Christopher "Chris" Langham (born 14 April 1949) is an English writer, actor and comedian. He is most famous for playing MP Hugh Abbot in BBC Four sitcom The Thick of It and as presenter Roy Mallard in People Like Us, first on BBC Radio 4 and later on its transfer to television on BBC Two, where Mallard is almost entirely an unseen character. He subsequently created several spoof adverts in the same vein. He also played similar unseen interviewers in an episode of the television series Happy Families and in the film The Big Tease. He is also known for his roles in the TV series Not the Nine O'Clock News, Help, Kiss Me Kate and as the gatehouse guard in Chelmsford 123. In 2006, he won BAFTA awards for The Thick of It and Help.

On 2 August 2007 Langham was found guilty of downloading indecent images of children from the Internet, and not guilty of six counts of indecent assault. He was sentenced to ten months in prison on 14 September 2007. On 14 November 2007, he won an appeal against the length of his sentence and was released after serving three and a half months.

Biography[link]

The son of theatre director Michael Langham and actress Helen Burns, Langham read English and Drama at Bristol University before dropping out.^[1]

Career[link]

Langham began performing comedy, and writing for Spike Milligan.

One of his earliest breaks was as the sole British writer for The Muppet Show. He also appeared as the "special guest star" in the nineteenth episode of the final season, when the scheduled guest, Richard Pryor, was unable to make it to the recording; a script was hastily written in which "Chris the Delivery Boy" stood in for an absent celebrity. He received two awards from the Writers Guild of America for his work on The Muppet Show.

Langham was part of the original cast for Not the Nine O'Clock News pilot in 1979, written by Richard Curtis. Positioned as a comedy series which was neither Monty Pythons Flying Circus or The Two Ronnies, even after the original pilot was pulled from the schedules he was retained for the first full series, billed equally with the then unknown Mel Smith, Pamela Stephenson and Rowan Atkinson. The first series did not rate as well as hoped, however, and it was felt that Langham was "too independent a spirit."^[1] Langham took a part in Monty Python's Life of Brian as a centurion, against the reaction of which Curtis had written a skit of the debate between John Cleese and Malcolm Muggeridge. Langham was upset at the inclusion of the sketch, which gave the team and producer John Lloyd the excuse for his replacement by support player Griff Rhys Jones. Langham did not learn of the switch until the last day of filming when he heard the crew discussing the second series. The show only achieved cult status during its later series and, in subsequent compilation repeats, most of Langham's contributions have been cut, giving the impression that he was never a main cast member.

Langham went on to appear on Smith and Jones' own programme, Alas Smith and Jones, playing an ineffectual panel show host; this character apparently inspired John Morton to create the character of Roy Mallard, later to feature in his show People Like Us played both on radio and (offscreen) on television by Langham. Langham also played a fly-on-the-wall documentary interviewer very similar to Roy Mallard in Happy Families in 1985.

Also in 1979, Langham played Arthur Dent in the first professional stage version of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, directed by Ken Campbell. He later returned to Hitchhiker's, appearing as Prak in Above The Title Production's Tertiary Phase radio series in 2004.

Langham narrated the 1984 radio series The History of Rock with Chris Langham, in which Langham gave a comedic, and somewhat fictitious, account of the history of rock music. On 14 November 1985 Langham appeared as the narrator/reporter in "Roxanne", episode five of the BBC situation comedy Happy Families, written by Ben Elton. In 1992 he appeared in the film Carry On Columbus.

In addition to several one-man shows, Langham counts among his stage credits Les Misérables, in which he played Thénardier in 1996, Crazy for You, for which he received an Olivier nomination, The Way of the World, The Nerd, Blondel and The Pirates of Penzance.

Langham wrote the BBC One sitcom Kiss Me Kate, in which he also appeared along with Caroline Quentin and Amanda Holden. In 2002 he wrote and starred in Bradford in My Dreams, an adaptation of a short story by Lawrence Block for the BBC. On Radio 4 he narrated the series The Rapid Eye Movement, which starred Martin Freeman as Chester Bennington, in whose head the entire series took place. In 2003 he directed the comedy series Posh Nosh.

In 2003 and 2005, respectively, he portrayed the authors George Orwell and John Wyndham in the BBC docudrama George Orwell - A Life In Pictures and the BBC Four documentary John Wyndham: the Invisible Man of Science Fiction. He also appeared in the radio magazine satire The Sunday Format.

