HE'S a Hollywood heart-throb who has played everything from a pirate to a drug baron to a policeman on the trail of Jack the Ripper, and most recently the murderous barber Sweeney Todd.

But a Hampshire family are hoping Johnny Depp's next role could make him a real-life hero.

Sophie Wilkinson has been in a coma for the past five months, since the car she was a passenger in - driven by an 18-year-old who had passed his test just 24 hours earlier - smashed into an 18-tonne lorry.

The 17-year-old who dreamed of teaching AIDS orphans in Africa before going to university has undergone life-saving operations since the horrific crash in Swanmore last October.

While magistrates have banned David Brookman, who was driving the Peugeot 106, Sophie's parents and three siblings have staged a vigil at her bedside.

Although she has since opened her eyes and even smiled, she remains in a coma.

But parents Andrew and Alison Wilkinson hope her Hollywood idol could be the key to changing that.

They have contacted Johnny Depp, whose portrayal of Captain Jack Sparrow in the Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy was a favourite of Sophie's, to ask for help.

And like any good hero, he has agreed.

The 44-year-old star, a father of two, has offered to record a message to the Peter Symonds College student in the hope that his voice will wake her up.

So touched was he by Sophie's story the actor has also said he wants to visit.

For the full story, see today's Daily Echo.