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Season 2 generally

Trivia: Instead of the Royal Air Force, the series has a fictitious British Air Force with largely invented insignia. Ranks are taken from the RAF, but sometimes different rank insignia is worn (e.g. an air vice-marshal wearing air marshal's insignia and a flight lieutenant wearing flying officer's insignia, although another flight lieutenant wears correct insignia).

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Ritz - S6-E8

Factual error: Peter Townsend is depicted in 1945 wearing the ribbons of the DSO (which he won in 1941) and the DFC (which he won in 1940), but not the rosette indicating a bar to the DFC (which he also won in 1940) and the 1939-45 Star (which he would have been awarded in 1943).

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Ruritania - S6-E6

Factual error: The swan official is described as the Warden of the Swans. The official depicted is actually the Marker of the Swans, a different post which wears the uniform shown.

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Part 3 - S1-E3

Factual error: A British radio news bulletin refers to "Aydolf" Hitler. The British always used the original German pronunciation with a short A rather than the American pronunciation with a long A.

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Part 3 - S1-E3

Factual error: A British soldier in 1940 says he was educated at the University of Warwick. The university wasn't founded until 1965.

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Episode #1.3 - S1-E3

Character mistake: Richie Gulliver is referred to as Rory Gulliver on the newspaper headline. As he's supposedly a very well-known Member of the Scottish Parliament, it's unlikely a newspaper would make a mistake like this.

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Demon 79 - S6-E5

Continuity mistake: When Nida is chasing Smart in her car, they are (correctly for England, in which it is set) driving on the left until they reach the level crossing. After they cross the level crossing, they are both seen driving on the right, with Nida trying to overtake Smart on the left. This has nothing to do with changing lanes during a chase, as Smart is, at that stage, unaware that he is being pursued.

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Factual error: The SS commander wears the collar patch of a Hauptsturmführer (captain), but the epaulettes of an Unterscharführer (corporal).

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Factual error: Flight Sergeant Rollright wears the three chevrons of a sergeant, rather than the three chevrons and a crown of a flight sergeant.

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Factual error: Colonel Weber is not an Oberst, but an SS-Oberführer. Given all his men are also SS, there is no likelihood they would use an army rank to address him, especially one that is junior to his actual rank.

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Factual error: Ian Fleming wears First World War service ribbons. Fleming was ten at the end of the First World War.

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Show generally

Factual error: Sub-Lieutenant Baxter is wearing two rank rings without a curl. He should be wearing a single ring with a curl.

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Show generally

Factual error: The Royal Navy sailors are shown with just 'HMS' on their cap tallies. This was only seen in the Second World War for security reasons. In peacetime, the tally bears the name of the ship or shore establishment to which the rating is assigned.

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Episode #4.9 - S4-E9

Factual error: Renate escapes from the prison in a Morris Ten Four, with the badge visible on the bonnet. However, this designation was not introduced until 1935 and the episode is set in 1931.

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Factual error: The ribbons on Captain Smith's medals are incorrect. The ribbon on his Reserve Decoration should be plain green (it is green and red in the film) and that on his Transport Medal should be red and blue (it is blue and white in the film).

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Continuity mistake: When Christopher Robin first appears in uniform he is wearing second lieutenant's pips. In the following scene, later the same day, they have disappeared, but he is still wearing an open-necked officer's battledress tunic with shirt and tie. He says he is a private. In fact, he joined the Royal Engineers as a sapper (not a private) and was later commissioned.

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Factual error: Christopher Robin and his schoolmates undergo the army medical (which he fails) at the outbreak of war. In fact, Christopher Robin had left school and was at Cambridge by the time the war broke out. In addition, those that pass the medical go off to war in privates' uniforms. As the school (Stowe) is a prestigious public school, almost all would have been commissioned and never served as privates.

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Factual error: The musicians in the (real) Band of the Coldstream Guards that plays Happy Birthday for Christopher Robin are wearing their 21st-century uniforms and medals.

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Not an Ice Cream - S1-E6

Factual error: The British Army soldiers are not wearing British Army uniforms or carrying British Army weapons and some of them have beards, which are not permitted to British Army soldiers.

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Show generally

Factual error: The survivors of the Wormhoudt massacre were not picked up by the same SS soldiers who had carried out the massacre as in the series. They were picked up by a Wehrmacht ambulance unit, which is how they managed to survive to become prisoners of war.

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Show generally

Factual error: Captain James Lynn-Allen wasn't shot by an SS officer whilst remonstrating with him about the treatment of his men. He was shot whilst trying to escape and his sacrifice allowed another soldier to successfully escape.

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Deliverance - S1-E3

Factual error: The crosses marking the graves of British soldiers outside the hospital abbreviate Private as the American "Pvt" rather than the British "Pte."

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Season 1 generally

Factual error: Jimmy Langley wears the single pip of a second lieutenant. He was actually a lieutenant at the time and should therefore be wearing two pips.

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Season 1 generally

Factual error: Harold Alexander, although his rank of major-general is correctly mentioned by the narrator, wears the rank insignia of a full general.

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Show generally

Factual error: None of the Metropolitan Police officers are wearing the divisional letters that have always been worn above their numbers by the Met on their epaulettes.

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Show generally

Factual error: The Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police has red fabric within the crowns on his rank insignia. This would be correct for most British police forces, but the Metropolitan Police uses blue fabric instead.

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The Road to Hell - S6-E5

Factual error: Moss is apparently now a chief superintendent. This rank was not widely used in England until 1949 and was not in use in Birmingham City Police until at least that time.

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The Road to Hell - S6-E5

Factual error: Birmingham Urban District Council is mentioned. There was no Birmingham UDC. Birmingham was a County Borough with City status, not an Urban District.

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Factual error: Captain Bernard Rawlings, the British naval attaché in Tokyo at the beginning of the film, wears no medal ribbons. In fact, as depicted in photographs, Rawlings would have had several ribbons by that stage, including First World War service ribbons and the OBE he was awarded in 1920.

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Show generally

Character mistake: The Captain's medal ribbon bar is sewn onto his uniform back to front, with the 1939-45 Star on his left and the 1939-45 War Medal on his right.

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Factual error: All the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve officers appear to wear green branch distinction cloth ('lights') between their rank rings. Green indicated electrical officers. As non-specialist officers, they shouldn't be wearing any lights at all.

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Show generally

Factual error: Detective Superintendent Hamilton has red fabric within the crowns on her rank insignia. This would be correct for most British police forces, but the Metropolitan Police uses blue fabric instead.

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Black Shirt - S6-E2

Factual error: Sir Oswald Mosley is shown sitting in Parliament in 1933. He actually never sat as an MP after 1931.

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Season 3 generally

Factual error: Lord Palmerston was not a young, fashionable, rakish man-about-town at this time. He was actually 64 when the series begins in 1848, eight years older than Lord John Russell, the Prime Minister, depicted as a much older man.

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The White Elephant - S3-E8

Factual error: The Duke of Wellington submits his resignation as Commander-in-Chief in 1851. In reality, he remained in the post until his death the following year.

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Season 3 generally

Factual error: The Mistress of the Robes throughout series 3 is the fictional Duchess of Monmouth. The real Mistress of the Robes at this time was the Duchess of Sutherland, who was in the first two series.

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The White Elephant - S3-E8

Factual error: The King of Prussia appears at the Great Exhibition in 1851 with his son the Crown Prince. In fact, King Friedrich Wilhelm IV, who ruled Prussia from 1840 to 1861, had no children.

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The White Elephant - S3-E8

Factual error: Henry Cole is addressed as Sir Henry at the opening of the Great Exhibition in 1851. He was actually not knighted until 1875.

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Factual error: Wilde and Bosie meet at a railway station that is just signed "Rouen." There were then two main railway stations in Rouen: Rouen-Rive-Droite and Rouen Saint-Sever (or Rouen-Rive-Gauche). Neither would have a sign saying just "Rouen."

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Revealing mistake: The paddle steamer on which Wilde crosses the Channel has her name "Waverley" visible on the bow. The Waverley, the world's last seagoing paddle steamer, was launched in 1946, 46 years after Wilde's death. Replacing the name with the name of a real paddle steamer of the era would probably have been a good idea.

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Factual error: All the troops in the Fetterman massacre are cavalry. In fact, the majority of the detachment, including Fetterman himself, were infantry.

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Continuity mistake: The SS commander is at various times with at least three completely different sets of epaulettes. In one scene, while he is addressing two aides, the epaulettes of all three change between shots.

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Factual error: The German soldiers arrive at the dockside in what are American Jeeps.

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Factual error: Conrad's rank badges as a second lieutenant are oval Garter Stars. This would be correct for the Grenadier Guards from 1919, but during the First World War the Guards regiments wore the standard British Army diamond-shaped Bath Stars (pips).

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Show generally

Factual error: Inspector Shaw is described as DI Shaw throughout. He isn't a detective inspector; he's a uniformed inspector, heading a shift of uniformed officers and always wearing uniform himself.

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Show generally

Factual error: Both Inspector Shaw and Chief Inspector Bailie wear their medal ribbons in the wrong order. The Golden Jubilee Medal is worn first, followed by the Diamond Jubilee Medal, followed by (for Bailie) the Long Service and Good Conduct Medal.

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Factual error: The Black Watch sergeant major wears a crown over three chevrons, which was the correct rank badge for a company sergeant major until 1915. However, this is at least 1916 (as conscription has started and the men are wearing steel helmets, both introduced in 1916). CSMs had been redesignated as warrant officers in 1915 and now wore a crown on the lower sleeves instead.

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Factual error: Gertrude Bell meets T E Lawrence and R Campbell Thompson while they are excavating at Petra. They were actually excavating at Carchemish, nearly 600 miles away and in a different country.

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Factual error: T E Lawrence is said to have a PhD. In fact, Lawrence did not have a PhD or any other higher degree.

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Factual error: Bell's father was said to have been heavily in debt while establishing his business. He didn't establish the business. His father did. He inherited it.

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Factual error: The British general at the party in Cairo wears a beard. Beards had been against regulations for the British Army for decades at that time. No British soldier would wear one.

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Factual error: The Victoria Cross is said to be "only for fallen heroes", which is how Gertrude immediately knows that Wylie is dead. But one does not have to be dead to be awarded the VC; many people have survived to be awarded it.

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Factual error: The timeline is completely wrong. The film begins in 1902, at which point Gertrude Bell has just left Oxford and is about to go to Persia. In fact, Bell was 34 in 1902 and went to Persia ten years earlier, in 1892. By 1902 she had already been travelling for a decade.

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Show generally

Factual error: The detective constable is addressed as "Sir" by uniformed constables. They actually hold the same rank. Detectives do not outrank uniformed officers in Britain.

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Factual error: The police car that shows up after the fight with the Deviant in London has a siren that sounds nothing like a British police siren. More like a Continental European one.

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Factual error: There is a billboard in London advertising a display of "artifacts" at the Natural History Museum. British English spells it "artefacts" and the Natural History Museum in London only holds exhibits on natural history. A display of artefacts would be at the British Museum, a completely different institution in a different part of London. (00:07:25)

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Show generally

Plot hole: Burke is murdered so that Doward will be sent out to replace him, as both hold the same rate of CPO sonar operator. But there are many CPO sonar operators in the Royal Navy. How can the GRU be so sure that Doward will be the man chosen to replace him?