He starred alongside co-writer Paul Whitehouse in Help on BBC Two in 2005, where he also appeared in the Armando Iannucci comedy The Thick of It in the same year. Langham was named Best Comedy Actor in the 2005 British Comedy Awards and won the 2006 BAFTA Best Comedy Performance award for his role in The Thick Of It. In November 2005 Langham wrote and starred in ITV pilot Seven Second Delay.

He was a frequent guest on The Heaven and Earth Show and part of Bremner, Bird and Fortune writing team. In this series he has occasionally appeared as a civil servant discussing things with Bremner's Tony Blair. On radio, Langham has appeared as a panellist on the Radio 4 show Armando Iannucci's Charm Offensive.

Langham starred in a feature-length comedy drama Black Pond, his first screen appearance since his release from prison.^[2]

Personal life[link]

Langham's first marriage, to actress/singer Sue Jones-Davies, produced three children, but broke up on his own admission due to his alcoholism.^[1] Langham had two children by his second wife, director Christine Cartwright.^[1]

Langham sought counselling for alcohol and cocaine addiction, and still undergoes therapy once a week.^[1] He used his experiences to co-write the BBC2 series Help, in which he portrayed a psychotherapist, with friend Paul Whitehouse; and played a counsellor in sitcom Kiss Me Kate.^[1]

Arrest and conviction[link]

On 29 November 2005, Langham was arrested by Kent Police in connection with Operation Ore, an ongoing investigation into internet child pornography, and was released on bail. The arrest was first reported in the press on 16 December 2005, in response to which Langham's lawyer read a statement in which he said that he was innocent, and pointed out that he had not been charged.^[3] On 11 May 2006 he was charged with 15 counts of "making indecent images" (a technical legal term actually meaning downloading of images as distinct from the act of photography) of children.^[4]

The trial took place during July and August 2007. Part of Langham's defence to these charges in court was that they were research on a paedophile character "Pedro" for a television comedy. Langham's former Help co-star/writer Paul Whitehouse confirmed that the character was referred to as a "peeping tom" who was prone to highly dubious sexual behaviour. "It was implied he had rubbed up against someone on a train" Whitehouse stated in court. Whitehouse stated that he was unaware that the character was intended to be a paedophile, nor was he personally aware of Langham obtaining such material for the development of the programme's script. However, a script was read out in which Pedro ogles young women and says: "God sent these young girls to me as temptation and I failed."^[5]

A selection of files and images found on Langham's laptop computer was shown to the jury on 25 July 2007.^[6] Langham stated under oath that he had been sexually abused by a stranger as a child,^[7] and admitted having pornography to help him "work through" his own psychological difficulties which resulted, but denied being himself a paedophile.^[8] He stated of one pornographic film downloaded that "I talked to my wife about it. I’m one of the children in the photographs. That’s the problem I have with it. I don’t know how to react to it,"^[8] adding:

On 2 August 2007 Langham was found guilty on charges of possessing child pornography and made to sign the sexual offenders register.^[9] He was remanded in custody pending sentencing on 14 September.^[10] Langham was also charged with eight sexual offences against an unnamed woman who was below the age of 16 at the time the assaults supposedly happened.^[11] Langham was acquitted of all these charges in the same trial where the pornography offences were considered. He was sentenced to ten months in prison on 14 September 2007.^[12]

Langham stated throughout that he was determined to clear his name but withdrew from all BBC projects pending the outcome of the case.^[13] On 5 December 2006 it was reported that he was banned from attending the 2006 British Comedy Awards despite his current show, The Thick of It, being a contender for an award.^[14] Many industry commentators suggested that the gaoling of Langham would bring an abrupt halt to the actor and writer's 30-year comedy career, just as it was peaking.^[15][16]

He was released on 14 November 2007 after his sentence was reduced to six months on appeal. Dame Heather Steel, who gave the Appeal Court's decision, said that the court viewed Langham's explanation as "highly improbable" but could not actually reject it, although he was still guilty of encouraging "despicable acts" through downloading the pornography.^[17] On his release, Langham stated "My life has been ruined but my conscience is clear" and complained that the media "completely ignored" the court's "acceptance based upon all the evidence and expert opinion that I have no sexual interest in children".^[18]

Post-release[link]

Only a few days after his release from prison, Langham was interviewed by celebrity psychologist Dr Pamela Connolly (née Stephenson), with whom he had worked on Not the Nine O'Clock News, for her UK television series Shrink Rap where he discussed being abused as an eight-year-old child, the events that led up to his conviction and the subsequent trial. The interview was broadcast on More4 on 15 January 2008.^[19]

