When Peter Holland was diagnosed with incurable bone cancer he asked his film-maker brother to follow the course of his illness.

Luke Holland's resulting documentary, shot over four years as the disease tightened its grip, will be screened on TV tonight.

As an internationally renowned film-maker, Luke has never shied away from difficult subjects.

His credits include documentaries about the holocaust and the Third Reich.

But filming his brother Peter's four-year struggle against cancer is something he will never forget.

It was Peter's idea to get his brother to make the 75-minute film, More Than A Life, to take his mind off what was happening to him.

But rather than wanting it to be a documentary about death, Luke, from Ditchling, near Burgess Hill, wanted it to be about life.

Luke, 53, said: "Peter was a brave, courageous and engaging protagonist.

"When we were filming we said it would not be morbid or moribund. Peter wanted to be living with it rather than dying from it, although the film doesn't flinch from the subject of death.

"I filmed almost from the day he was diagnosed. It was his idea because he said it would give him something to concentrate on and maybe help others.

"I never set out to make a film about dying. We deal with the issue at the beginning. It is a celebration of Peter's life rather than his death.

"It is not a scripted film. It is an observational film, which comes to a different conclusion from the one I would have liked to have seen.

"I suppose I anticipated it but it is a measure of our capacity for denial."

Peter carried on working throughout his illness, running his scrap metal and recycling firm.

He also married his long-time companion, Jeanette.

He was diagnosed in September 1996 with myeloma, a rare form of bone cancer for which there is no known cure.

It accounts for about one per cent of all types of cancers in the UK.

He died a little over four years later, on the eve of his 58th birthday and his fourth wedding anniversary, leaving behind two daughters and three grandchildren.

Peter said: "It is a debilitating illness. It slows you down but so does the treatment. The illness can kill you and so can the cure.

"His immune system was compromised and so was his heart. You need a very strong heart to deal with the treatment but his was not strong enough."

Before Peter's death, Luke, his four other brothers, his sister and his parents, both now in their 90s, had to watch him undergo several bone marrow transplants.

All the while, Luke, who works at the Brighton Media Centre, was documenting his progress. Not everyone in the family was at ease with his work.

He said: "I was keen to create something universal rather than it dipping into a home movie, however moving it may be.

"There is nothing more boring than other people's home movies and I didn't want to inflict that on people.

"This was the first time I brought my film-making home and there was a reluctance in some family members to document my brother's demise. They were uncomfortable because the film would not be finished until Peter had died.

"But when you have seen the film it gets the issue of death out of the way right at the beginning.

"I think maybe that was part of my conviction about making a film about Peter's life rather than his death.

Luke carried on filming almost to Peter's death and said the documentary brought the two siblings much closer together.

He said: "It has always been my thing to treat my subjects with respect but, of course, with the family the stakes are raised because I want to maintain the relationship after the film.

"When I film people I become involved but with my brother I had to achieve a kind of distance.

"I was having to move in and out of that complex relationship of being a sibling and a film-maker."

The film was recently premiered at the International Documentary Film Festival in Toronto, Canada, to critical acclaim. Other myeloma sufferers called it a "gift".

But despite the effect the film has had so far Luke remains circumspect.

He said: "It's not much fun watching your brother die. Perhaps naively I thought he would beat it as he had done so many other things.

"I think making a film about it was a way for me to deal with the illness. It is clearly no substitute for having him around but as a result of his film Peter is going to be more widely known and more widely loved.

"To some extent that has given him a kind of immortality. In the film Peter says, 'Life will always be too short' but in a way he perhaps knew he was facing this terminal illness and he used his last years very productively.

"Peter's success was not in beating the illness in conventional terms but in living his last years with great dignity."

More Than A Life, by ZEF Productions, is being shown on BBC Four tonight at 9pm and repeated at 11.45pm. The film will be screened again on BBC Four on Monday at 11.50pm.