Nabil Shaban

Nabil Shaban

Born: February 12, 1953
in Amman, Jordan
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). He spent the next six years in hospital and seven in a children's home. 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 businessman Sil in the Doctor Who stories 'Vengeance on Varos' and 'The Trial of a Time Lord' (BBC, 1985 + 1986).

Movies for Nabil Shaban...

Title: Tales of the Tardis
Character: Sil
Released: November 1, 2023
Type: TV
Classic Doctor Who duos are reunited as they board a very special TARDIS on a nostalgic voyage through space and time.
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Sil and the Devil Seeds of Arodor
Title: Sil and the Devil Seeds of Arodor
Character: Sil
Released: November 8, 2019
Type: Movie
An original drama from the world of BBCtv's Doctor Who, featuring Sil, the ruthless alien entrepreneur from planet Thoros Beta, played by Nabil Shaban. Sil is worried, very worried, which doesn't keep his reptilian skin in the best condition! Confined in a cold detention cell on the moon, awaiting a deportation hearing for trial on drugs offences on Earth, he faces a death sentence if the application is successful and he is found guilty. And his employers at the Universal Monetary Fund aren t pleased either. Not at all. As time runs out and friends desert him, Sil must use all of his devious, vile, underhanded, ruthless, and amoral business acumen to survive. Can he possibly slime his way out of this one?
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Morticia
Title: Morticia
Character: Dr. Moores
Released: October 20, 2009
Type: Movie
An eleven-year-old girl, living in Edinburgh, Scotland, hates her Christian name, Kylie. She prefers to be called "Morticia" And she wants a real Dad she can identify with. She wants Dracula...and she wants to be a vampire.
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Trouble Sleeping
Title: Trouble Sleeping
Character: Lawyer
Released: August 24, 2008
Type: Movie
A Palestinian refugee attempting to avoid deportation.
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Children of Men
Title: Children of Men
Character: Bexhill Market Hustler
Released: September 22, 2006
Type: Movie
In 2027, in a chaotic world in which humans can no longer procreate, a former activist agrees to help transport a miraculously pregnant woman to a sanctuary at sea, where her child's birth may help scientists save the future of humankind.
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The Story of Doctor Who
Title: The Story of Doctor Who
Released: December 30, 2003
Type: Movie
Documentary to celebrate the fortieth anniversary of this popular cult sci-fi television series.
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The Strangest Viking
Title: The Strangest Viking
Released: June 12, 2003
Type: Movie
"The Strangest Viking" is a Secret History TV documentary about Ivarr the Boneless. Nabil Shaban presents the theory that a war leader of Danish Vikings, Ivarr the Boneless, who invaded and conquered parts of England in 865 A.D. was not only crippled, and had to be carried into battle on the back of a shield, but also believed (by various medical historians) that he had been born with the congenital disability known as Osteogenesis Imperfecta, "brittle bones" - the very same disability that Shaban has.
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Sorry About Last Night
Title: Sorry About Last Night
Character: Lawyer
Released: December 27, 1995
Type: Movie
A romantic comedy written by and starring Alexei Sayle. A couple on a first date in London are determined to find a drink after closing time, to prove to themselves that they are not careworn and middle-aged. What follows is a series of misadventures
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Slave of Dreams
Title: Slave of Dreams
Released: January 1, 1995
Type: Movie
The Egyptian executioner's wife tries to seduce Hebrew slave Joseph to fulfill a dream they are experiencing simultaneously.
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Skallagrigg
Title: Skallagrigg
Character: Alan
Released: March 9, 1994
Type: Movie
Back in the 'bad old days' when the physically and mentally disabled were locked away in institutions a legend grew of someone who could stand up to the authorities and help them. This charming story is how a group of disabled people went to chase that legend. To assist them John is forced to come to terms with his daughter and her friends.
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Wittgenstein
Title: Wittgenstein
Character: Martian
Released: March 26, 1993
Type: Movie
A dramatization, in modern theatrical style, of the life and thought of the Viennese-born, Cambridge-educated philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein, whose principal interest was the nature and limits of language. A series of sketches depict the unfolding of his life from boyhood, through the era of the first World War, to his eventual Cambridge professorship and association with Bertrand Russell and John Maynard Keynes. The emphasis in these sketches is on the exposition of the ideas of Wittgenstein, a homosexual, and an intuitive, moody, proud, and perfectionistic thinker generally regarded as a genius.
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City of Joy
Title: City of Joy
Character: Anouar
Released: April 15, 1992
Type: Movie
Max Lowe is a Houston surgeon who has grown weary of the bureaucracy of American medicine. When he loses a patient on the operating table, Max impulsively decides to leave America and travel to India in the hope of finding himself. Not long after he arrives in Calcutta, Max is attacked by a group of thugs and left without money or a passport.
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A Different Hand
Title: A Different Hand
Character: The Best Friend
Released: March 23, 1992
Type: Movie
A musical comedy drama about a young woman (played by Tina Leslie) rebelling against society's attitudes (including her parents, her doctor, her priest and teacher) towards people like her who are without hands or in other ways different. Everyone is trying to force her to wear artificial hands, everyone except for her disabled friend (Nabil Shaban), who assists in her revolt.