Langham was also invited to make a speech in front of the Oxford Union on 29 May 2008, but the invitation was subsequently withdrawn.^[20]

In 2011, he was cast as the lead in Black Pond, a low-budget British film directed by Tom Kingsley and Will Sharpe.^[21] In an interview with The Guardian in September 2011, Langham relates that many people have suggested to him that he should work again, but no-one wants to employ him.^[22] Reviewing his performance in Black Pond positively, The Independent comment, 'whether it will rehabilitate him among casting agents and comedy show commissioners is another question.'^[21]

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikinews has related news: Chris Langham found guilty of downloading child pornography

Wikinews has related news: Chris Langham given ten months for downloading child porn

Wikinews has related news: Chris Langham's sentence for downloading child porn reduced

• Chris Langham at the Internet Movie Database
• Chris Langham at the British Film Institute
• Chris Langham at the bbc.co.uk Guide to Comedy, archived at the Internet Archive

Interviews

• "My top TV: Chris Langham" at BBC News Online (May 2001)
• "'Just to be OK is something I crave'" at The Guardian (May 2006)

Paul Whitehouse (born 17 May 1958) is a Welsh actor, writer and comedian. He became known for his work with Harry Enfield and as one of the stars of the popular BBC sketch show, The Fast Show. In a 2005 poll to find The Comedian's Comedian, he was in the top 50 comedy acts voted for by comedians and comedy insiders. Johnny Depp described Paul Whitehouse as "the greatest actor of all time".^[2]

Early life[link]

Whitehouse was born in Stanleytown in the Rhondda Valley, Glamorgan, Wales.^[1] His father worked for the National Coal Board and his mother was a singer with the Welsh National Opera.^[3] The family moved to Enfield^[4] when he was four years old, which led to him discovering his talent for mimicry:^[1]

"At school I didn’t say a word for the first four weeks - I called it my Silent Month. I think it was because everyone was speaking so differently from how it had been in Wales. Then, after four weeks, I came home one day and said, ‘Muumm, I wanna go to Sarfend!’ For her that was the end because I had lost my lovely Welsh lilt. So I became very conscious of speech and the effects it can have. But when I went back to Wales I would start talking all Welsh, ‘lyke that you see’ before going all Alf Garnett while coming back the other way.”

Early career[link]

Whitehouse attended the University of East Anglia in Norwich from Autumn 1977, where he made friends with Charlie Higson.^[5] The pair spent little of their first year studying, instead playing guitar and performing with their punk rock combo, the Right Hand Lovers, along with other university friends Kevin Buckland and Dave Cummings.

Whitehouse dropped out and lived with other drop-outs in a council flat in Hackney, east London and occasionally worked as a plasterer. After Higson graduated in 1980, he moved in with Whitehouse, working by day as a decorator and performing at night and the weekends with his new punk-funk group The Higsons.^[6]

The pair began working as tradesmen on a house shared by comedians Hugh Laurie and Stephen Fry, which inspired them to start writing comedy. They moved to an estate where in a pub they met Harry Enfield, a neighbour with a stage act,^[6] and after he gained a place on Channel 4's Saturday Live, the pair were invited to write for him.^[5] Whitehouse created Enfield's character Stavros a London-based Greek kebab shop owner, and then Loadsamoney an archetypal Essex boy made good in Margaret Thatcher's 1980s; he also appeared as Enfield's sidekick Lance on Saturday Live.

This success turned Whitehouse and Higson's career, and they began to appear on shows such as Vic Reeves' Big Night Out and extensively for the BBC, with Whitehouse appearing on A Bit of Fry and Laurie as a man with a clinical need to have his bottom fondled, and Paul Merton: The Series, then as performer on shows such as Harry Enfield's Television Programme, where he developed numerous characters including DJ Mike Smash of Smashie and Nicey alongside Harry Enfield as Nicey.

TV career[link]

[edit] The Fast Show

While watching a preview tape of highlights from Enfield's show, Whitehouse and Higson were inspired to create a rapid-fire delivery comedy show, The Fast Show. (When shown in the United States on BBC America, the show was titled Brilliant.) Whitehouse's characters included:

• Rowley Birkin QC
• The 13th Duke of Wymbourne
• Archie ("hardest game in the world")
• Chris Jackson
• Unlucky Alf
• Arthur Atkinson
• 'Brilliant'
• Ron Manager
• Ken, one of the "Suit You" tailors
• Lindsey, one of the Offroaders
• Poutremos Poutra-Poutremos, anchor of the foreign TV station Chanel 9 sketch

Due to his array of comedy characters, Johnny Depp has said Whitehouse is one of the best actors he has seen. Depp is a fan of the The Fast Show and made a guest appearance on the programme.

