My Policeman: The unlikely literary inspiration behind the new Harry Styles film

Even for those not wedded to One Direction, the recent hysteria surrounding former bandmate Harry Styles has been difficult to ignore. Aside from a show-stopping performance at the Grammys in March, the 27-year-old has recently been photographed on set of his latest film, an adaptation of Bethan Roberts’s 2012 novel My Policeman. Starring alongside The Crown’s Emma Corrin and Olivier Award nominated actor David Dawson, Styles is playing the titular role.

Styles is increasingly no stranger to the cameras. There was a small, if show-stealing, role in Christopher Nolan’s 2017 World War II epic Dunkirk and he’s just wrapped on psychological thriller Don’t Worry Darling. Perhaps it’s the uniform, perhaps it’s the gay love triangle at the heart of Roberts’ story, but Styles as Tom from My Policeman has already caused huge excitement among fans on social media.

The adaptation of My Policeman is particularly intriguing. Not only is the film a fairly low-key indie, the source material is a complex and rich novel about the fraught realities of human desire and the lasting repercussions that our actions can have. It also has a fascinating literary love story at its heart.