Emma Corrin and David Dawson engage in an intense love triangle with Harry Styles in My Policeman. In the film based on Bethan Roberts' novel, a policeman named Tom (Styles) falls in love with an art museum curator named Patrick (Dawson) following a chance encounter. Almost simultaneously, he begins a romantic relationship with Marion (Corrin), a schoolteacher who has no idea of his affair with Patrick. My Policeman, directed by Michael Grandage, explores the joy and pain of a queer love story set in 1950s England, while the narrative also shifts to the 1990s in which older versions of Marion (Gina McKee), Tom (Linus Roache), and Patrick (Rupert Everett) reckon with their complicated past.
Prior to My Policeman, Corrin's breakthrough came in 2020 when they portrayed Diana, Princess of Wales in The Crown season 4, a performance that earned the actor a Golden Globe Award and an Emmy nomination. Dawson is best known for playing King Alfred in The Last Kingdom seasons 1-3 and has also appeared in Peaky Blinders and Luther.
Screen Rant interviewed Corrin and Dawson about My Policeman's intricate character dynamics and the importance of illustrating LGBTQ+ history in films.
Corrin & Dawson On My Policeman
Screen Rant: It’s clear that much of this story revolves around Tom and Patrick’s relationship and society’s unwillingness to accept queer love. Emma, I’m curious about how you viewed Marion’s role in the film given the oppression women also faced in the 1950s.
Emma Corrin: I think Marion's very important because she's very determined and very strong. I think she wants to break out of the confines of that society and what it dictated of women at the time. I think that she's also incredibly ignorant as to the restrictions that many people faced, who were queer at the time, and couldn't express themselves or be authentically who they were. So, that's a bit of a conflict you really see at the heart of her experience.
Patrick initially expresses his disdain for policemen, so what makes Tom different and makes Patrick fall for him?
David Dawson: I mean, how can you explain love, really? How can you explain that connection between two people that's kind of instant? He has a great beauty in him, an innocence, a wide-eyed innocence. I don't know. How can you explain love?
The relationship between these two characters is complicated given that they’re each in love with Tom. How would you describe how your character views the other and how that changes over time?
Emma Corrin: I think one of the more complex relationships in the film which I really loved is Marion and Patrick's friendship that stands alone. It's one that is actually really powerful. They get on incredibly well and there is so much chemistry and the genuine love for each other — which I think makes it all the more heartbreaking for Marion when she learns of his betrayal. I think it was incredibly complex for her to try and process that.
David Dawson: I think what makes the relationship incredibly difficult is that Patrick grows increasingly more fond of Marion and gains an admiration and respect for a young woman who has her own ambitions and is hungry to learn more about life. So, he admires her more as the story continues, which makes the secrets they all keep from each other even harder.
As members of the LGBTQ+ community, what do you think is the importance of telling queer love stories like this one, which may not be entirely happy but are very real and rooted in history?
Emma Corrin: I hope that it inspires conversations among people who've seen it about how recent this was that these laws existed and that people were so restricted in their freedom to be who they are. Also, I think that queer love stories on screen means that people can see themselves reflected there, and there's a lot of power in that and a lot of comfort for people.
David Dawson: It's important to continue to learn about moments in our history in order to continue the conversation, to have progress and move forward. That's something that I hope everybody takes away from this film.
About My Policeman
A beautifully crafted story of forbidden love and changing social conventions, My Policeman follows three young people—policeman Tom (Harry Styles), teacher Marion (Emma Corrin), and museum curator Patrick (David Dawson)—as they embark on an emotional journey in 1950s Britain. Flashing forward to the 1990s, Tom (Linus Roache), Marion (Gina McKee), and Patrick (Rupert Everett) are still reeling with longing and regret, but now they have one last chance to repair the damage of the past. Based on the book by Bethan Roberts, director Michael Grandage carves a visually transporting, heart-stopping portrait of three people caught up in the shifting tides of history, liberty, and forgiveness.
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My Policeman releases in theaters on October 21 and will be available to stream on Prime Video beginning November 4.