Johnny Depp recalls arresting experience as he reprises Mad Hatter role

Hollywood superstar Johnny Depp thanked the London policemen who once arrested him as he arrived in the capital at the premiere of his latest film.

Depp, 52, prompted screams from the crowd as he walked on to the red carpet for the screening of Alice Through the Looking Glass at the Odeon in Leicester Square.

He appeared without his wife Amber Heard, 30, but said he was grateful to her for "putting up with him".

He said: "I think everybody has a sense of themselves, we are all living our lives together and living closely with someone.

"I know I wouldn't be considered normal, I suppose, so I thank her for that. I thank my mum for that, I thank my father for that, for putting up with me.

"I also thank the London policemen when I was arrested here, they were very nice and gave me a cup of tea."

Depp was arrested in London in 1999 after a scuffle with photographers outside a restaurant and was later cautioned.

His wife Heard recently avoided jail in Australia after pleading guilty to providing a false immigration document amid allegations she smuggled the couple's dogs Pistol and Boo into the country.

The pair went on to record a bizarre video in which they apologised and spoke about how important it is to protect Australia's biodiversity.

In his new film, Depp returns to the role of the Mad Hatter after the huge success of Alice In Wonderland, which was directed by Tim Burton in 2010. Comedian Sacha Baron Cohen and Sherlock star Andrew Scott join the all-star cast for the second outing, which was directed by James Bobin.

Depp said: "It was a lot of fun to come back to the Mad Hatter, it was a gas to get back together with the cast and the addition of Sacha upped the stakes quite a lot. This particular film has a bit more of the Hatter's layers and things going on."

He added: "The first film was something very special in terms of Tim and I working together again. Bringing in James was brilliant because he has such a profound respect for the language that Tim created and stretched it into his own vision."

Cohen was joined by his wife Isla Fisher for his red carpet outing and joked about working with Depp saying: "We would do a few hours on the acting and then an hour of plotting how to get dogs in and out of countries so it became exhausting and really the film was secondary. In the end he was shipping about 300 dogs a day in and out of England."

Australian actress Mia Wasikowska resumes her role as Alice, who explores her feeling about the passage of time in the film.

Dressed in a blue custom Prada gown, she said: "The message in the film is really nice, that the best way to deal with time is to accept what happened in the past and not try and change it and move on freely into the future."

Alice Through The Looking Glass is released in UK cinemas on May 27.