Shameless plug - I watched my brother’s new film “Summit Fever” last night. Wow!

I was already pretty tense and distraught after yet another abject England rugby performance yesterday afternoon (I am currently looking to see if I have any distant Irish relations because I seriously can’t take any more of Eddie Jones’ shambolic, uninspired and error-strewn England rugby regime), but after seeing my brother’s new film “Summit Fever” in the evening? Elated because it’s bloody awesome, but almost beyond tense with how stressful it got when things went seriously wrong in the mountains…………

When I was away guiding in Ireland the other day it was my mother’s 70th birthday. I’d have loved to be there but I was committed to guiding and I missed a big family get-together. They all did something really cool and hired a screen at a local cinema to show my brother Julian’s new film and invite loads of friends and family along. My wife and girls got to see the film there and they’ve been raving about it ever since. What breaks my heart here is that Julian so wanted our dad to get to see this new film on the big screen, but dad died before it could happen. Towards the end he was in so much pain and so immobile that he wouldn’t have made a screening even if it had been possible to arrange it, but Julian did get to show dad his new film on a laptop when he was in hospital. Not the same I know, but I do know how incredibly proud my dad was of my two brothers and their work.

Anyway, this new film Summit Fever is now available on various streaming platforms. I needed a quiet evening with nothing else to get in the way, and last night was the time. I went onto Amazon, bought a digital copy of Summit Fever for £9.99, and settled in to watch. I made my wife and girls promise not to tell me what happened because they wanted to watch it again, and nearly two hours later I was a complete nervous wreck! I know I might be a bit biased because my brother wrote, directed and edited Summit Fever, and I also know how hard he has worked on it for a number of years now, through thick and thin as well, but I absolutely bloody loved it. I genuinely think that my middle brother Julian is a bit of a genius at directing action scenes especially, and he makes what was a modest budget in film making terms go a hell of a long way. It’s going to take a while for my shoulders to unwind with how tense things got in the film when the proverbial hit the fan, but at least I can rest assured that England has about as much chance in next year’s Rugby World Cup as I do with changing careers to become a leading actor! You’re looking at a very, very proud eldest Gilbey brother this morning………….