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Show generally

Factual error: The Marine Engineering Officer on a submarine would be an experienced lieutenant-commander, not a young lieutenant.

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Show generally

Character mistake: Robertson is usually referred to as Detective Superintendent, but sometimes as Detective Chief Superintendent.

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Show generally

Factual error: As the Royal Navy has its own police (including detectives), there would be no need for a civilian detective to be airlifted onto a submarine, especially to investigate a sudden death that was not originally believed to be a murder.

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Show generally

Continuity mistake: Kirsten is referred to as a DC (Detective Constable) in the first half of the series and then as a DS (Detective Sergeant) in the second half. As these later episodes include flashbacks to before the previous episodes, she obviously hasn't suddenly been promoted.

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Show generally

Factual error: The coxswain, who is a warrant officer (as it says in the last episode), wears a chief petty officer's rank badge.

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Show generally

Character mistake: The ship's doctor is sometimes addressed as "lieutenant surgeon" instead of the correct "surgeon lieutenant."

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Show generally

Factual error: The ID cards for the chief petty officers all show them in junior rates' round hats and 'sailor suits'. CPOs (and petty officers) wear officer-style peaked caps and jackets and ties. It is unlikely that they've never had their photos changed since they were junior rates.

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Show generally

Factual error: Some of the ranks are wrong. There are too many chief petty officers (and they're too young). The coxswain would be a warrant officer rather than a chief. The marine engineering officer would be a lieutenant-commander rather than an inexperienced lieutenant.

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Show generally

Factual error: None of the naval officers wear medal ribbons. Even if none of them have been in a war zone (unlikely) or received an honour (also unlikely, especially given one is an admiral), the more senior would still have jubilee medals and the long service medal.

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Show generally

Factual error: The insignia worn by the submarine crew is inaccurate, including the lack of a white patch behind the trade badges and a strange made-up version of the White Ensign. Also the Submarine service emblem of two heraldic dolphins has them facing the other way.

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Factual error: All four Hodgson children go to Enfield Grammar School. Enfield Grammar School is a single sex boys' school, so the two girls could not go there. In addition, grammar schools in England are secondary schools. While the two girls (aged 11 and 14) are of secondary school age, their younger brothers are of primary school age.

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Episode 4 - S1-E4

Continuity mistake: The captain (who holds the rank of commander) is in some scenes wearing four rank rings instead of the correct three he wears for the rest of the series.

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Show generally

Factual error: Most of the crew seem to be Scottish. Even though the submarine is based in Scotland, the Royal Navy is a national service and its crew's composition would reflect that of the UK in general: the majority would therefore be English.

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Show generally

Character mistake: A police officer describes a murder weapon as a revolver. It is an automatic pistol.

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Show generally

Factual error: Superintendent Kane wears the insignia and uniform only worn by the Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, not only six ranks above the rank he is supposed to be, but in an entirely different police force.

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Factual error: Thomas McGregor asks at the station in London for a 'round trip' ticket to Windermere. It's called a 'return' in Britain and no British person would ask for anything else.

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All Roads - S3-E5

Factual error: When Detective Inspector Sara Lunt's photograph in uniform is shown on the TV news she is wearing a double row of silver lace below her hat badge. Only chief constables wear this insignia, well above the rank of inspector.

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Episode #4.2 - S4-E2

Factual error: Ram says he has two "Chief Constable's Commendations" (which are also shown on his office wall). He has spent his entire career in the Metropolitan Police, which has a Commissioner instead of a Chief Constable.

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Show generally

Factual error: Sir John Franklin's wife is consistently addressed and referred to as Lady Jane. Since she only held a title due to her husband's knighthood and not in her own right, she was actually Lady Franklin. Nobody in the circles in which she moved would have addressed or referred to her as Lady Jane.

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Show generally

Factual error: Sir John Franklin, Francis Crozier and James Fitzjames all wear a crown over an anchor on their epaulettes, the rank badge for a captain with over three years in rank. This is correct for Franklin and Crozier, but Fitzjames only held the rank of commander, and should therefore only be wearing an anchor on his epaulettes.

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Show generally

Factual error: The Chief Constable of Dyfed-Powys Police is depicted as a mixed-race woman named Tyler. At the time, the chief constable was actually Terry Grange, a white man. The only woman to ever head the force, temporarily in 2012 (after the period covered by the series), was Jackie Roberts, who is also white. This is a factual series covering real events, not a work of fiction.

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Episode #1.6 - S1-E6

Factual error: The Indian police officer who arrests Sobhraj after the jewel robbery is a detective sergeant. The Indian police do not use the rank of sergeant. Head constable is the equivalent.

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Season 4 generally

Factual error: Sir Martin Charteris, depicted as being Private Secretary throughout the series (which begins in 1979), actually retired in 1977. Sir Philip Moore and Sir William Heseltine were the real Private Secretaries during this period.

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48:1 - S4-E8

Factual error: Michael Shea was not forced to resign ignominiously as Press Secretary in 1986. He actually left in 1987 and was appointed Companion of the Royal Victorian Order for his service.

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Fagan - S4-E5

Factual error: The Guards band playing at the garden party (in 1982) includes female musicians in the same uniform as the men. Until integration in 1992, the only female musicians in the British Army were members of the Band of the Women's Royal Army Corps. Women did not join Guards bands and wear their uniform until well into the 1990s.

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Show generally

Factual error: The show doesn't seem sure what Henry and Dominic's titles are. Dominic is referred to as both Lord Wingrave and Mr Wingrave (and his wife as Lady Wingrave). Henry is referred to at various times as Lord Wingrave, Lord Henry Wingrave, Sir Henry Wingrave and Mr Wingrave. Dominic is the elder brother, so if the title was inherited only he would hold it. When he dies, it would pass to his son, Miles, not his younger brother. If they held the titles as younger sons of a duke or marquess (although there is never any indication that they have an elder brother, so this seems unlikely) then they would be Lord Dominic and Lord Henry, not Lord Wingrave. In neither case would they be addressed, especially not by their staff who would definitely know the correct form, as Mr Wingrave or Sir Henry.

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Show generally

Factual error: In Massachusetts, Atticus, Leti and George are attacked by the local sheriff and his deputies, who are patrolling the county roads. In Massachusetts, sheriffs run the county jails, but they do not (and did not) handle routine policing, which is the responsibility only of municipal police departments.

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The Two Faces, Part One - S1-E3

Factual error: The British policeman carries an American-style long baton on his belt. No British police force used batons before 1994 (the series is set in 1987), and batons of this pattern were never used in any case.

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Show generally

Factual error: The show, which is set in California in 1947, mentions the gas chamber, lethal injection and the electric chair as methods of execution in the state. Two murderers are sentenced to death by lethal injection and one is depicted being instead executed in the electric chair, which the governor states has been brought out of retirement for the occasion. In fact, California adopted the gas chamber as its sole method of execution in 1937 (having previously used hanging). Lethal injection was not used in the United States at all until 1982 and not adopted in California until 1993 (becoming the prime method in 1996). California has never used the electric chair.

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Show generally

Factual error: By law, an officer must already be a serving senior officer in a British police force to be appointed a chief constable. Foreigners, even if serving police officers in their own country, can't just be parachuted in as chief constables.

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Prisoners of War - S8-E12

Factual error: At the beginning of the last sequence a city centre is shown with the caption "Moscow." In fact, the city shown is Budapest, with the Danube, Castle, St Matthias Church, Fisherman's Bastion and Chain Bridge visible.

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Unrequited - S4-E16

Factual error: By its uniforms, rank insignia (i.e. point-down chevrons), drill and instrumentation (e.g. tubas instead of sousaphones), the military band performing at the re-dedication ceremony at the Vietnam War memorial in Washington is a Commonwealth (probably Canadian) band and not an American band. Unlikely at a formal military ceremony in the United States.

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Show generally

Factual error: A number of episodes show trolleybuses operating in American cities that do not use them (including Washington). Vancouver, where the series was filmed, however, does use them.

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Drive - S6-E2

Character mistake: Scully continually addresses the senior police officer as "Captain." But he wears sergeant's stripes. As a law enforcement officer continually dealing with other law enforcement officers, Scully is not likely to make this mistake. More likely a failure to match script with costume.

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Episode #2.4 - S2-E4

Factual error: There are several errors relating the photo of Mac and Jarvis at Hendon in 1962. 1) Gene Hunt says that he was at Hendon several years behind Mac. First, he began his career with Manchester Police (he says in the first series that he only transferred to the Met in the last year or two); and only the Metropolitan Police train at Hendon. Second, he was already a DCI by 1973 (as we know from the prequel 'Life on Mars', which is referenced in 'Ashes to Ashes'). There's no way he could have reached DCI in such a short time if he didn't join the police until at least the mid-1960s. 2) Hendon didn't actually open until 1974 anyway; before then, the Met training school was at Peel House in Westminster. 3) Apparently Jarvis left Hendon "in his last year." The Met training course actually only lasted for 17 weeks.

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Factual error: The two officers with the French Groupement Mobile 100 at the beginning are wearing Foreign Legion white képis. GM 100 was not a Foreign Legion unit. And even if it were, Foreign Legion officers wear black képis with red tops, not the white of the lower ranks.

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Emergency Exit - S2-E7

Factual error: Ben asks Yale University library to loan him a medieval diary and they immediately send it to him. No library or archive in the world would loan out a unique item like this, even to another university. Usually they are not allowed to leave the premises, except under very strict conditions for a high-profile exhibition, certainly not just sent to an academic who's interested in reading them.

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Season 2 generally

Factual error: Everyone, including other police officers, addresses the detectives as "Detective" rather than using their ranks of "Inspector" or "Sergeant" as they actually would.

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Season 2 generally

Factual error: DI Renton is a Metropolitan Police officer 'parachuted' into Kent to solve a big case. This hasn't happened for many decades. Local police forces investigate their own crimes without help from the Met.

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Show generally

Factual error: After escaping from Danzig, Grzegorz and Konrad flee to Warsaw, then to the eastern, Soviet-occupied part of Poland. They then make their way on foot right across occupied Poland and Germany to join British forces at Dunkirk, a distance of over 1,000 miles. Not a likely journey on foot at any time, let alone across hostile territory in the middle of a war.

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Show generally

Factual error: Vernon is referred to as a squadron leader, but wears the rank insignia of the higher rank of wing commander.

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Show generally

Factual error: Tom wears the trade badge of a naval airman. When he serves on board HMS Exeter he is working in the magazine, not with the aircraft. He then serves aboard HMS Keith, which carried no aircraft, at Dunkirk.

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Show generally

Factual error: Harry joins the army after the outbreak of war and is then a platoon commander with the British Expeditionary Force during the Battle of France. Actually, all the personnel of the BEF were pre-war regulars or territorials. The personnel who joined for the war were still in training.

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Show generally

Factual error: Tom joins the Royal Navy after the outbreak of war. He then mysteriously ends up on HMS Exeter during the Battle of the River Plate. In fact, Exeter was already in the South Atlantic at the outbreak of war and the battle occurred only three months later. There is no way that Tom could have completed training and ended up in the South Atlantic so quickly.

