Disgraced ‘The Thick of It’ star and comedy writer Chris Langham dies aged 77

His death was only made public today

Langham's career came to an end in the mid-2000s after being convicted of downloading and possessing child sexual abuse material.

He was best known for playing the role of Hugh Abbot in the BBC's political satire series 'The Thick of It' as well being a writer for a number of comedy and entertainment shows including 'The Muppet Show'.

Langham's death was confirmed today in an obituary published in The Times, which said he died from pancreatic cancer on 24 June this year.

Chris Langham in 2007. Credit: Getty.

Arrested in 2005, Langham was dropped from 'The Thick of It' just days after winning a Bafta for his work on the show, being written out before being convicted in 2007.

In a 2015 interview with The Independent, he said: "I did something terribly wrong.

"I offended my community and I was punished, quite correctly, for being as stupid and arrogant as the judge described me to be."

Asked by the paper why he viewed some of the videos multiple times, Langham replied: “That’s the unhealthy side of it. That’s the side of it that I need to be ashamed off. Doing it twice is a pattern.

"I was looking for something, I think. I found it in court, in the prison, in the sentence.

"Blunderingly, I stumbled on a solution for myself: which was to be shown clearly where I was wrong and clearly the other place in me that needed healing.”

He added: “I’m sorry that I did it. I’m not justifying it or trying to explain it away, but those are the circumstances.”

Speaking to the Guardian in 2011, Langham said: "That’s one of the things that I’ve struggled with forgiving. The judge stated really clearly that I’m not a paedophile – and then the policeman said afterwards that I was – and that’s what the press have run with ever since.”

Langham is survived by his second wife Christine Cartwright and two children.

He has three older children from his marriage to the actress Sue Jones-Davies, which ended in divorce.