swordfish

26th Apr 2023

Hustle (2004)

Conned Out of Luck - S6-E5

Character mistake: When Mickey and Emma are trying to get access to the university labs, they claim they are working for Ofsted, and are investigating exam manipulation allegations. In fact, Ofsted have never been responsible for supervising/investigating universities - they only cover places of education up to the age of 18. Completely different organisations supervise universities.

swordfish

9th Mar 2021

Hustle (2004)

The Last Gamble - S1-E6

Character mistake: The amount of money the team allegedly scammed the first mark for keeps changing throughout. In the first scene, it appears to be £25K (the mark gives them this as a bribe). However, in the next scene when the team divide the money up, it is stated to be £105K. However then, in the penultimate scene, when the mark thinks Mickey has given him "60-70K" (Ash's words) from their new horse racing con, he states that he has made a 50 grand profit: thus suggesting again he was scammed out of 25k.

swordfish

20th Nov 2020

Spooks (2002)

Episode #4.1 - S4-E1

Character mistake: Ruth tells the Oxford professor that she read "Classics" at Oxford. That's a major mistake - Oxford doesn't offer "classics" as a course: it is called "Greats" (or "Lit Hum"), and is referred to as such by the students reading it. It might be one thing for an Oxford alumnus to call it "Classics" when speaking to someone not at Oxford, but they would never say it to a member of the Oxford faculty.

swordfish

Character mistake: At the beginning of the film, Matt arrives at Paddington station in West London. He needs to meet his sister who lives in Chelsea - also in West London. However, for some bizarre reason he gets to her via meeting at Bank station - in east London. It makes no sense why he would make such a convoluted journey. Even if as a tourist he simply doesn't know London well enough to make a more efficient journey, his sister - who lives there - would correct him when arranging a meeting point.

swordfish

Upvote valid corrections to help move entries into the corrections section.

Suggested correction: It's possible his sister knew she was going to be in that area anyway so it would be a convenient place for them to meet. There's no mistake here, just something plausible that isn't, and doesn't need to be, explained.

Character mistake: Both the stealth boat captain and the British captain of the HMS Devonshire refer to the Chinese aircraft flying overhead as MiGs. However, the aircraft are in fact Nanchang Q-5s.

swordfish

1st Sep 2015

Unknown (2011)

Character mistake: The private detective tells Liam Neeson he believes his story, incredible as it is, because as a former Stasi agent, they could spot an innocent man, because an innocent man always stuck to his version of truth while a liar reformulated his ideas. However, in fact the Stasi taught exactly the opposite idea: for them, a liar has invented a pre-programmed version of the facts and cannot change it, while someone innocent can change his speech.

swordfish

Character mistake: Just after Necros has infiltrated the MI5 safe house, captured General Pushkin and then escaped, M says that thanks to Necros, there are "2 dead, 2 in hospital." However, in fact Necros killed or seriously wounded 5 people, not four. First of all he kills the cook by strangling him. Then he gives the butler incredible burns on his face before knocking him out and leaving him with serious injuries. Then, as Necros walks out of the kitchen, two MI5 agents confront him with guns drawn. Necros throws a milk-bottle grenade right at their feet. This certainly either kills or seriously injures both men (a grenade at your feet is pretty devastating). Then, Necros throws another milk-bottle grenade at an MI5 agent standing on the staircase, which explodes, either killing or seriously wounding him. That is 5 agents, not 4, who Necros has seriously injured or killed, not including the milkman he also kills at the start of the scene (who may or may not be an MI5 agent).

swordfish

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