Rumours about a new, online series of The Fast Show being commissioned by Fosters have been confirmed with Whitehouse starring in the first of six weekly episodes due to launch on the 10th of November 2011.^[7]

[edit] Happiness

In 2001 and 2002 Whitehouse wrote and performed in two series of the BBC comedy drama Happiness, in which he played a voice-over actor with a mid-life crisis.

[edit] Help

Whitehouse wrote, produced and appeared with Chris Langham in the 2005 comedy drama Help, also for the BBC. In this show he took 25 roles, all patients of Langham's psychotherapist (except one, who is Langham's psychotherapist's psychotherapist). The pair's collaboration resulted in Whitehouse taking the witness stand on 24 July 2007 in the trial of Langham, in regard to the charge of holding explicit images and videos of minors. Langham claimed he downloaded this material as research for a character in the second series of Help, but Whitehouse's testimony only partially corroborated this explanation.^[8]

[edit] Harry and Paul

Whitehouse is appearing in the BBC sketch show Harry & Paul (formerly Ruddy Hell! It's Harry and Paul), starring alongside Harry Enfield.^[9]

[edit] Bellamy's People

Whitehouse stars alongside Charlie Higson in a new BBC2 comedy series called Bellamy's People, the first episode was broadcast on 21 January 2010. The comedy evolved from the BBC Radio 4 show Down the Line.^[10] The show originally had the working title of Bellamy’s Kingdom,

Radio[link]

Whitehouse and Charlie Higson produced and appeared in a spoof phone-in show Down the Line on BBC Radio 4. The first series was broadcast May–June 2006. A second series was broadcast 16 January - 20 February 2007, during which they won a Sony Radio Academy Award.^[11] A third series was broadcast in January 2008. They are scheduled to record the fourth series in January/February 2011.

Advertising[link]

In mid-2007, Whitehouse followed Victoria Wood in the latest Asda advertising campaign.

He is involved in a current advertising campaign for Aviva in which he plays a variety of inspirational characters including a Plymouth Argyle supporter taking his companions to away games, an elderly Welsh goth who collects antiques, and a deceased patriarch providing life insurance to his grieving family.

Other[link]

He also starred alongside James Corden and Mathew Horne in episode 4 of Horne & Corden.

In April 2009 Whitehouse publicly announced that he plans to create “the best television comedy format ever devised”. Though some have questioned Whitehouse’s confidence, many consider the comedy genius more than capable of achieving his goal. In a magazine interview, veteran panellist John Sessions commented, “He’s the man for the job. It’s something we’ve all tried to do and failed, in my case desperately, but if anyone can do it Paul can.”^{[citation needed]}

Personal life[link]

Whitehouse is divorced and has three daughters - Molly, Sophie and Lauren. He lives in Islington and drives an Audi, is a supporter of English Premiership football team Tottenham Hotspur and has appeared on fellow comedian Phil Cornwell's Spurs Show podcast.^[12] Whitehouse also claimed to have a soft spot for Everton when asked on the Danny Baker radio show broadcast on Saturday 13 February 2010 to describe his childhood bedroom Whitehouse responded by saying "There's an Everton and Tottenham poster on the wall. I'm a Tottenham fan but I quite like Everton 'cause they were the champions when I was a kid. If I wasn't from Tottenham I think I'd have been an Everton fan as they're my second team if you like."^{[citation needed]}

Inspiration[link]

Whitehouse's main early influences were the sketches of Peter Cook and Dudley Moore, and the Monty Python crew. Tommy Cooper made him laugh, as did Morecambe and Wise and the television show "Dad's Army". He cites his modern influences as Harry Enfield (who he says without meeting he would not have been doing what he does now), and the approach of Reeves and Mortimer who he thinks are "far and away the best comedians that we have had in this country for a long while."^[13]

Filmography[link]

Whitehouse has had a number of small roles in film, principally:

• Kevin and Perry Go Large - Bouncer, with Harry Enfield
• Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban - Sir Cadogan.
• Finding Neverland - Stage Manager (with his friend and admirer Johnny Depp; Whitehouse's daughters Molly and Sophie have non-speaking roles as orphans in the film)
• Corpse Bride - William Van Dort, Mayhew, Paul the Head Waiter (again, with Johnny Depp)
• Alice in Wonderland - Thackery Earwicket, the March Hare (once again, with friend Johnny Depp)
• Burke and Hare - Gentleman Drunk

References[link]