[quote name="chipolata" post="5329" date="January 5, 2007, 10:54 AM"]I find it quite worrying that we have to start purging our DVD and record collections if somebody involved was involved in a crime. Does that mean I have to chuck out all my Phil Spector records? And my Sex Pistols albums? Sid Vicious stabbed his girfriend, that's not very nice. Or how about getting rid of any films starring Paul Rueben's because he was once caught jerking off in a cinema? And wasn't one of the cast of Rab C Nesbit convicted of a pretty unpleasant offence? Should I burn those DVD's as well? And who could forget The Naked Gun films starring OJ Simpson? And if you want to talk about child abuse, Charlie Chaplin had a pretty unhealthy interest in underage girls, should he be written out of history as well? Ditto for Jerry Lee Lewis - didn't he marry a fourteen year old?'

There are a few points that I would make about this list.

The first is that many of these people were affected by the accusations that they faced. Jerry Lee Lewis had to go on the run when he married that girl and it did affect how people viewed him and his music at the time.

The second is that several of these incidents are viewed as being much less serious than child abuse. Jerking off in a cinema or even wounding with a knife are nowhere near as frowned upon in this country as child abuse is.

The third point that I would make is that people like O.J. Simpson and the guy from Rab C. Nesbitt only had relatively small roles in what they did. O.J. was in each of the Naked Gun films for about 10 minutes which is very different to the role that Chris Langham has played in the shows he has been in. I'm not saying he is the only star but he is high profile in them. O.J. was also found not guilty in the criminal trial and while many people may not agree with that decision it does make a difference.

The fourth point is that a lot of these incidences happened a long time ago. People are much more concerned with fresh convictions than they are with incidents that happened decades and decades ago.

The two examples that I would cite are Gary Glitter and Jonathan King. Both have been found guilty of sex offences and so are pretty relevant. Now the fact is that Glitter's music is not played on the radio anymore and is not sold in shops. People's opinions have changed towards it and I don't think anybody can deny that.

Jonathan King's case is more interesting because he often worked behind the scenes with bands like Genesis and many others. Now their albums have not been reevaluated because he is not an audible presence on them. But any song which featured his lead vocals would not be played on the radio now I doubt and people wouldn't want to hear it.

Those factors are pretty important I think. If Chris Langham had only worked as a writer or producer on these shows then there would be more chance of them being released. If a fair amount of time passes between a possible guilty verdict and a DVD release then it would be a lot more feasible.

Quote: Nick @ January 5, 2007, 2:47 PM

In what way is it a hell of a lot of Beach Boys? You mean because he influenced them I presume because, aside from a cover version of 'I Can Hear Music' he had no other contribution to make.

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Aha, scratch that one. My mistake.

God it's so depressing if he's innocent (which I'd like very much to think he is) that this thread has turned into one about paedophilia instead of an ace show.

So, back to that...
Unlike some of you said earlier, the show makes me laugh out loud lots. The lines some of them come out with, usually just muttered and nearly missable, are hilarious.

I missed Langham's character, but I thought it was very sweet that Hugh was mentioned so much. They could have just pretended he didn't exist entirely.

Absolutely. Let's hope that he can return to the show in the future under the right circumstances and we can concentrate on the comedy.

A quick point. If Langham is found guilty I don't mind people not wanting to watch The Thick Of It, but I do disagree with them dictating what I can watch. And it's all a moot point anyway, since if he is found guilty the beeb won't have the balls to release the DVD.

And while we're on the subject of The Sun, which has been mentioned in this thread, we should never forget that they were chomping at the bit to go into Iraq, and no doubt one of the reasons Blair was so keen to go to war in the first place was because Murdoch's entire empire were in favour of it. As far as I'm concerned, Murdoch and his mouthpieces are just as guilty of the disaster unfolding in that part of the world as Bush and Blair. Sorry if that's a bit off topic, but Murdoch really is an insidious man who weilds far too much influence both here and in America.

I'm not sure whether Langham was also the star of the radio version of People Like Us but, if so, Radio 4 could be airing an episode soon - details

I believe he did star in it and this gives people the choice over whether they want to hear him or not. I doubt whether there's a chance it will get more votes than some of the other shows though.

By the way Chipolata, nobody has dictated to you what you can't watch. If you want to buy a dodgy copy of The Thick of It off ebay then nobody will stop you. If Langham is found guilty though there will not be the public demand to repeat the show or release the DVD so there is no reason why the BBC should do so. It makes sense from a purely business perspective even if you ignore everything else.