Ex-rugby star Ed Jackson overcomes life-changing injuries in inspiring documentary trailer
RadioTimes.com can exclusively launch the trailer for the upcoming film – which is set to be released in August.
When rugby player Ed Jackson suffered a catastrophic – and almost fatal – injury following a diving accident in 2017, he was told by doctors he would never walk again.
But just a few years later, he set off to climb both the Himlung Himal in Nepal and The Aiguille Dibona in the French Alps – an inspirational physical and mental journey which has been documented in the new film The Mountain Within Me.
The film is set to be released in UK cinemas in August, and today – in line with Mental Health Awareness Week and the recent Spinal Cord Injury Awareness Day – RadioTimes.com can exclusively launch the emotional trailer, which you can watch above.
At the start of the 2 minute clip we hear Ed saying: "I would have loved to have shaken the old me and just said – 'Do you know how lucky you are to be alive?'"
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He then introduces himself and explains how, at the peak of his rugby career, he had an accident that meant he had to be resuscitated three times.
"I was completely paralysed from the shoulders down," he explains as he appears visibly emotional. "I was in a pretty dark place. Many times I thought 'I don't want to be here any more.'"
However, he goes on to tell us that he had a change of perspective when he realised "it wasn't about me" before his wife Lois explains: "He was like: 'I'm gonna walk again.'"
Ed continues: "I said to my physios that I wanted to climb a mountain. And they were like, 'excuse me, what?' I wanted to rewrite the rulebook of what is possible in life. We're too quick to be put into pigeonholes by society and by ourselves."
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We are also introduced to an ex-paratrooper named Ben, who is on the same journey and will also be partaking in the "most dangerous climb either of us have ever done", with Ed explaining how the pair have helped each other.
"Doing things for each other doesn't cost anything – those ripple effects make such a big difference," he explains. "You never really know how life's going to pan out. I'm not scared of dying, I'm scared of not really living."
The film is directed by Polly Steele and produced by BAFTA and Emmy nominee George Chignell, and is described as "an inspiring, thought-provoking documentary about unexpected change, hope and finding renewed purpose in life".
The Mountain Within Me is in cinemas from the 23rd August, with preview Q&A screenings from 19th August. For more information go to www.mountain-within-me.film.
Check out more of our Documentaries or Film coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what's on. For more from the biggest stars in TV, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.
Authors
Patrick Cremona is the Senior Film Writer at Radio Times, and looks after all the latest film releases both in cinemas and on streaming. He has been with the website since October 2019, and in that time has interviewed a host of big name stars and reviewed a diverse range of movies.
