Chris Langham left jail after his prison term was reduced
Langham statement
The Bafta award-winner was jailed at Maidstone Crown Court in September after he was convicted on 15 counts of downloading images of children.
Langham, 58, who denied all charges, left Elmley Prison, Kent, on Wednesday after the term was cut by four months.
As he left, he said: "My life has been ruined but my conscience is clear."
In a prepared statement, the comedy actor said that reporting of the case had "completely ignored" the court's "acceptance based upon all the evidence and expert opinion that I have no sexual interest in children".
But he added: "Perhaps the media cannot be blamed for this misrepresentation when the judge, having accepted that I'm not a paedophile, then sent me to prison for 10 months as if I was."
I saw a tiny number of images of child abuse which I have always said were distressing, sickening and atrocious
Chris Langham
He said: "To set the record straight, I never paid to look at the material.
"I saw a tiny number of images of child abuse which I have always said were distressing, sickening and atrocious.
"I looked because I was writing about the subject of child abuse.
"My own abuse as a child made it important for me to attempt to address this subject in my writing.
"I was wrong to do so but I believe the price I have been asked to pay is out of all proportion."
When he was asked what the future held for him, he said: "I just don't know."
Abuse videos
During the trial, Langham claimed he viewed the images as research for a paedophile character.
The father-of-five, from Golford, near Cranbrook, Kent, had been due for release early in the New Year, when he would have served about half his sentence.
The comedy actor is well known for his starring role in the television drama The Thick Of It.
The jury in the trial cleared Langham of a further charge having sex with an under-age girl.
Langham was arrested in November 2005 when video files of child abuse were found on a computer, a laptop and an external hard disk drive at his home.
His appeal was allowed by Lord Justice Gage, Mr Justice Openshaw and Dame Heather Steel.
British comedy actor Chris Langham has won an appeal to have the sentence reduced in his conviction for downloading indecent images of children from the internet. Originally sentenced to 10 months in prison, Langham's sentence has now been cut to 6 months, and he is set to be released today.

Langham, 58, had been found guilty on 15 counts for downloading child pornography. Police claimed that several images found on Langham's computer were of the worst category, "Level 5" severity. However, Langham claimed that he was using the images for researching a character in a TV series called ''Help''. Dame Heather Steel, one of Britain's most senior female judges agreed that the sentence could be cut.

Langham was arrested in 2005. During his original trial, Langham was found not guilty of indecently assaulting an underage girl. He had appealed his sentence previously, but was rejected in October 2006.