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Factual error: Victoria is referred to throughout the film as a 'state'. Since Australia did not exist as a unified country until 1901, there were no states at the time. Each was a separate 'colony' and would have been referred to as such.

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Factual error: All four members of the Kelly gang wore helmets and armour in the final shootout, with long oilskin coats over the top.

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Factual error: Ned Kelly was not clean-shaven as depicted, but had a full beard. A full beard is often still referred to as a 'Ned Kelly beard' in Australia.

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Factual error: As well as the sergeant's stripes on his cuff, Sergeant O'Neil wears three pips on his epaulettes, which would indicate a much more senior rank and would not be worn together with the stripes.

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Factual error: The film depicts a clash between the 'Irish' Kelly gang and the 'English' police. Constable Fitzpatrick is depicted as an upper-class Englishman (and describes himself as British). In reality, Fitzpatrick and most of the other policemen who came into contact with the gang were as Irish as the Kellys.

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Show generally

Factual error: George Wigg MP wears an RAF tie. Wigg served in the Royal Tank Corps and the Army Educational Corps, but he was never in the RAF. Few men would wear a regimental tie to which they weren't entitled, least of all someone in the public eye, where it would be immediately picked up and ridiculed. Especially given this is set only 17 years after the war (and only just after compulsory National Service ended) at a time when most men were entitled to wear some sort of regimental tie and recognised fellow veterans by the design of their tie.

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Show generally

Factual error: When Detective Superintendent Fulcher takes the oath in the first trial he ends with "So help me God." This phrase is not used in British courts.

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Show generally

Factual error: The barristers at the first trial are wearing their gowns over shirtsleeves. Barristers are obliged to wear jackets when appearing in court.

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Show generally

Factual error: Detective Chief Superintendent Kier Pritchard wears silver tabs on his uniform collar. These are only worn by Assistant Chief Constables and above. Detectives almost never wear uniform in any case.

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Show generally

Factual error: Deputy Chief Constable Ray Hayward wears two rows of oak leaves on his cap peak. DCCs only wear one row.

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Show generally

Factual error: Almost none of the senior police officers wear the correct medal ribbons. Brian Moore and Pat Geenty wear the Order of the British Empire, which neither had. Geenty wears the General Service Medal, for military service in Northern Ireland, although he was never in the armed forces. Moore does not wear the Queen's Police Medal, which he was awarded in 2009. Both wear the Diamond Jubilee Medal in 2011, although it was not awarded until 2012. Andy Parker wears an unidentified ribbon (possibly intended to be the Queen's Police Medal, which he was awarded in 2010, but looking nothing like it) and the Golden Jubilee Medal, but does not wear the Diamond Jubilee Medal or the Police Long Service and Good Conduct Medal to which he was also entitled. Mike Veale and Ray Hayward wear no medal ribbons at all, although both would be entitled to the Golden Jubilee Medal and Police Long Service and Good Conduct Medal (and Veale also to the Diamond Jubilee Medal after 2012).

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Season 5 generally

Factual error: The fact Colonel Younger is black and this may be an issue socially is implied several times (meaning the series acknowledges his ethnicity), but it never seems to be seen as surprising that a black man is a colonel in the British Army in the first place. While there were a small handful of mixed-race junior officers in the army in the First World War, there were no post-war black regular officers (it was actually against regulations at the time) and no black officer would hold such a senior rank until long after the Second World War.

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Season 5 generally

Factual error: Mosley is portrayed as forming the British Union of Fascists in 1929 or 1930. In fact, he formed the New Party in 1931. The party failed to win any seats in the 1931 general election (with Mosley himself losing his seat) and Mosley then formed the British Union of Fascists in 1932.

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Black Tuesday - S5-E1

Factual error: In the House of Commons, Tommy refers to an unseen Tory MP as "My Right Honourable Friend" and as "the member for Epping." The former address is only used for Privy Councillors of the speaker's own party (Tommy is a Labour MP); MPs of other parties would be "the Right Honourable Gentleman." Winston Churchill was MP for Epping at the time and Tommy's secretary later says Churchill is in America, so he can't possibly be addressing the member for Epping.

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Season 4 generally

Factual error: Jessie Eden is described as a shop steward. A shop steward is the senior part-time trade union official in a particular workshop or department, who also has an ordinary job in that shop. Jessie appears to be a full-time official and covers a number of factories. She would actually be referred to as a trade union organiser.

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Episode #3.6 - S3-E6

Factual error: Tommy says that the Chief Constable of Birmingham has issued a warrant for the arrest of Arthur, John, Polly and Michael. Only a magistrate or judge can issue an arrest warrant. The senior officers of the Metropolitan Police were sworn in as magistrates, but not those of other forces.

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Episode #3.4 - S3-E4

Factual error: John says that he has found plans in the British Library. It was only renamed the British Library in 1973. Before that it was called the British Museum Library (or commonly just the British Museum) and nobody called it the British Library.

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Episode #2.2 - S2-E2

Factual error: Tommy's service record quoted by Churchill says that he served throughout the war with the Warwickshire Yeomanry. But we already know that he was a tunneller on the Western Front. The Warwickshire Yeomanry was a cavalry regiment (which actually served in Egypt, Gallipoli and Palestine and finally as a machine-gun battalion on the Western Front at the very end of the war). All tunnellers served with the Royal Engineers.

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Show generally

Factual error: In series 1, Sergeant Moss says he and most of his men served in the First World War, but none of them wear any medal ribbons. In series 2, Moss has suddenly acquired three medal ribbons, but they seem to be made-up and are not relevant to the First World War. From series 3, Moss is wearing the correct three service ribbons for the First World War.

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The Duel - S4-E5

Factual error: The British Army had no female soldiers in the mid-1920s. Queen Mary's Army Auxiliary Corps was disbanded in 1921 and no women served in the army from then until the formation of the Auxiliary Territorial Service in 1938.

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Season 5 generally

Character mistake: Several times Tommy addresses Sir Oswald Mosley as Mr Mosley instead of the correct Sir Oswald. Mosley never corrects him, which given his snobbishness portrayed throughout the series seems highly unlikely.

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Strategy - S5-E3

Character mistake: Mosley says Tommy won the Distinguished Service Medal. This was a naval decoration. Tommy actually won the Distinguished Conduct Medal. Not a mistake someone like Mosley is likely to make.

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Blackbird - S4-E3

Factual error: Arthur is "deputy vice-president" of the Shelby Company Ltd. This is an American position title that would never, ever have been used in 1920s Britain.

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Strategy - S5-E3

Factual error: The on-screen caption when Aberama Gold is in Scotland reads "Glasgow." All we see is rolling countryside, without a city in sight.

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Black Tuesday - S5-E1

Factual error: Several characters refer to "the London Times." It's never called this in Britain. It's just "the Times."

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Factual error: The royal parade is supposed to be of the Yorkshire Hussars, but the filmmakers instead borrowed the King's Troop, Royal Horse Artillery, complete with guns. Although the uniform was similar, the Yorkshire Hussars was a cavalry regiment until the Second World War, when it became an armoured regiment. It was never an artillery regiment.

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Episode #2.5 - S2-E5

Factual error: The Metropolitan Police officers who arrest Arthur in Camden Town are wearing the spiked helmets of the Birmingham City Police, not the boss-topped helmets of the Metropolitan Police, which we do see at other times.

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Episode #2.2 - S2-E2

Factual error: Tommy tells Churchill that he served at Verdun and several of Churchill's assistants say that they did too. There were no British troops at Verdun. It was a battle between the French and the Germans.

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Season 3 generally

Factual error: The Russian grand duke is called Leon Petrovna. Petrovna (daughter of Petr) is a patronymic used by a woman. A man would use Petrovich (son of Petr).

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Episode #2.6 - S2-E6

Factual error: Tommy's warrant is signed by the 'Minister of the Empire'. There was no such post. The Colonial Secretary dealt with the British Empire.

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Heathens - S4-E2

Character mistake: Ada is listed on the portraits of The Company officers as Mrs Ada Shelby. She is actually Mrs Ada Thorne.

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The Noose - S4-E1

Factual error: Lord Stamfordham has a paper before him headed 'London Constabulary Police'. There was no such thing.

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Show generally

Factual error: Bill wears four medal ribbons, in order: Diamond Jubilee Medal (awarded to all people with five years' service in a British uniformed service in 2012), Golden Jubilee Medal (the same in 2002), Queen's Police Medal (a very prestigious award, a handful of which are awarded every year to long-serving police officers for exceptional service) and Police Long Service and Good Conduct Medal (awarded for 20 years' unblemished service in the British police). Not only are these in the wrong order (it should be QPM, Golden Jubilee, Diamond Jubilee, LS&GCM), but he's not entitled to any of them! He's an American who hasn't previously served in the British police. A chief constable's uniform doesn't just come with medal ribbons for the look of it; only those that have been earned may be worn.

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Show generally

Factual error: The Deputy Chief Constable wears the rank insignia of the lower rank of Assistant Chief Constable. She also wears her medal ribbons in the wrong order: Diamond Jubilee Medal, Golden Jubilee Medal and Police Long Service and Good Conduct Medal. The Golden Jubilee Medal should actually be worn first.

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Episode #5.6 - S5-E6

Other mistake: The caption at the end says that Steve was cleared of any wrongdoing in the shooting of "Police Constable Martina Tranter." She was actually a Police Sergeant.

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Show generally

Factual error: British prisons do not have glass partitions between prisoners, and visitors and visiting facilities are not in closed cubicles. Visits are carried out in open rooms with other prisoners and their visitors, prisoners sit at individual tables with their visitors and touching is usually allowed within reason.

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Season 2 generally

Factual error: Superintendent Hastings does not wear the ribbon of the Diamond Jubilee Medal (awarded to all officers with five years' service in 2012), although he does wear the Golden Jubilee Medal (awarded to all officers with five years' service in 2002) and the Police Long Service and Good Conduct Medal (awarded for twenty years' service). Other characters do wear the Diamond Jubilee Medal, so this is obviously after it has been issued. In subsequent series he is wearing the ribbon.

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Season 1 generally

Factual error: Chief Superintendent Hilton wears the ribbons of the General Service Medal (awarded for military service in a combat zone, most commonly in Northern Ireland) and the Police Long Service and Good Conduct Medal (awarded for twenty years' service), but not the Golden Jubilee Medal (awarded to all officers with five years' service in 2002), which he would also have. When he reappears in Series 4, he is wearing the Golden Jubilee Medal, Diamond Jubilee Medal (awarded in 2012) and Police Long Service and Good Conduct Medal, which would all be correct, but no longer has the General Service Medal.

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Show generally

Factual error: Officers of Assistant Chief Constable rank and above are consistently referred to as Executive Officers. The British police actually call these ranks Chief Officers.

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Season 2 generally

Factual error: Deputy Chief Constable Dryden wears two rows of silver oakleaves on the peak of his cap. Deputy Chief Constables only wear a single row of oakleaves.

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Season 3 generally

Factual error: The members of the firearms team are described as Authorised Firearms Officers (AFOs). They are actually the more highly-qualified Specialist Firearms Officers (SFOs).

