Woman: Actor had sex with me at 14

The encounter took place just a few months after he "stunned" her by kissing her during an acting lesson in his dressing room, it was claimed. At the time he was performing in Les Miserables at the Palace Theatre in the West End of London.

The alleged victim, now aged 25, said Langham bought her gifts, took her to restaurants, including A-list hangout The Ivy, and provided emotional support during hard times. Giving evidence from behind screens at Maidstone Crown Court, she broke down in tears as she described him as "always being nice" to her.

She said the actor - star of the hit BBC political satire The Thick Of It - first had sex with her during an afternoon at the Kensington Gardens Hotel in London. As time passed, she said they had sex on almost every occasion they met, usually in his dressing room. The woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, also recalled having sex in Langham's black Mercedes and at his home in Kent.

She said they showered together "four or five times" in hotels and that they had sex in the shower. And she said she met his wife at a party in the exclusive members' club Soho House to mark his 10th anniversary of being free of alcoholism.

The 58-year-old actor, dressed in a navy suit, yellow shirt and purple tie, scribbled notes in the dock as his alleged victim gave evidence. Langham, of Golford, near Cranbrook, Kent, denies 10 counts of indecent assault and two counts of buggery between January 1996 and April 2000. He also denies 15 counts of making an indecent photograph of a child between September and November 2005.

The alleged victim said Langham knew about her troubled background, which included being bullied at school, parental problems and anorexia. She said: "When you're a 14-year-old, you feel the world is against you but with him it was different. He was a good friend. I looked up to him. At the time, I saw him as one of my best friends. He was extremely kind. I had never known anyone to be so kind.2

Describing their sexual encounters, she said: "He was always gentle with me, always. He used to say nice things to me."

The alleged victim also revealed she had "two or three" pregnancy scares, and recalled discussing it with Langham in a Chinese restaurant. She said: "I remember him saying to me there was a small chance I could be pregnant and if I was he would arrange an abortion."

On one occasion she recalled allegedly having sex on the floor of the lounge at his home while a video of a young girl taking a shower played in the background.