A Bafta-winning actor and writer - best known for his performance in The Thick of It - has spoken out about being convicted for downloading child pornography.

Chris Langham fell from grace at the height of his fame in May 2006.

The 66-year-old was charged with 15 counts of downloading indecent images, including clips which showed the rape of a teenager and the sexual abuse of an eight-year-old.

He was jailed for almost a year, but now the Cranbrook resident says his "arrogance" and "ego" led him to download the images - which he still maintains was research for a series he was writing.

Speaking to the Independent on Sunday, Mr Langham said: "I have completely f***ed up my own life. It wasn’t circumstances. I’m not blaming it on anything or anybody.”

"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."

The piece claims Mr Langham is now working on a documentary about an orphanage which is run by former child soldiers in Freetown who have overcome the horrors of their past to help Ebola victims.

The project, Lifeline Nehemiah, is run by four men who were among 800 child soldiers saved during and following the country's civil war.

Langham added: "These people are intoxicating to be around. You listen to them and you just go, ‘Take me with you.'"

The actor's career ended when he was convicted in 2007 but he told the Independent on Sunday his motives then shouldn't stop him from doing good now.

"As a result of going through the criminal justice system, I have ended up doing a lot of work on myself and trying to be a better person. Isn’t that what is supposed to happen?," he told the paper.

For the eight years since the trial, he has been living on the earnings of his wife, Chrissie, who stood by her husband when he was convicted.

"My husband's crime was of stupidity, arrogance and ghoulish curiosity, believing that he might be beyond the law and not considering the implications" - Chrissie Langham

Speaking to the Kent Messenger at her 14th century home near Cranbrook, the choreographer told of her hurt and anguish at the national press coverage.

Mrs Langham said: "My husband's crime was of stupidity, arrogance and ghoulish curiosity, believing that he might be beyond the law and not considering the implications. My husband is not a paedophile.

"No one will punish themselves more than Chris, no amount of custody will punish him more than he will punish himself."

She described her husband as "the most passionate person I know about the well-being of children, physically, mentally or emotionally."

Langham was released from prison after serving three months of his 10-month sentence.

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