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Season 3 generally

Factual error: The term 'WPC' (Woman Police Constable) is used for female constables in official documentation. This term has not been used for many years. All constables are now just 'PC' (Police Constable).

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Episode #3.1 - S3-E1

Factual error: In the first scene, Chief Superintendent Reynolds is wearing a pip over a crown on his epaulettes instead of the correct chief superintendent's rank badge of a crown over a pip. This has been corrected in subsequent scenes.

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Episode #3.1 - S3-E1

Factual error: When he is interviewed in formal uniform, Sergeant Waldron is wearing stripes on his epaulettes as well as on the sleeves of his tunic. In formal dress, sergeants only wear their stripes on their sleeves.

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Factual error: When we see Elton John's father Stanley in RAF uniform at the beginning of the film he is wearing other ranks' uniform. Stanley was commissioned in 1944, three years before Elton was born, and served as a commissioned officer until his retirement as a squadron leader in 1963. He should be wearing officer's uniform.

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Factual error: There are a number of errors in the Irish rank insignia. The general wears at various times three bars (worn by a captain in 1961, when the film is set) and a modern major-general's rank badge (introduced in 1971). The junior officers wear British-style pips (not introduced by the Irish Army until 1971). The company sergeant wears the rank badge of the lower rank of company quartermaster sergeant.

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Factual error: The Indian commander, 'General' Raja, was actually a brigadier (India uses the British system, in which a brigadier is not a general and is not addressed as such). The rank badge he wears (two stars over crossed sword and baton) has never been used in India for any rank. The real Raja was also not a Sikh, so did not wear a turban or beard as he does in the film.

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Factual error: The soldiers marching in the background at the end of the film are swinging their arms and legs randomly all over the place with no uniformity at all; no real soldier would march or be allowed to march like this.

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Factual error: President Moïse Tshombe of Katanga was never a soldier and did not even pretend to be one. Nobody addressed him as 'General Tshombe' as the UN officials do throughout the film.

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Factual error: Ronnie Knight is shown being released from "HM London Prison." There are several prisons in London. None of them is or ever has been called "HM London Prison" (or even the correct form, "HM Prison London").

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Episode #3.1 - S3-E1

Factual error: A uniformed constable addresses Detective Sergeant Ripley as "Guv" in this episode and another officer addresses him as "Sir" in the following episode. These terms of address are reserved for officers of the rank of Inspector or above. Sergeants are addressed as "Sarge", "Skipper" or "Skip."

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Episode #1.3 - S1-E3

Factual error: The detectives determine that the killer must be using a boat which he used to dump the first body next to a canal in Birmingham. However, the barge he is using is far too large to navigate the Grand Union Canal from London to Birmingham, let alone the canals within Birmingham itself.

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Episode #1.3 - S1-E3

Character mistake: Luther and Ripley pretend they have not been on the boat and did not find the victim's body as they do not have a search warrant and do not want to compromise the case. However, under English law a police officer may legally enter any premises without a warrant in order to save life, prevent injury or protect property. Since they have a reasonable belief that the victim is being held prisoner on the boat and her life is in danger (as far as they know at that time she is still alive), they don't need a warrant. As experienced police officers, they are bound to know this.

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Episode #1.2 - S1-E2

Character mistake: A number of times the police officers refer to Owen and Terry Lynch as being soldiers and in the Army. They were in the Royal Marines, part of the Navy, and Marines are Marines, not soldiers.

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Show generally

Factual error: Throughout the series and credits, the ranks of Detective Superintendent and Detective Chief Superintendent are abbreviated as DSU and DCSU instead of the correct DSI and DCS.

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Episode #1.2 - S1-E2

Character mistake: Owen refers to his own unit as Forty Six Commando. The Royal Marines pronounce the names of commandos as individual digits: Four Six Commando.

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Episode #1.6 - S1-E6

Character mistake: DCS Cornish refers to "Detective Chief Superintendent Schenk." At that time he is a Detective Chief Inspector.

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Episode #33.22 - S33-E22

Character mistake: Charlie says that Iain has been a paramedic for ten years. Iain actually joined as a student paramedic in August 2013 immediately after leaving the Army (in which he was an infantryman, not a medic). As 'Casualty' operates in real time and this episode was shown in February 2019, Iain has therefore been a paramedic for only five and a half years.

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Factual error: The RAF policeman at the end is wearing battledress with exposed buttons done up to the neck. RAF battledress had a fly front with concealed buttons and, unlike the Army, all ranks of the RAF wore it open-necked with a collar and tie.

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Factual error: The military policemen wear plain black armbands. Their armbands actually had 'MP' in red letters.

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Factual error: The Royal Navy officers wear a completely inaccurate cap badge that appears to be a wreath with nothing in it. It actually surrounds an anchor and crown.

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Factual error: King George VI was a qualified military pilot and always wore his pilot's brevet above the rank rings on his left sleeve when in naval uniform. This is shown in numerous photographs. He does not wear it in the film.

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Factual error: Although her correct rank of Second Subaltern is used sometimes, Princess Elizabeth is also referred to both by herself and other military personnel as Junior Subaltern, Second Lieutenant and Lieutenant. Military personnel know ranks.

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Factual error: Numerous military personnel salute while bare-headed in the film. British military personnel only ever salute while wearing headdress.

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Factual error: The Grenadier Guards officers wear ordinary rank pips on their epaulettes. Since 1919, Grenadier Guards officers have worn Garter Stars instead.

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Factual error: Jack's RAF uniform is wrong on a number of levels. He is not wearing the eagles at the top of each sleeve worn by all RAF airmen. He is not wearing the correct Air Gunner brevet (with a single wing), but in fact wears a made-up badge that is claimed to indicate he has shot down five enemy aircraft. He does not have a cap badge on his forage cap.

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Factual error: Jack could not be demoted from sergeant to corporal by his CO. Substantive NCOs can only be demoted by court martial. As aircrew, his rank of sergeant would be a substantive rank, not an acting one (since it was the minimum rank for aircrew). And rank chevrons were made in one piece (two for a corporal, three for a sergeant), so if he was demoted he would have a new set of chevrons, not the top chevron removed as depicted (not only would this be impossible, but it would be a clear indicator that he'd done wrong and given he is still an NCO this would be demeaning).

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Factual error: Jack is addressed by everyone as 'Airman', not as the correct 'Corporal'. The rank of Airman does not even exist in the RAF.

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Factual error: Pretty much every medal ribbon shown appears to be completely made-up.

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Show generally

Factual error: The real RAF chief meteorologist was Group Captain Stagg. For some reason, he is the only character in the series who has been fictionalised, as Captain Burns. However Captain is not an RAF rank. Unlike the fictional Burns, Stagg was not a pilot and had no medal ribbons (he had no previous military service before receiving a war commission for his meteorological skills).

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Show generally

Continuity mistake: At the Chequers meeting in early 1944, Sir Bernard Montgomery is wearing the rank insignia of a field marshal. In the later meeting with the King in which the D-Day plans are announced, he is correctly wearing that of the lower rank of general. In fact, Montgomery was promoted from general to field marshal on 1 September 1944, nearly three months after D-Day.

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Episode #1.6 - S1-E6

Factual error: When Commander Anne Sampson appears in her body armour she wears the rank insignia only worn by the Commissioner (a crown over a pip over crossed tipstaves in a wreath) instead of that worn by her own rank of Commander (crossed tipstaves in a wreath). She has apparently been promoted four ranks.

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Factual error: The Royal Canadian Mounted Police officer who phones Jesperson to tell him he has not been accepted is a colonel. In common with most Canadian police forces, the RCMP uses British-style civilian police ranks (inspector, superintendent, etc), not military-style ranks as the American police do.

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Character mistake: When Jesperson imagines himself as a Mountie his uniform is completely wrong and is not even the right colour. As it was his ambition to join the force and he has photos of RCMP officers in his cab, it seems unlikely that he would imagine himself in a completely incorrect uniform.

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Factual error: The film is set in 1880 and Dan Leno is a major character, already well-established on the London stage. Leno was only 20 in 1880 and did not make his London professional debut as an adult performer until 1885; before then he had performed in Manchester and Sheffield.

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Factual error: Many details are wrong in Elizabeth's execution. The scaffold is in the prison yard, whereas by this time it was inside. The noose has a knot as opposed to the simple slider which was used by this time. Nobody is present except the hangman and one warder, whereas in fact the usual execution party was the prison governor, the chaplain, at least two warders, the hangman and his assistant. The hangman is masked, which never happened in Britain.

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Episode #1.2 - S1-E2

Factual error: The Fitzhuberts' soirée in February 1900 is said to be the first of the new century. The beginning of the 20th century (unlike the Millennium) was celebrated correctly in 1901. 1900 was correctly understood to be the last year of the 19th century.

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Season 1 generally

Factual error: Percy Bysshe Shelley's father was a baronet, not a peer. He was Sir Timothy Shelley, not Lord Shelley as he is referred to here.

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Season 1 generally

Factual error: Many elements of Marlott's trial and execution are incorrect. The judge sits with two assessors (a European practice, not a British one). He is addressed as 'Your Honour' instead of the correct 'My Lord'. He instructs the jury to find Marlott guilty and then goes straight to sentencing, which would never happen; a judge can instruct a jury to acquit, but not convict. He puts the black cap on himself, instead of an attendant doing it. The form of words for the death sentence is incorrect. The chaplain (who appears to be Catholic, not Anglican) gives a speech at the scaffold.

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Show generally

Factual error: Sergeant Bumpher never wears any rank insignia. He appears to just be a constable.

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Terri - S2-E3

Factual error: The board at the entrance to the abandoned air force base reads "Canadian Aviation Forces" and lower down mentions the "Minister of Defense." There has never been any such organisation as the Canadian Aviation Forces (it was the Air Command from 1975 to 2011 and is now the Royal Canadian Air Force once more) and the minister's title is the Minister of National Defence (without the American spelling).

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Show generally

Factual error: The provincial police is always described as the Ontario Police Department (OPD) instead of the correct Ontario Provincial Police (OPP).

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Season 1 generally

Factual error: Peter Townsend wears the rank insignia of a group captain (and is referred to as Group Captain Townsend) from the beginning of the series in 1947. In fact, Townsend was promoted from wing commander to group captain on 1 January 1953. He was also appointed Commander of the Royal Victorian Order (CVO) in 1947, but is never seen wearing the appropriate medal ribbon, which should come first on his collection.

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Continuity mistake: When Chuck Hansen is sitting at the dinner table arguing with Raleigh he is bareheaded. He stands up and in the next shot he has his baseball cap on. He had no time to put it on at all. It seems to have spontaneously appeared on his head.

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Show generally

Factual error: At least two characters wear the Queen's Diamond Jubilee Medal, which wasn't issued until 2012. The series is set in 1965.

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Show generally

Factual error: Major Markham is consistently referred to as the CO (Commanding Officer). As a company commander, he is actually the OC (Officer Commanding). In the British Army, CO is a title reserved for the commanders of battalion-sized units.

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Show generally

Factual error: Sergeant Baxter seems to be the senior NCO of the company. There appear to be no company sergeant major or staff sergeants. This is very odd, but particularly odd in the Royal Military Police, which is very NCO-heavy.

