An actor who lost a leg from diabetes and needs a wheelchair will take to the London stage portraying a character suffering from motor neurone disease.

Philip Goldacre from Sheppey clinched the part in a new play called Bodies at London’s Royal Court Theatre.

The play by Vivienne Franzmann will be performed at the 85-seat Jerwood Theatre Upstairs from Wednesday, July 5, to Saturday, August 12.

Philip, 63, plays David, a man in a wheelchair who suffers from the same cruel nerve-wasting illness which attacked physicist Stephen Hawking.

In real life Philip also sometimes needs a wheelchair since his right leg was amputated below the knee when gangrene set in because of type 2 diabetes. He has an artificial leg and has since lost three toes on his left foot.

He said: "I am thrilled to get my first theatre job for a while. It is a wonderful piece of writing and tremendously clever.

“It will also be a great challenge. There are eight shows a week with matinees on Thursdays and Saturdays. I have already started exercising to build up my stamina.”

He plans to drive from his home in Minster to Orpington then use pubic transport into central London.

He said: “I am not sure how easy it will be. I may have to try to walk with my wheelchair folded up.”

He has also suffered two life-threatening heart attacks and added: “Diabetes is a deadly disease which kills people. Ignore it at your peril. I have lost a leg and nearly died.”

Mr Goldacre was born on the Manor Grove estate, Sittingbourne. In 1959 his parents moved to Park Road to found the Iris Thomas School of Dance and Drama.

He attended Ufton Lane Junior School, Barrow Grove (now Westlands Primary School) and Borden Grammar School before joining the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers (REME) at 17, with four O-levels.

He was fit and represented Kent at trampolining. He excelled in athletics, football, cross-country running, swimming and shooting. But a life sitting in a lorry cab as his main job led to diabetes.

He admitted: “I tried hard for 16 years to control it. I never had any of the typical symptoms such as a desperate thirst, tiredness or needing to go to the loo every night.

“The first I knew of it was when I had a routine medical check for my HGV licence in 1999 and doctors found sugar in my urine.”

When doctors put him on a course of eight to 10 tablets a day he decided enough was enough and vowed to give up smoking, drinking and taking sugar. He also has to inject himself with insulin four times a day.

Swale has one of the highest incidence of diabetes in Kent with 5,459 cases. Doctors believe another 503 have it.

Philip's TV appearances include the Liverpool-based soap Brookside in 1984, the 1987 film The Vision where he played the assistant to the BBC’s director general, Crimewatch and The Bill.

He is now represented by Louise Dyson, who runs the Visable People agency for actors with disabilities, after his previous agent “let him go.”

His first stage appearance was aged seven. Pantomimes followed at the Hazlitt Theatre, Maidstone. His first TV appearance was in The Tripods.

When acting work dried up he sank £450 of savings into an HGV lorry licence course and went on to deliver food for Tesco and Sainsbury’s and helped build the M25.

He spent four years in the Army and later worked at Canning Town Glass Works, Queenborough, and Sheerness Steel. The latter almost killed him.

He was on his way home from work on the top of a double-decker bus in December 1977 when it crashed into the railway bridge in Mill Way, near Sittingbourne railway station.

The roof was sliced off and Mr Goldacre, the only passenger upstairs, ended up with a fractured skull. He recalled: "I’d only gone upstairs for a smoke. It just proves smoking can seriously damage your health.”

Tickets for his new play start at £12 from 020 7565 5000 or www.royalcourttheatre.com