Convicted paedophile and actor Chris Langham has died at the age of 77 following a cancer diagnosis.
Langham, best known for his role in Thick of It, had been living with pancreatic cancer behind the scenes before his death.
The actor was jailed for almost a year in 2006 after downloading and viewing extreme child sexual abuse images.
Langham died almost three months ago, according to The Times.
The London-born comedian was married to his second wife, Christine, who is said to have supported him through his criminal case.
He is survived by his five children and his first wife, Sue Jones-Davies.
The veteran actor claimed he downloaded the child abuse images as part of research for a comedy series he was looking to write.
However, the police rejected the claim.
When the criminal material was shown in court during his trial, one juror threw up afterwards.
In an apparent attempt to take some responsibility, Langham told The Independent in 2015 what drove his actions: ‘I have completely f***ed up my own life. It wasn’t circumstances. I’m not blaming it on anything or anybody.
‘That was foolish. And ultimately selfish. Arrogant.
‘I thought “I will do this difficult thing”. But it had no respect for the children whose tragedies I was prepared to witness.
‘It was just driven by ego. Because then you would like me, for taking this difficult subject and helping us all to see it differently.’
Langham’s career kicked off as a writer for The Muppet Show, where it snowballed into bigger jobs throughout the 1970s and 80s.
He went on to have a spate of roles in comedy panel shows, including a stint in the original Not the Nine O’Clock News.
Langham wrote sitcoms for BBC One and BBC Three later in his career, and narrated Radio 4 drama series with Martin Freeman.
In 2005, he starred in Help on BBC Two, and the popular The Thick of It by Armando Iannucci, playing Hugh Abbot’s character.
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