British comedy actor Chris Langham has been jailed for 10 months for downloading indecent videos of children from the internet.

The Bafta-winning star of The Thick of It and Help has been in custody since being convicted last month of 15 counts of downloading indecent photographs of children.

It is reported Langham wept as he was sentenced at Maidstone Crown Court this evening. Judge Philip Statman said the indecent images of the children found on his PC by police were so serious that the "custody threshold had been well and truly passed".

During the three week trial Langham admitted he had looked at child pornography but had pleaded not guilty to the charges against him because he said he wanted to make a public declaration that he was not a paedophile.

Instead, the writer and actor claimed he had been conducting research for a new series of the BBC comedy Help, which he was co-writing with Paul Whitehouse. Langham told the court that he was developing a paedophile character called Pedro whose catchphrase was "I'm only a minor offender." However, when Whitehouse was called by the court he said he was not aware of them ever having created such a character.

During an emotional appearance in the witness box Langham, a twice-married father of five, described how he was abused as a child. He told the court that an incident, which took place when he was aged 8, made him want to address the issue by viewing the pornography.

Langham was caught out by Operation Ore, the international police task force that traced hundreds of people who had used their credit cards to access child pornography. Gary Glitter and Pete Townsend are two other well known stars to have been caught in the operation.

The sentencing today is not good news for the BBC's Help. The links between the trial and the show, and the fact the co-writer and co-star is now in jail, effectively end any chance of the psychiatrist-based comedy returning for a second series. Meanwhile The Thick of It, BBC4's biggest comedy hit to date and a show which has picked up great reviews, must now find a way of permanently writing out Hugh Abbot, the character Langham played.

This conviction has almost certainly also brought an end to Langham's 30-year career in British comedy. His agent of 34 years has been quoted as saying: "People will not even pay him to write under a pseudonym because they are so frightened it will leak out."

Many industry observers say Langham's career was just peaking at the time of his arrest and, with the Best Comedy Performance Bafta for The Thick of It and Best Comedy Series Bafta for Help awarded to him last year, mainstream stardom was just around the corner for the writer and actor.

Langham got his first big break in 1976 as the sole British writer on The Muppet Show. When Richard Pryor was unable to make it to the recording of an episode Langham stepped in to perform a sketch with the puppets (A rare video of one of Langham's appearances on The Muppets via YouTube). He went on to receive two awards from the Writers Guild of America for his work on the entertainment show.

Langham was also a member of the Not the Nine O'Clock News sketch team, however he was replaced in the second series by Griff Rhys Jones after producers felt he was "too independent a spirit".

Following a cameo appearance on Alas Smith and Jones, Langham went on to memorably become the voice of the un-seen interviewer Roy Mallard in People Like Us.

Langham's writing credits also include Kiss Me Kate, Bremner, Bird and Fortune and Watch with Monkey. He has a long string of cameos to his name too - he has briefly appeared in many sitcoms, these include Chelmsford 123, Bottom, Is It Legal? and The Worst Week of My Life.

During the trial Langham also confessed to cocaine and marihuana convictions, alcoholism and a lifelong adult porn habit. However the jury acquitted him of the indecent assault of a 14 year old school girl.

Although having been sentenced to 10 months in prison Langham has been told he will only have to serve half of that time. He has already been held in custody for six weeks before being sentenced today.

According to his lawyer, the disgraced comedian is "having a terrible time in prison." David Whitehouse QC has told Sky News that the actor has been subject of abuse and threats from other prisoners since having been incarcerated and added: "someone managed to flood his cell so he had to sit on the table. Prisoners have thrown disgusting things at him from their cells."