Thick Of It star accused of sexual offences

Chris Langham has been charged with eight counts of indecent assault and one other sexual offence.

The new charges under the Sexual Offences Act 1956 follow his arrest on 15 alleged counts of making indecent images of children - the charge asssociated with downloading pictures from the internet.

They were raised when he answered bail. The alleged offences are believed to relate to the same underage teenage girl.

Langham, 57, of Cranbrook, Kent,  will appear before magistrates in Sevenoaks on Thursday.

In a statement, the married father of five said: 'I have nothing further to add to what I have said previously, namely that I am determined to clear my name.

'In view of all the circumstances, I have decided to withdraw from all projects with the BBC until these matters are resolved.

Earlier the BBC confirmed he would not be in the Christmas special of The Thick Of It — saying that was always planned.

And the star issued a statement saying: “In view of all the circumstances, I have decided to withdraw from all projects with the BBC until these matters are resolved.”

Earlier,  the BBC stated that Chris Langham would not be appearing in the Christmas edition of political satire The Thick Of It as he awaits his court hearing.

However, the BBC insisted he had never been due to appear in the seasonal special anyway.

BBC4 controller Janice Hadlow said: ‘The plan was always that the Christmas special was going to be a slightly different story. He never would have needed to be in it.’

Rather than follow the spin machine surrounding Langham’s beleaguered minister Hugh Abbott, the festive edition of Armando Iannucci’s comedy will focus on the Shadow Cabinet.

Published: 13 Sep 2006