Max, a disabled civil servant (he uses a wheelchair), is addicted to having sex with prostitutes, and spends all his weekly wages "curb-crawling" for working girls. Then, his world is turned upside down, when he encounters a prostitute who tells him a "Jack the Ripper" type serial killer is murdering her friends, and that she is in fear of her life. Max decides he must save "his girls" and become a "Sherlock Holmes in a wheelchair" and bring the killer to justice. But the police suspect Max of being the killer, and the real killer knows where Max lives.
Nabil Shaban was born in 1953 in Amman, Jordan and arrived in England when he was three for treatment for his osteogenesis imperfecta (brittle-bone disease). In 1980, he and Richard Tomlinson founded Graeae (pronounced Grey Eye), a professional theatre company of disabled performers. A writer and performer with many film and television credits, he is probably best known to television viewers for his role as ruthless intergalactic businessman Sil in the Doctor Who stories 'Vengeance on Varos' and 'Trial of a Timelord' (BBC, 1985 + 1986).
On stage he has played Volpone, Hamlet, and Jesus in Godspell, Haille Sellassie in 'The Emperor and Ayatollah Khomeini in Iranian Nights, Mack the Knife in Theatre Workshop's production of Brecht's "Threepenny Opera", for which he was nominated Critics' Best Actor in Scottish Theatre (2004-2005). He has also played Hamm in Beckett's "Endgame" (Theatre Workshop 2007-2008)
He also played the storyteller Rashid in the Royal National Theatre's production of Salman Rushdie's "Haroun and the Sea of Stories".
He has performed in such movies as City of Joy (d. Roland Joffe, 1991), Wittgenstein (d. Derek Jarman, 1992) and Born of Fire (d. Jamil Dehlavi, 1988), and on television in Walter (d. Stephen Frears 1982) )and Deptford Graffiti (d. Phil Davis 1991) he also made cameo appearances in Children of Men (2006) and Trouble Sleeping (d. Robert Rae 2007).
Nabil Shaban is a political actor and has worked in plays about Palestine (The Little Lamp, 1999 Jasmine Road, 2003 and One Hour Before Sun Rise, 2006), about the State murder of Northern Ireland lawyer, Rosemary Nelson (Portadown Blues, 2000). Also "D.A.R.E." (disabled terrorists opposed to genetic cleansing of disabled people) (1997-2004). These were all Theatre Workshop (Edinburgh) productions, directed by Robert Rae.
Shaban has written and presented several documentaries on themes of disability, including the Emmy award winning Skin Horse (Channel 4, 1983), about disability and sexuality, the Fifth Gospel (BBC, 1990), exploring the relationship between the Christian gospels and disability. He also instigated and presented the Without Walls: 'Supercrips and Rejects' (Channel 4, 1996), about Hollywood's representation of disabled people. Also in a Secret History documentary "The Strangest Viking" (Channel 4, 2003), he argued the case that Ivarr the Boneless, viking leader, was born disabled.
Shaban's radio work includes writing and presenting a six part series on the life of Gandhi (BBC World Service 1984). Playing Benn Gunn in BBC Radio 4 "Treasure Island" (1994) and Jaturi the vulture in BBC Radio 2 "The Ramayan" (1994).
In 1995, he founded Sirius Pictures to make video arts documentary Another World. This was followed in 1997 by the award-winning 'The Alien Who Lived in Sheds' (BBC, 1997) which he wrote, directed and starred in.. He also completed a music film, Crip Triptych (2006), which he produced, wrote and directed. In 2007, he wrote, produced and directed short drama film, Morticia, about a lonely little girl who yearns to be a vampire.
Nabil Shaban, who has a degree in Psychology and Philosophy, was awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Surrey for the achievements of his career and his work to change public perceptions of disabled people.
In 2005 Nabil Shaban published his first book, "Dreams My Father Sold Me", an anthology of thirty years of his artwork and poetry, with a foreword by Lord Richard Attenborough. Shaban's written plays include "I am the Walrus" (about a schizophrenic who believes he made Mark Chapman assassinate John Lennon), and "The First To Go" (about disabled people in Germany's Third Reich) published in 2007, premiered in 2008, as a Benchtours Theatre production.
