fights to prevent its collapse. ministers are drawing up contingency plans while the supplier looks to secure extra funding amid debts running into billions of pounds. celia hatton has more. the future of the uk s biggest water company is far from watertight. but the government is reassuring thames water s 15 million customers they won t lose access to water as work continues behind the scenes to try to rescue it from collapse. thames water is £14 billion in debt and in crisis mode after the surprise resignation of its ceo on tuesday. no clear reason has been given for sarah bentley s departure. ministers are considering a plan to bring the utility giant temporarily under public ownership if it can t sort out its debts. we need to make sure that thames water as an entity survives. there s a lot of work that the government is trying to do on resolving sewage. certainly, up until now, the regulator has been focused on keeping consumer bills down, but there s a lot of infrastru
low as 2 or three degrees tomorrow. a cloudy start for england and wales, but this time, the cloud is thinner. it will be dry and because the cloud is thinner, it is more likely to break up in the sunshine develops across england and as well as across scotland and northern ireland. but i think it will be quite breezy, particularly in the south east once again for kent and essex through the english channel. because the wind is coming in from the north sea on those eastern coast, it will be a touch cooler. temperatures more widely up to 20 or 21 degrees in the sunshine. nice day and try once again. the sun will be quite strong. we have high uv levels. all the way from the channel islands into the northern isles of scotland because the sun is going to be out and it will be dry. different story across southern parts of europe for anybody travelling. more fun downpours to come, northern europe particularly the uk dominated by that high pressure, keeping it dry. into the weekend, a
it s gold again for laura muir. on another golden night for the brits in munich, muir retains her crown as the 1,500 metre european champion. (organ plays) they were once a key part of going to the pictures. we ll take a look at the cinema organs being raised back to life. good morning. it is a blustery start to the good morning. it is a blustery start to the weekend, especially in the north west of the uk where there are also outbreaks of rain. but not everyone also outbreaks of rain. but not everyone will see wet weather today. all the everyone will see wet weather today. all the details are coming up. good morninu. it s saturday august 20. our main story: train passengers are being warned of more severe disruption across the uk s rail network today as tens of thousands of workers go on strike. it s the sixth day of national walk outs so far this summer in an ongoing dispute over pay, jobs and conditions. network rail says only a fifth of its services will be running
in defence of ryan giggs at the former footballer s trial, on assault and coercive behaviour charges. and we re injeddah, as antonyjoshua fights this weekend to regain his heavyweight titles. and coming up in sportsday later in the hour on the bbc news channel: there s a crushing defeat for england at lord s, as south africa go one up in the test series. good evening, and welcome to the bbc news at six. there have been more warnings about serious pressures on the nhs this coming winter. in a letter to ministers, the nhs confederation which represents employers in the health service says the uk is facing a public health emergency because people are having to choose between heating and eating this winter, due to soaring energy prices. the government says it s giving millions of the most vulnerable households £1,200 to help with higher energy bills. but it comes at a time when nhs services are already under intense strain. our health editor, hugh pym, is here. hugh. yes,