Chris Langham, the star of the BBC’s The Thick of It, whose career came to an end when he was convicted of downloading and possessing child sexual abuse material, has died at the age of 77. Langham’s death was confirmed via an obituary published in The Times, which said he died from pancreatic cancer on 24 June this year. Langham found fame first as a writer for Spike Milligan, and later as a performer and writer on the sketch show Not the Nine O’Clock News.
He became a household name in 2005 via Armando Iannucci’s The Thick of It, which cast Langham as an inept cabinet member named Hugh Abbott. Just days after winning a Bafta for his work on the show – for Best Comedy Performance – Langham was charged with 15 counts of downloading indecent images, including clips that showed the rape of a teenager and the sexual abuse of an eight-year-old. He was ordered to be placed on the sexual offenders register for a decade.
His sentence was reduced to six months on appeal, partly motivated by Langham’s claim that he had viewed the sexual abuse images for research purposes. Upon release, Langham stated that his “conscience is clear” and complained that the media had “ignored” the court’s “acceptance based upon all the evidence and expert opinion that I have no sexual interest in children”. Despite his release, a detective superintendent from Kent Police insisted to the press that Langham “is a paedophile”.
The actor was dropped from The Thick of It in the wake of his initial arrest, with his character written out off-screen between seasons two and three. New subscribers only. £9.99/mo. after free trial. Plan auto-renews until cancelled.
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