Beck (TV series)

Martin Beck

The ten books (2007 HarperCollins) lined next to each other.
Roseanna The Man Who Went Up in Smoke The Man on the Balcony The Laughing Policeman The Fire Engine That Disappeared Murder at the Savoy The Abominable Man The Locked Room Cop Killer The Terrorists
Author	Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö
Translator	Lois Roth (1), Joan Tate (2, 5, 6, 10), Alain Blair (3, 4), Thomas Teal (7, 9) and Paul Britten Austin (8).
Country	Sweden
Language	Swedish, translated into English
Discipline	Police procedural
Published	1965-1975
No. of books	10

Martin Beck is a fictional Swedish police detective who is the main character in a series of ten novels by Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö, collectively titled The Story of a Crime. The stories are frequently referred to as the Martin Beck stories. All of the novels have been adapted to films between 1967 and 1994, six of which featured Gösta Ekman as Martin Beck. Between 1997 and 2018 there have also been 38 films (some only broadcast on television) based on the characters, with Peter Haber as Martin Beck.

Sjöwall and Wahlöö, during the 1960s and 1970s, conceived and wrote a series of ten novels (police procedurals) about the exploits of detectives from the special homicide commission of the Swedish national police in which the character of Martin Beck was the protagonist. Both authors also wrote novels separately. For the Martin Beck series, they plotted and researched each book together and then wrote alternate chapters. The books cover ten years and are renowned for extensive character and setting development throughout the series. This is in part due to careful planning by Sjöwall and Wahlöö.

All ten novels have been adapted to film, although some have appeared with different titles and four have been filmed outside Sweden. The first actor to play Martin Beck was Keve Hjelm in 1967. Carl-Gustaf Lindstedt portrayed Beck in 1976. In 1993 and 1994, Gösta Ekman played the character in six films. To the American audiences, the most notable actor to play Martin Beck is Walter Matthau from the 1973 film called The Laughing Policeman, although his character was called "Jake Martin." Martin Beck has also been played by Jan Decleir, Derek Jacobi and Romualds Ancāns. Two of the novels have been adapted for films twice, Roseanna and Murder at the Savoy. In the later films which are only based on the characters, Martin Beck is played by Peter Haber.