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Deptford Graffiti
Title: Deptford Graffiti
Character: George
Released: February 16, 1991
Type: Movie
George, wheelchair and hospital bound, is released by Cherry and a group of Hell's Angels.
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The Fifth Gospel
Title: The Fifth Gospel
Character: The Laternist
Released: January 1, 1990
Type: Movie
A documentary about disability and Christianity from Nabil Shaban and Tina Leslie.
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Iranian Nights
Title: Iranian Nights
Character: Caliph
Released: January 1, 1989
Type: Movie
A Channel Four special presentation of the Royal Court Theatre 1989 production, London. with Paul Bhattacharjee, Nabil Shaban and Fiona Victory. "Iranian Nights" was a play written and produced as a direct response by writers and artists to the notorious Feb 14 1989 Fatwa (a sentence of death) from Iran's leader, Ayatollah Khomeini, placed on Salman Rushdie for his novel "The Satanic Verses", regarded by fundamentalist Muslims as blasphemous.
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Billy's Christmas Angels
Title: Billy's Christmas Angels
Character: Charlie
Released: December 23, 1988
Type: Movie
Billy wants to play in a rock band with his brother Dave. This Christmas, Billy 's Angels come down to earth to help Billy find Dave, and reality, through Faith, Hope and Charlie.
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Title: South Of The Border
Character: Prosecuting Counsel
Released: October 25, 1988
Type: TV
Drama concerning a pair of female private detectives, Pearl Parker (Buki Armstrong) and Finn Gallagher (Rosie Rowell) operating within the bustling multicultural communities of South London. The series was renowned for affording opportunities to new talent, women and people of colour both in front of and behind the cameras.
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Born of Fire
Title: Born of Fire
Character: The Silent One
Released: March 31, 1987
Type: Movie
For reasons unknown, a flautist and an astronomer find themselves drawn to one another. But, when the flautist stumbles upon a secret regarding his late father, the two wind up in a celestial duel against the ancient Master Flautist for earth's future.
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Doctor Who: Mindwarp
Title: Doctor Who: Mindwarp
Character: Sil
Released: October 25, 1986
Type: Movie
As the Doctor's trial continues, evidence is presented showing his most recent adventure, one where he faces an old adversary, Sil. As a scientist conducts his unethical experiments to prolong the life of Sil's boss Kiv, the Doctor's memories of the events begins to return and an unpleasant surprise awaits him.
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Raspberry Ripple
Title: Raspberry Ripple
Character: Bill
Released: January 1, 1986
Type: Movie
A clever paraplegic man, haunted by visions of imaginary gangsters, becomes desperate to leave the "cripple" facility he's stuck in. To get out, he must outwit the facility's matron and the constant surveillance of one of his fellows.
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Doctor Who: Vengeance on Varos
Title: Doctor Who: Vengeance on Varos
Character: Sil
Released: January 26, 1985
Type: Movie
When the TARDIS is in need of repairs, the Doctor and Peri are forced to land on Varos, a mining planet whose population is entertained and enslaved by a sadistic system of public torture and execution, and find themselves the latest unwilling subjects in this most extreme form of reality TV.
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The Skin Horse
Title: The Skin Horse
Character: Narrator
Released: January 1, 1983
Type: Movie
An award-winning, ground-breaking TV documentary dealing sensitively with the topic of sex and intimacy within the disabled community.
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Walter
Title: Walter
Character: Ben Gunn
Released: November 2, 1982
Type: Movie
A man with learning difficulties suffers neglect and ill-treatment, and this is only exasperated when his parents die and nobody seems to know what to do with him. A sequel to this film, titled "Walter and June", was released in 1983 and set 19 years later in time. In the United States, these two are sometimes bundled together under the title "Loving Walter".
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Getting Away From Sidney
Title: Getting Away From Sidney
Released: January 17, 1981
Type: Movie
Getting Away From Sidney - BBC TV documentary about Graeae, a touring theatre company of disabled actors (1981) The Arena arts TV programme which put Graeae Theatre Company on the map in 1981. In this documentary are scenes from Graeae's first show "SIDESHOW", and interviews with the very first and original company, which consisted of Richard Tomlinson, co-founder and director, and cast of six disabled actors (three men, and three women), Will Kennen, Jag Plah, Nabil Shaban (co-founder), Elane Roberts, Marion Saunders and Alex Lowe. This Arena documentary not only helped begin a revolution in disability arts and culture, but it was also directly responsible for Nabil Shaban being offered work in Channel Four's TV film "Walter", in the Royal Court theatre production of "The Emperor", and the part of Sil in Doctor Who "Vengeance on Varos". The Arena documentary was produced by Alan Yentob, and directed by Nigel Williamson.
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Title: Doctor Who
Character: Sil
Released: November 23, 1963
Type: TV
The adventures of The Doctor, a time-traveling humanoid alien known as a Time Lord. He explores the universe in his TARDIS, a sentient time-traveling spaceship. Its exterior appears as a blue British police box, which was a common sight in Britain in 1963 when the series first aired. Along with a succession of companions, The Doctor faces a variety of foes while working to save civilizations, help ordinary people, and right many wrongs.
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Vote Sil
Title: Vote Sil
Character: Sil
Released: December 31, 1969
Type: Movie
The sequel to Sil And The Devil Seeds Of Arodor!