Monty Python star 'penniless' after Life of Brian fame for dark reason

A Monty Python star ended up penniless after finding fame alongside the likes of John Cleese and Eric Idle in The Life of Brian. The BAFTA award winner faced an extensive legal battle which resulted in a six month prison stint after he was found guilty of downloading indecent images of children.

Actor Chris Langham - who played Alfonso in the comedy film - spent tens of thousands of pounds on legal fees for his 2007 trial, and finally won an appeal over the length of his sentence. Originally given 10 months behind bars, a judge ruled it was "too long" and reduced it to six. The Thick of It actor was originally arrested in 2005 in connection with Operation Ore, and later charged with 15 counts of downloading indecent images of children.

Langham insisted that the images were "research" he was doing into starring as a peeping tom in an upcoming comedy, and claimed he was also the victim of child sexual abuse which had led him to seek out the images. This was dismissed as a defence by the judge.

He was made to sign the sex offenders register for 10 years, but insisted after his release from prison that though his life was "ruined", his "conscience is clear", insisting: "I have no sexual interest in children."

Offers of work dried up for the actor after his conviction, and in 2011 he told The Guardian that his arrest left him "walking around in circles going, 'I'm ruined, I'm ruined'."

He added: "Everybody in the country hates me - and I can't get a job." He claimed he was "penniless" in 2007, after enduring taunts and abuse from fellow inmates in Kent's Elmley Prison.

The actor told the Evening Times: "The people in the cells either side of me knew who I was, what I was in for, so there was a lot of banging on the walls and shouting abuse and threats and things."

But in recent years, the actor has been able to find work again. His latest on-screen acting project came in 2020, with him playing Danny in the film Vengeance. He also appeared in The Darkest Universe in 2016 and short film The Meal in 2015.