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Show generally

Factual error: The Royal Military Police's main job is to police the army. The show depicts them as a general security unit. Weirdly, when soldiers are shown guarding the prison and the courthouse, which would be an RMP job, they are not RMP.

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Show generally

Factual error: The RMP cap badge is completely wrong. It actually features the Royal Cypher (ERII), not the letters RMP as depicted. It is also considerably smaller.

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Episode #1.4 - S1-E4

Factual error: The soldier who shoots Yusra's father is listed on the credits as "Royal Scotch Guard." There is no such thing. There are two regiments: the Scots Guards and the Royal Scots. The soldier was actually a member of the latter, as correctly described in the dialogue.

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Episode #1.2 - S1-E2

Factual error: The catalogue of errors made by the SAS team (e.g. being caught out in the open, not posting a watch, not using cover) would be unlikely to be made by an ordinary trained infantryman, let alone an elite special forces unit.

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Factual error: The film implies that Ned Kelly and his friends only became criminals after being harassed by the police. In fact, they had a long history of criminality, bushranging and animal rustling before being declared outlaws.

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Factual error: In the film, many hostages and policemen are killed and wounded in the final shootout at Glenrowan. In actual fact, two hostages (Martin Cherry and John Jones) were killed and two more wounded, and on the police side only Superintendent Hare, an Aboriginal tracker and a civilian volunteer were wounded. There was no travelling circus present.

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Episode #1.5 - S1-E5

Continuity mistake: The police force in the series is consistently described as the Yorkshire Police, a fictional force (and its name and crest are shown numerous times). However, when the detective superintendent is being interviewed on TV, the on-screen caption says he is from the West Yorkshire Police, the real force that covers the area.

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Episode #1.6 - S1-E6

Continuity mistake: The district commander wears the rank insignia of a chief superintendent up until the final episode, when he suddenly appears with the insignia of the lower rank of superintendent.

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Episode #1.5 - S1-E5

Factual error: Catherine is told she's been recommended for the Queen's Police Medal for Gallantry. This has not been awarded since 1977, when it was replaced by the Queen's Gallantry Medal, which is still awarded.

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Show generally

Factual error: 12/01/2018: DS Benton tells Moira that a body has been found in a harbour near Prague. Prague is a land-locked city in a land-locked country about 200 miles from the nearest coastline.

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Factual error: Carter's war record says he won the Southern Cross of Honor during the American Civil War. While this medal was authorised, it was never actually awarded.

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Factual error: The King does not wear pilot's wings above the rank lace on his left sleeve. Photos show that he always wore them, as he was a qualified military pilot.

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Factual error: Neville Chamberlain is described as chairman of the Conservative Party. He was actually party leader. Party chairman is a separate post, which was held at that time by Sir Douglas Hacking.

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Factual error: Poirot refers to the senior police officer in Jerusalem as the Chief Inspector of Police and implies that he commands the police in Jerusalem. The Palestine Police had no rank of Chief Inspector. The three stars worn by the officer were the insignia of an Assistant Superintendent of Police, the entry-level rank for gazetted officers. The head of the Jerusalem police was a District Superintendent of Police, two ranks higher. As Poirot is famously a stickler for detail, it's certainly not a character mistake.

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Factual error: Both the Yugoslav police officers Poirot is speaking to at the end are black. The chances of a black person serving in the Yugoslav police in the 1930s were zero.

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Factual error: Brod railway station is not (and never was) an isolated railway station with mountains behind it. No mountains are visible from it but the town and fortress are nearby and easily visible from the station.

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Factual error: The chefs on the Orient Express in the movie are female. Women did not work as chefs in the 1930s and none of the train crew would have been female in any case.

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Factual error: The Orient Express had a restaurant coach, four sleeping coaches and two baggage cars, and carried 58 passengers, far larger than the train depicted. There was a conductor always on duty in every sleeping coach and they worked shifts, so more than four would be carried; it's stated that Michel is the only conductor on board.

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Show generally

Factual error: Johann Eck is dressed as a cardinal and Albrecht von Brandenburg addresses him as "Your Eminence" and kisses his ring. In reality, Eck was not a cardinal. Albrecht, however, was. It should be Eck showing deference to him, not vice versa. Albrecht was also only thirty, half the age of the actor playing him.

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Charles (Manson) in Charge - S7-E10

Continuity mistake: Kai applies shaving soap to his whole face, including his upper lip. In the next shot, there is no soap on his upper lip and he puts it on again.

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Occurrence Reports - S5-E6

Factual error: Everyone celebrates the beginning of the new century at midnight on 31 December 1899. In fact, the beginning of the 20th century was celebrated (correctly) at midnight on 31 December 1900. In those days people still knew that a decade (and a century) begins with a year 1, not a year 0.

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A Last Good Act - S5-E5

Factual error: Chief Inspector Abberline's warrant card is signed by Commissioner Leonard Dunning. No Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police had this name or anything like it.

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The Luxury of Conscience - S2-E8

Factual error: Drummond's assassin is said to have been a farmer who was angry about the repeal of the Corn laws. He was actually Daniel M'Naghten, a woodturner who was found not guilt by reason of insanity and was under the delusion he was being persecuted by the Tory Party. Drummond did not take a bullet for Peel. Peel was not with him at the time. M'Naghten mistook him for Peel as he left Peel's house and shot him in the back.

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The King Over the Water - S2-E7

Factual error: When Victoria and Albert visited Blair Atholl in 1844 (actually two years before the events depicted in the previous episode, which occurred in 1846), the Duke of Atholl was mad and locked away in a London townhouse, as he had been for 46 years. The man who hosted them and is depicted by the 70-year-old Denis Lawson was actually his nephew and heir, Lord Glenlyon, who was then only 30 and succeeded his uncle as duke in 1846.

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Season 2 generally

Factual error: Edward Drummond, Sir Robert Peel's private secretary, is several times seen sitting next to him in the House of Commons. Drummond was a civil servant, never a Member of Parliament.

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Show generally

Factual error: Baroness Lehzen was dismissed by Queen Victoria (on the instigation of Prince Albert, who disliked her) and returned to her native Germany in 1842. In the series, she is still head of the household in 1846.

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The New and Improved Carl Morrissey - S1-E2

Character mistake: The advertising leaflet for the cemetery misspells it "cemetary" on the front cover.

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The Luxury of Conscience - S2-E8

Character mistake: The Speaker calls on Lord George Bentinck as "the Honourable Member for Lincoln." He was actually the Member for King's Lynn.

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Season 2 generally

Factual error: Edward Drummond was assassinated in 1843 by a madman who mistook him for Sir Robert Peel. In the series, he is still very much alive three years later.

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Season 2 generally

Factual error: Harriet Sutherland's husband did not die in a riding accident in the 1840s. He died of natural causes in 1861 at the age of 75.

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Season 2 generally

Factual error: The real Duchess of Buccleuch was 30 when she was appointed Mistress of the Robes, fifty years younger than Diana Rigg, who plays her here.

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A Soldier's Daughter - S2-E1

Factual error: Captain Souter is shown lying dead in the snow following the massacre at Gandamak. In fact, Thomas Souter was one of the few who survived to be captured by the Afghans and was later freed.

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Episode #3.3 - S3-E3

Factual error: Tommy refers to Istanbul. It was always still called Constantinople in the West at that time and would be for several more years.

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Episode #3.5 - S3-E5

Factual error: All of Tommy's former men salute him. As a sergeant-major and not an officer he would never be saluted. This is drummed into all soldiers and they'd never do it, even in civilian life. Not only is it against regulations, but many NCOs would take it as an insult.

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Factual error: Colonel Winnant wears a regimental cap badge. In fact, full colonels (as he is) and brigadiers have a different cap badge (a lion standing on a crown). It's not entirely beyond the realms of possibility that he would choose to continue to wear his old cap badge, but it would be very unusual (and completely against regulations).

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Episode #3.2 - S3-E2

Factual error: Father Hughes says that Admiral Hall may be detained in the House of Lords. Admiral Hall, although knighted, was never ennobled and thus did not sit in the House of Lords.

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Episode #3.2 - S3-E2

Factual error: Patrick Jarvis mentions Tbilisi. Nobody in Britain would have called the city by that name in 1924; it was still always referred to as Tiflis.

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Episode #1.5 - S1-E5

Factual error: The senior police officer's name tag reads "Assistant Commissioner" but he wears the rank insignia of a Deputy Assistant Commissioner.

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Shanzhai - S3-E3

Continuity mistake: In the previous episode, Doc Rios says he can hardly see anything without his glasses. In this episode, still without his glasses, he looks out of the hut window and describes the compound beyond in detail.

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Season 3 generally

Factual error: Commander Garnett, previously the chief engineer, becomes executive officer and starts wearing the line officers' star above her rank rings. This does not happen. An engineer is not trained to command a ship.

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Shanzhai - S3-E3

Plot hole: Chandler chooses Granderson as his XO over Cameron Burk, partly because Burk made an error of judgement and partly as Granderson has been with him since the beginning. However, he completely overlooks the navigator, Lt Mejia, who is a highly competent officer who has also been with him since the beginning and has considerable seniority over Granderson (but is a recurring character as opposed to being on the main cast). While much is made of Burk being demoted, nobody says a word about Mejia being passed over.

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Episode #1.2 - S1-E2

Factual error: The policeman in Greenwich Park wears the divisional letter 'S'. Greenwich was covered by R Division.

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Episode #1.2 - S1-E2

Factual error: The railway tickets just say "Kent to Greenwich" instead of specifying the actual station where they were bought as they would have done.

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Episode #1.2 - S1-E2

Factual error: The settlers prepare to burn Verity at the stake as a witch. Witches were never burned in England or her colonies; they were hanged.

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Factual error: When Steve gets dressed after bathing in the pool he zips up his fly. The film is set during the First World War. The zip was not used on clothing until 1925 and did not become common on flies until long after that.

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Factual error: The word "intel", used several times, is first recorded in 1961. It certainly wasn't in use in 1918.

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Character mistake: While posing as Steve's driver, Sameer refers to him as a colonel. He is actually wearing captain's epaulettes.

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Other mistake: Field Marshal Haig is listed in the credits as Field Marshall Haig. This spelling (with two Ls) is only ever a surname, not a rank or job title.

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Season 5 generally

Factual error: Throughout the season, it is the BND who run security investigations within Germany. The BND is the German external intelligence service. The internal security service, who would actually be running these investigations, is the BfV. Neither service has a power of arrest, which BND agents exercise on at least two occasions during the season. If they need to arrest somebody then they must call in the Bundespolizei (as they do correctly at other times).

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The Heart of Lord Trash - S1-E10

Factual error: Bulstrode refers to Elizabeth I. Since it's the 1930s, there's only been one Queen Elizabeth. She didn't become Elizabeth I until Elizabeth II acceded to the throne in 1952.

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The Heart of Lord Trash - S1-E10

Factual error: In the prologue, Captain Dance wears two and half rings of braid around his cuff. A British Army captain, which uniform he wears, wore two rings.

