertainment. Recognition als for members of the englands world cup