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Episode #1.5 - S1-E5

Factual error: The facility raided at the end is referred to as belonging to the Ministry of Defence. Although Churchill held the post of Minister of Defence, the ministry itself was not created until 1946.

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Show generally

Factual error: Although he is openly an SD officer, Huth does not wear the SD insignia on his cuff.

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Episode #1.4 - S1-E4

Other mistake: A major plot point is the rivalry between the Wehrmacht and the SS, who refuse to work together. After the explosion at the cemetery, it is the Wehrmacht who are explicitly described as rounding up and interning suspected resistance fighters, with the SS not being party to it. However, when Archer visits the internment camp, most of the staff are wearing SS uniform.

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Show generally

Factual error: ACC Pat Gallan wears the ribbon of the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal. The medal was issued in 2012. Her medals would be correct for 2017 when the series was made, but not 2007 when it is set.

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Other mistake: The credits list "Young SS Trouper" instead of "Trooper." (02:03:30)

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Episode #1.3 - S1-E3

Factual error: Dunn says he's researched at the British Library. It wasn't called that until 1973. Before then it was the British Museum Library and always referred to either as that or simply as the British Museum.

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Show generally

Factual error: Huth does not wear his Knight's Cross correctly. It should be suspended below the collar, not attached high on the collar as his is.

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Show generally

Factual error: Gruppenführer Springer wears the rank insignia of a Brigadeführer, the rank below.

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Show generally

Continuity mistake: Archer is at various times described as chief superintendent (a rank which wasn't introduced until 1949), superintendent and inspector. Nobody, including him, seems to know what his actual rank is.

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Episode #1.1 - S1-E1

Other mistake: The German officer in the pub is described in the credits as an unteroffizier (corporal or, generically, NCO). He actually wears the uniform of an oberleutnant (lieutenant), a commissioned officer.

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Show generally

Factual error: The constables working at Scotland Yard are wearing the divisional letter 'S'. 'S' Division covered North West London, including Hampstead, Hendon and Golders Green. Its men wouldn't have been anywhere near Scotland Yard.

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The Incubus - S1-E9

Continuity mistake: In episode 5, it was established that there is no road to the Jezequiel house. Robert and Max had to leave their car in the village and walk across the fields to the house. In this episode, however, Robert drives his car right up to the house with no problem.

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Part 3 - S1-E3

Factual error: At the picnic, a woman says she is going to New York by train. It is 1828. Railway passenger service in the United States did not begin until 1830 and it would not be possible to travel from North Carolina to New York until some years after that.

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Show generally

Factual error: Toby joins the War Office, handles statistics for the RAF (an Air Ministry job) and then is suddenly said to be working for the Admiralty, but still in the same office in which he has been working since the beginning of the war. These were three completely separate ministries with separate buildings. Civil servants joined one or the other.

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Episode #1.4 - S1-E4

Factual error: In 1940, all the Americans are leaving London on transatlantic flights. Although the first commercial transatlantic flights began in 1939, they were suspended on the outbreak of war. Real commercial transatlantic service did not begin until after the war.

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Episode #1.4 - S1-E4

Factual error: Toby works in the War Office, which is collating all the RAF's losses. The War Office only administered the Army. The RAF was administered by the Air Ministry.

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Episode #1.3 - S1-E3

Factual error: Billy is called up into a specific unit of the Royal Artillery. This didn't happen. He would first have been sent to a Royal Artillery training depot and only after training would he have been assigned to a unit.

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Show generally

Factual error: The Prince Regent's servants address him several times as 'Your Majesty'. Since his father, the King, is still alive he is actually 'Your Royal Highness'. No royal servant would make this mistake.

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Show generally

Factual error: Several of the soldiers at the Tower wear their hair tied back in queues. These were abolished in 1808 and the series is set in 1814. Since they were loathed as well as against regulations, it's highly unlikely that any soldier would have worn them after they were abolished.

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Episode #1.7 - S1-E7

Factual error: Lorna uses the word 'okay'. The first recorded usage of this word in America was not until 1839 and in Britain not until the 20th century. The series is set in 1814 and generally uses language contemporary to its setting.

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Season 2 generally

Factual error: Both detective superintendents always wear uniform, which is only worn by detectives on very formal occasions if at all. Both also wear collar badges, which are not worn by either the Metropolitan Police or Thames Valley Police, the forces to which they belong.

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Show generally

Continuity mistake: The series doesn't seem sure what Sunny's rank is. He is described at various times both on screen and in the credits as both Detective Inspector and Detective Sergeant.

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Show generally

Factual error: The sergeant's stripes on the sleeves of the police officer appearing as a witness at the trial are in a completely incorrect style for a Metropolitan Police sergeant (or indeed by any British police sergeant). She also wears small metal stripes on her epaulettes. These are not worn with tunics, where the stripes are only worn on the sleeves; only her number should appear on her epaulettes.

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Show generally

Factual error: The judge requires £100,000 to be paid to the court in bail and Yvonne's husband later says he had to cash in bonds to get the money. In Britain, bail is not paid in advance. It is sufficient to prove that it is available if necessary and it is only required to be paid if the defendant later absconds.

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Show generally

Factual error: David Gerring, one of the senior police officers on the case, always introduces himself as Detective Superintendent. He was actually a Detective Chief Inspector, which is listed correctly on the credits.

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Show generally

Factual error: In the first scene, the raid on the gambling party, the policemen all wear white shirts. The scene is set in 1958 and the Metropolitan Police did not switch from blue shirts to white until c.1970.

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Factual error: Major Carlysle's medal ribbons have been sewn on upside down. The Queen's South Africa Medal should be worn first, followed by the King's South Africa Medal, and the KSAM bars should be green-white-orange, not orange-white-green (the QSAM is symmetrical, so looks the same either way up). Sgt Major Saunders, on the other hand, is wearing his medals correctly.

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Factual error: Sergeant-Major Saunders is wearing sergeant's stripes. Corporals Drake and Levin are wearing no rank insignia at all.

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Season 2 generally

Factual error: Eve wears an imaginary cap badge. It certainly isn't Royal Military Police.

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Show generally

Factual error: At both funerals, everyone wears combat dress. Soldiers wear service dress (formal uniform tunic and trousers with collar and tie) to funerals. In fact, combat dress is all anyone ever wears in the series. The British Army has a variety of different uniforms. Combat dress is not worn all the time, especially not by officers or senior NCOs.

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Show generally

Factual error: The policeman who comes to visit Christie to tell him about the burglaries and those escorting Christie outside the police station are wearing the divisional letter 'X'; Notting Hill, where Rillington Place was located, was actually covered by F Division, which was the division responsible for investigating the crimes. X Division covered neighbouring Kilburn and Willesden.

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Show generally

Factual error: With two exceptions, all the policemen shown in both 1949 and 1953 are wearing the old-fashioned tunics with high, closed collars. The Metropolitan Police adopted the more modern open-necked tunic with collar and tie in 1948, and this is shown worn by the policeman who visits Christie and by the officer who arrests him.

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Show generally

Factual error: Although the regiment at the centre of the drama is fictitious, its cap badge looks like nothing that which would be worn by a British regiment. It includes no crown and looks more like a German cap badge.

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Show generally

Character mistake: The brigadier wears a regimental cap badge. Colonels and brigadiers have their own cap badge.

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Show generally

Factual error: Eve and Jorn wear uniform most of the time. Although SIB agents (British Army detectives) do sometimes wear uniform, they most often wear civilian clothes, as do German police detectives.

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Show generally

Factual error: When the two officers salute in Iraq, they give a naval (or American) style palm-down salute, not a British Army palm-forward salute.

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Show generally

Factual error: The only person ever addressed as "Sir" is the brigadier, and then only occasionally. No other officers ever seem to be addressed in this way.

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Show generally

Factual error: The wigs in the courtroom scenes are not correct. The barristers' wigs are too full and the judges are wearing the shoulder-length wigs only worn on ceremonial occasions; for normal court work they have worn similar wigs to barristers since the 1840s.

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Show generally

Factual error: The barristers address the judge as "Your Honour." High Court Judges like Mr Justice Lewis are addressed as "My Lord."

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Men of Iron, Men of Smoke - S4-E4

Factual error: In the flashback to the courtroom scene at the beginning, there is a gavel sitting before the judge. British judges have never used gavels.

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Men of Iron, Men of Smoke - S4-E4

Factual error: One character refers to another as a wanker. The first recorded usage of this term in a sexual sense is in 1950 and as an insult in 1972. The episode is set in 1897 and its language is consistently that of the time; it doesn't use modern language.

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Season 4 generally

Factual error: A woman who was sentenced to death while pregnant, as Long Susan was, was never hanged. Her sentence was stayed until she gave birth and then always commuted to imprisonment. Most such women were released after only a few years.

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A White World Made Red - S4-E3

Factual error: DI Reid is sworn back in as a constable by DI Drake. Only a magistrate can swear in a police constable, which is a judicial office.

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Some Conscience Lost - S4-E2

Factual error: As Colonial Secretary, Joseph Chamberlain had no authority over India, which was not considered to be one of the colonies. There was a separate Secretary of State for India, a position held in 1897 by Lord George Hamilton.

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Some Conscience Lost - S4-E2

Factual error: The depiction of the hanging is completely inaccurate. By the 1890s, the gallows at Newgate were housed in a room within the prison, not in the courtyard. Prisoners' wrists and legs were pinioned before they were hanged, not left free as depicted. The long drop was used in Britain from the 1870s, not the short drop depicted. The large knot depicted was not used in Britain (although it was in America) ; a simple sliding loop was actually used, and this was positioned under the jawbone at the side of the neck, not at the back of the neck, which would quite probably not have broken the neck, leaving the person to strangle to death.

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Show generally

Factual error: Assistant Commissioner Dove's accent is working-class London. Although he is a fictional character, it is inconceivable that an assistant commissioner in the 1890s would sound like this (or be as young as he is). All officers above the rank of superintendent in those days were men who were transferred directly into senior rank, having previously had long and distinguished careers in senior ranks in the army, colonial police, civil service or law. The first man to be promoted to senior rank from the lower ranks was James Olive, who was promoted to assistant commissioner in 1920 at the age of 64 and after 48 years service.

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The Strangers' Home - S4-E1

Factual error: The Risaldar-Major is in command of the Bengal Lancers. The commandants of Indian regiments were actually British, as were many of the officers. The Risaldar-Major was the senior Indian officer of a cavalry regiment, but held a similar position to the Regimental Sergeant Major in a British regiment. He certainly did not command it. Although commanding great respect, he was junior to all the regiment's British officers.

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Brocket Hall - S1-E3

Factual error: Whilst hanging, drawing and quartering was indeed still the prescribed penalty for treason (and would remain so for the most serious offences until 1870, although the Newport Chartists were the last to actually receive the sentence), this barbaric punishment had not actually been carried out since the 17th century. By the 19th century the condemned person was hanged until dead and the head then symbolically severed by a surgeon. Nobody, least of all Lord Melbourne, would have believed in 1839 that the full punishment was going to be carried out, but they all talk as though they expect it to be.

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Show generally

Factual error: The DI refers to the local policeman as "Officer" Fuller. No British police officer would use this term to refer to another British police officer. She'd have said Constable Fuller or PC Fuller.

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The Queen's Husband - S1-E6

Factual error: Victoria and Albert receive a wedding present from the Lord Mayor of Leicester. The Mayor of Leicester did not receive Lord Mayor status until 1928.

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An Ordinary Woman - S1-E5

Factual error: Schloss Rosenau, Prince Albert's home in Coburg, looks nothing like the place depicted. It is not atop a hill and actually looks more like a country house than a fairytale castle.

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Achilles - S2-E5

Factual error: Sean says he was the coxswain on HMS Achilles. However, in the previous episode's flashback to the beginning of the red flu outbreak when Achilles was still in operation he was shown wearing lieutenant's rank insignia. The coxswain is the senior rating aboard a Royal Navy submarine and holds the rank of chief petty officer or warrant officer; he is certainly not a commissioned officer.

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Solace - S2-E4

Factual error: The dead Royal Navy submarine captain wears a beret. British submarine captains still wear the traditional submarine captain's white-topped peaked cap if they wear headgear at all. His cap badge also features the king's crown, which has not been worn since George VI's death in 1952, instead of the current queen's crown.

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Solace - S2-E4

Factual error: The Royal Australian Navy special forces operator Wolf Taylor is a 'senior chief'. There is no such rank as senior chief petty officer in the RAN. The two most senior non-commissioned ranks are chief petty officer and warrant officer (the latter a non-commissioned rank and not the same as an American WO).

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Show generally

Factual error: It is implied throughout the show (and explicitly stated a couple of times) that Reid is in command of H Division. From the earliest days of the Metropolitan Police, a division was actually commanded by a uniformed superintendent, not a detective inspector.

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Achilles - S2-E5

Factual error: Sean, a member of the Royal Navy, refers to one of his own officers as a "Lootenant"; no British serviceman would ever use this American pronunciation, we pronounce it "Leftenant".

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Lockdown - S1-E6

Factual error: Dr Scott's official personnel record shows that she received her only medical degree, an MD, from Cambridge University. However, British universities do not award an MD as a first medical degree; in Britain, unlike the USA, this is a very prestigious (and rare) postgraduate research degree only awarded to very highly-qualified doctors. The medical qualification degree at Cambridge is an MBBChir (Bachelor of Medicine and Surgery), which is equivalent to an American MD. Although Americans expect doctors to have an MD, it is extremely unlikely that an official personnel record would give false information. The record also shows that her first degree was a BS in chemistry from Oxford. Oxford does not award a BSc degree (as they are called in Britain); most of its undergraduate degrees, even in science, are BAs.

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Solace - S2-E4

Factual error: The depth gauge on the Royal Navy submarine shows depths in American English 'meters' instead of British English 'metres'. Since British submarines are British-built and use British equipment, this would never happen.

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Dead Reckoning - S1-E3

Factual error: Ruskov introduces himself as a vice-admiral. However, he wears the sleeve insignia of an admiral of the fleet, two ranks higher: a wide stripe and four regular stripes (instead of the wide stripe and two regular stripes of a vice-admiral). On his epaulettes he wears the four stars worn by an admiral of the fleet until 1962, instead of the single large star of a modern admiral of the fleet or the two regular stars of a vice-admiral. Given Ruskov, it is inconceivable that he would reduce his own rank or wear the insignia of a higher rank but not use it.

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Show generally

Factual error: The Metropolitan Police isn't a national police force (except for close protection and anti-terrorist matters). It has no authority over other police forces. It doesn't take over criminal cases from other police forces. It hasn't even provided investigation teams on request for decades. Every force handles its own investigations. A Met chief superintendent and his team coming in, as depicted here, and taking over an Avon and Somerset investigation just wouldn't happen.

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Map of the Seven Knights - S5-E10

Factual error: The Czech crime database (which appears to be an official Czech database) is headed 'Czechoslovakia'. Czechoslovakia has not existed since the Czech Republic and Slovakia separated in 1993 and neither country uses the term any more.

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Factual error: Inchtuthil, the fort attacked at the beginning of the film, was abandoned by AD 87, thirty years before the film is set in AD 117. It was also a legionary fortress, with space for several thousand men, not a small outpost as depicted here.

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Factual error: The film is set in AD 117. Agricola, depicted as Governor of Britain, died in AD 93.

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Episode #2.6 - S2-E6

Factual error: The field marshal is wearing a revolver to the Derby. British soldiers are only ever armed on duty, certainly not when attending social events. He also wears his Sam Browne outside his shoulder strap instead of beneath it; no officer would do this.

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Season 2 generally

Other mistake: The Birmingham police officer, Moss, is still listed in the credits as Sergeant Moss. He held that rank in Season 1, but in Season 2 he wears inspector's rank insignia. Campbell does address him as Mr Moss, the correct title for an inspector.

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Season 2 generally

Factual error: Major Campbell heads the Irish branch of the secret service, but reports to Winston Churchill, the Colonial Secretary. The Colonial Office had nothing to do with Ireland, which at that time was part of the United Kingdom.

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Season 2 generally

Factual error: Michael's impending 18th birthday is often mentioned as the time he becomes an adult and can make his own decisions. The age of majority in 1922 (and until 1970) was 21.

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Factual error: The local police constable wears the divisional letter 'H'. H Division of the Metropolitan Police covered Whitechapel. While it is never specified where the upper middle-class Cherry Tree Lane is, it's certainly not in Whitechapel, which was a solidly working-class district in the heart of the East End. He also wears his letter and number on his helmet plate, a 19th century practice that had been abolished by 1910.

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The Harbinger - S1-E1

Factual error: 1-1 A couple of spelling errors. A "community center" in Ceylon, a British colony, using the American instead of the British spelling. And Columbo listed as the capital of Ceylon; it's Colombo.

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The Silver Angel - S2-E4

Factual error: Abraham and Palmer visit what they describe as a nunnery. However, it is full of men and boys dressed as monks with not a woman in sight, although one novice does refer to the Mother Superior. No Roman Catholic monastery is mixed sex.

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The Silver Angel - S2-E4

Factual error: In the 1960s Abraham says someone went to Belarus. The Soviet Republic (and the region in general) wasn't called Belarus in the 1960s and was never referred to as that; it was Byelorussia or White Russia until 1991.

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For Services Rendered - S1-E7

Revealing mistake: The entire mobile phone network is supposedly down, yet in Grand Central we several times see a man chatting on his mobile.

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Occultation - S1-E6

Factual error: Eichhorst seems to be unsure what his SS rank is. He is addressed as Standartenführer (Colonel) but wears the epaulettes of an Obersturmbannführer (Lieutenant-Colonel) and the collar patch of a Sturmbannführer (Major). In addition, his other collar patch bears the standard SS lightning runes instead of the death's head of the Totenkopf concentration camp personnel.

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Redux - S4-E7

Factual error: The Pakistan Air Force officer in the airport is listed in the credits as 'PAF Lieutenant' and is wearing the two pips of an army lieutenant. In fact, the PAF still uses RAF-style ranks, so he should be a Flying Officer, and the PAF also uses distinctive eight-pointed stars instead of pips.

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Redux - S4-E7

Continuity mistake: When Lt Col Khan leans forward in the airport scene his epaulette can be seen to bear only the single pip of a second lieutenant. When he stands up again he is wearing the pip and emblem of a lieutenant-colonel once more.

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Season 4 generally

Factual error: The Pakistan Army uses British-style rank insignia with the crown replaced with The Star and crescent of Pakistan. The ISI officers are all wearing another badge instead of The Star and crescent. They are also wearing black gorget (collar) patches, whereas they should be wearing scarlet. Lt Col Khan and a number of other more junior officers should not be wearing gorget patches at all, as they are restricted to full colonels and above. ISI officers do not have a separate uniform; they wear ordinary military uniform if they are entitled to it.

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Shalwar Kameez - S4-E3

Character mistake: Carrie tells Aayan that she can arrange for him to study at the Royal College of Physicians. The college isn't a medical school; it's a professional body.

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Virgil - S2-E4

Factual error: On the missing poster in the hospital, one of the gendarmes is said to hold the rank of Brigadier. This is a Police Nationale rank equivalent to sergeant; it is not used by the Gendarmerie Nationale, since all ordinary gendarmes are equivalent in rank to sergeant. The lowest supervisory rank in the Gendarmerie is Maréchal de Logis-Chef (staff sergeant).

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Show generally

Factual error: Possibly a mistake from the novel on which the series is based, but although he later became Bishop of Hereford, St Thomas Cantilupe wasn't baptised in Herefordshire. He came from Buckinghamshire.

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Factual error: During the trial the judge uses a gavel. English judges have never used gavels.

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Character mistake: According to the subtitles, when the landings begin General Marcks asks his aide to get General Pemsel at 5th Army on the phone. Pemsel was chief of staff of 7th Army, as the caption correctly states when he first appears. 5th Army was disbanded in 1939.

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Factual error: The caption says that Major Werner Pluskat is in the 352nd Coast Artillery Division. He was actually an artillery officer in the 352nd Infantry Division.

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Factual error: The ribbon of Richard Burton's Distinguished Flying Cross is on upside down. The Air Force Cross following it is the right way up. The stripes on both should point the same way, as they do on the uniform of his colleague in the mess. Nobody would be allowed to get away with a mistake like this - another officer or senior NCO would soon point it out. In addition, as a long-service veteran (his colleague says he served in the Battle of Britain) he should be wearing the ribbon of the 1939-1944 Star (as it was then), which was issued to all qualified personnel from 1943.

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Factual error: Luftwaffe pilot Josef Priller is depicted wearing the rank insignia of an oberst (colonel); he was actually an oberstleutnant (lieutenant-colonel) on D-Day, although he was later promoted to oberst. His wingman, Heinz Wodarczyk, is depicted wearing the insignia of a feldwebel (flight sergeant); he was actually an unteroffizier (corporal).

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Factual error: Group Captain Stagg is wearing several medal ribbons. In actual fact, Stagg was too young to have served in the First World War and had no military service before being commissioned into the RAF specifically to act as chief meteorologist for Operation Overlord. He would have had no ribbons at all until 1945, when he received the OBE, the US Legion of Merit and wartime service ribbons.

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Factual error: Group Captain Stagg is described by the on-screen caption as J N Stagg. He was actually J M Stagg.

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Factual error: French commando Philippe Kieffer is wearing the ribbon of the Military Cross throughout the film. He was actually awarded the MC in July 1944, a month after D-Day.

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Factual error: Beachmaster Colin Maud is correctly wearing the ribbons of the Distinguished Service Order (which he won in 1942) and the Distinguished Service Cross (which he won in 1940). However, he is not wearing the rosette on his DSC ribbon to indicate the bar he won less than a month after the original.

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Trivia: Captain Colin Maud's dog Winnie was actually a German Shepherd, but it was changed to an English Bulldog for contrast because German Major Werner Pluskat also has a German Shepherd in the film.

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Factual error: Brigadier General Norman Cota came ashore in the second wave, not the first wave as depicted. Brigadier General Theodore Roosevelt was the only American general to land in the first wave, as correctly depicted.

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Show generally

Factual error: 7 Sep 2015: Several errors with the soldiers in the recruiting office. They wear their berets almost flat on their heads and not pulled to the side - no self-respecting British soldier would wear his beret this way. The berets have tails, which British berets do not have. Lee salutes a sergeant major - he's an experienced soldier so would never do such a thing and would get an earful if he did. Lee talks about his platoon in Afghanistan - he's in the Royal Engineers, who have troops instead of platoons. In fact, all the soldiers are from the RE - in reality recruiting offices are staffed by soldiers from a mix of corps and regiments.

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Factual error: After the shooting in Waterloo Station police officers run to the scene blowing their whistles. British police officers haven't used or been issued whistles for many years.

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Show generally

Factual error: The Mitanni king and his son are depicted as black Africans. The Mitanni originated in the modern Iran/Iraq area, or possibly as far east as India, but certainly nowhere near Africa. They were definitely not black Africans.

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Show generally

Continuity mistake: Tutankhamun and Suhad ride to the Mitanni city on a horse with no equipment at all, not even a saddle. Yet mysteriously when they need to stop for the night a large tent appears out of nowhere.

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Factual error: The US Cavalry are careful not to run into Confederate cavalry from Fort Davis, who are shown in the distance. Fort Davis was indeed occupied by the Confederates from 1861 to 1862, but was then abandoned until 1867. The film is set in 1864, so there would be no Confederate troops at Fort Davis.

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Character mistake: Ryan's final diary entry says the US Cavalry fought against "French irregulars." The French lancers were actually regular troops.

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Show generally

Factual error: At the end the Chief Constable tells Jo she is being transferred to CID. She then says that most people would be happy to be told they'd been promoted to sergeant. But she hasn't been told she's been promoted to sergeant, since officers are transferred to CID in their current rank (detective constable in her case) and one isn't just promoted to sergeant; it requires passing a national-level exam and an interview. Chief constables can't just arbitrarily promote a constable to sergeant. Jo then salutes, something that hasn't been done by the British police for decades.

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Show generally

Factual error: Detective Chief Inspector Kapoor is suddenly shown in uniform with inspector's rank insignia. Detectives never wear uniform (except rarely on formal occasions) and he has apparently dropped a rank.

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Above the Vaulted Sky - S2-E5

Factual error: Inspector Rusk uses the term "trope" in its modern meaning of a theme or motif. This usage did not come into vogue until the late 20th century; the first such usage recorded by the OED was in 1975. The series is set in the 1890s and the language used is generally that of the time.

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Season 2 generally

Factual error: Educated characters, including an eminent scholar, continually translate 'Lupus Dei' as 'Hound of God'. Even someone with the most basic Latin would know it actually means 'Wolf of God'.

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Above the Vaulted Sky - S2-E5

Factual error: Inspector Rusk lost an arm while serving in the army before he became a policeman. A one-armed man would never have been allowed to join the police in Victorian England - as today, all police officers had to join as uniformed constables and they had to be completely physically fit and able-bodied. Only the most senior officers (well above inspector) could join directly in a senior rank.

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Verbis Diablo - S2-E2

Factual error: Sir Malcolm and Evelyn fire the Mauser C96 Broomhandle pistol. The series is set in 1891 or 1892 and this weapon was not introduced until 1897.

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Verbis Diablo - S2-E2

Factual error: Sir Malcolm tells Vanessa to wear a facemask when they go to minister to the poor as cholera is rife in the area. However, the series is set in the 1890s and it had been well-known since the 1850s that cholera was caused by contaminated food and water and not by airborne germs. As an educated man, Sir Malcolm is bound to know this.

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Plot hole: Ruthven is apparently bitter that he has been denied his chance of becoming an immortal vampire after Clara steals the map from him, which is why he attacks Eleanor. But why doesn't he just go to the island anyway? You don't need to be invited - Clara, Eleanor and Frank aren't. Having been there once, it seems highly unlikely he can't find it again - he's a naval captain, so navigation and observation are major professional skills for him. And it isn't hidden or magically protected - the local boatmen know where it is and are prepared to take people there, although they won't set foot on it themselves. He could quite easily have gone there without the map, entered the shrine and been turned into a vampire if that's what he wanted.

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Show generally

Factual error: Helmuth von Moltke is addressed and referred to several times as Field Marshal. He wasn't promoted to that rank until 1871. He was a lieutenant-general during the Second Schleswig War in 1864.

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Exile - S29-E32

Continuity mistake: Louis Fairhead's year of birth is given as 1992. He was actually born during Series 11 in 1996.

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Character mistake: Jungle Julia refers several times to Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mitch and Tich, instead of Mick and Tich.

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Factual error: Colonel Meyer's promotions are listed in his SS ID card as Hauptmann, Oberstleutnant and Oberst. Since the SS used a different ranking system from the Wehrmacht, they should actually be Hauptsturmführer, Obersturmbannführer and Standartenführer.

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Factual error: There was no Roman law saying a gladiator had to be freed after a certain number of victories and no gladiator would have believed there was. It was entirely up to his owner whether or when he was freed.

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Factual error: The people of Pompeii are frequently referred to as not being Roman citizens. They very definitely were Roman citizens with full rights. You didn't have to come from the actual City of Rome to be a Roman citizen, as is implied in this film.

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Show generally

Factual error: The 1725 issue of 'The Haven Herald' used as part of every episode's title sequence is packed with errors. It is written in modern English, with some very modern turns of phrase (e.g. Had it with this town, get on with her life). The same paragraph appears twice. It is headed "Haven, Me." - Maine was part of Massachusetts until 1820 and the abbreviation was not commonly used at all until the 20th century. And it costs 2 cents - until 1793 British-style pounds, shillings and pence were used throughout America. Also, February 18th 1725 was a Sunday, not a Tuesday.

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The Beautiful Deception - S2-E3

Factual error: Cardinal della Rovere says he wishes to join the Dominican Order instead of the Capuchin Order because the former's rule is stricter. In actual fact, the Capuchin rule is one of the strictest of all Roman Catholic orders, something which della Rovere would certainly have known.

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Factual error: When the judge is interrogating Margaret, a very un-18th century filling can be seen in her teeth.

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Walk the Line - S2-E1

Factual error: Superintendent Gibson wears her Metropolitan Police uniform to the press conference. She is wearing a tie, but female officers in the Met instead wear a black and white cravat.

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The Sign of Three - S3-E3

Factual error: In "The Bloody Guardsman" case, the guardsmen are on sentry duty unarmed. Sentries always carry rifles.

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The Sign of Three - S3-E3

Factual error: In "The Bloody Guardsman" case, Bainbridge, who is in the Welsh Guards, is referred to by everyone, including himself, as "Private Bainbridge." The Foot Guards use the rank of Guardsman instead of Private.

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Big Man in Tehran - S3-E11

Continuity mistake: When Brody is captured in the previous episode his head is completely shaved. This episode takes place no more than a few days later (it is actually implied that it is three days), but he now has a full head of hair.

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Factual error: King John succeeded in capturing Rochester Castle. The French arrived in England about six months later.

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Factual error: William d'Aubigny was not killed during the siege. He survived to support John's son, Henry III.

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Factual error: Rochester Castle is seen standing alone and isolated from any other settlement. In actual fact it stands on the edge of the City of Rochester and very close to Rochester Cathedral, both of which certainly existed at this time.

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The Good Soldier - S3-E11

Factual error: Frankie's official military record shows her rank and grade as Specialist E-3. E-3 is a Private First Class. A Specialist is E-4.

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Factual error: The credits list several of the characters as "Arab." But the film is set in Afghanistan and the Afghans are not Arabs.

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Factual error: British judges do not use and never have used gavels, as the judge uses at the robbers' trial.

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There's No Place Like Home - S28-E16

Character mistake: The old photo of Sylvia and her friend shows them in RAF uniform. Sam, who is a serving British Army officer and could be expected to recognise the very obvious differences between the uniforms, keeps referring to Sylvia being in the Army and Sylvia does not disagree with her.

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Show generally

Factual error: 14/11/2013: Amy sails to Ireland from a ferryport in Yorkshire. Ferries to Ireland do not sail from any port in Yorkshire. Yorkshire only has coastline on the North Sea, on the east side of Great Britain, not the Irish Sea, on the west. A ferry from Yorkshire would have to sail right round the country to get to Ireland. We know they're still in Yorkshire, as the paramedics who are called have "Yorkshire Ambulance" on their jackets.

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Episode #4.5 - S4-E5

Factual error: When Lady Edith visits a Harley Street doctor his nameplate is shown outside his surgery. His name is prefixed with "Dr." However, one of his post-nominal qualifications is "FRCS." As a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons, his name should be prefixed with "Mr.", as with all qualified surgeons in the British Isles.

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Show generally

Factual error: Chief Inspector Campbell has been sent from Belfast. Belfast at the time was policed by the Royal Irish Constabulary, which had no rank of chief inspector.

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Episode #1.1 - S1-E1

Factual error: Thomas' record says he received the King's Medal for Gallantry in the First World War. There was no such medal. It would have been the Military Medal.

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Factual error: Mallory tells Florence that the school is in Cumbria. Cumbria didn't exist in 1921. It was created in 1974 from Cumberland, Westmorland and part of Lancashire.

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Factual error: When Patton orders his driver to drive to the Carthaginian battlefield he addresses him as "sergeant". He is, however, wearing corporal's chevrons. A famous stickler for discipline and ceremonial, Patton is not likely to have made a mistake like this.

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Factual error: The British drum major in the Messina parade gives the order "Forward March". This is only used by the British forces when troops are marking time. If at the halt, as here, the order is "Quick March".

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Factual error: Montgomery is shown being appointed Chief of the Imperial General Staff at about the same time that Patton is relieved of his command in Germany. Montgomery actually became CIGS in 1946, after Patton's death in December 1945.

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Factual error: Patton wears two overseas service bars (one awarded for every six months' service outside the USA from 7 December 1941) until he goes to Normandy to take over the Third Army. On the plane over he is suddenly wearing four bars. He would have received his third bar before he arrived in Normandy, and his fourth afterwards.

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What Use Our Work? - S1-E8

Factual error: When reading out the list of the day's crimes, Artherton mentions two "teenaged" girls. Use of this term is not recorded in America until the 1920s and in Britain until the late 1940s. The series is set in 1889 and the speech used by the characters is consistently very much the speech of the time - it has not been updated for modern understanding.

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Simon - S1-E2

Factual error: Thomas holds the Gendarmerie rank of Capitaine (by which he is frequently addressed by his subordinates), and thus should wear three horizontal silver bars on his epaulettes. However, in the only scene where his rank is displayed he instead wears the two chevrons of an ordinary gendarme.

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Factual error: Lang refers to 'The Times of London'. A British person talking to other British people, as he is, would always refer to Britain's premier newspaper by its correct title 'The Times'. Only foreigners call it 'The Times of London' to distinguish it from, for example, 'The New York Times' or 'The Times of India'.

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Nameless - S2-E16

Factual error: The assassin sent to kill Captain Renard carries a French passport which lists his place of birth as "Marseilles". This is an old-fashioned spelling of the name now almost only seen in North America. The French spelling is and always has been "Marseille".

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Show generally

Factual error: Alfred Jodl is listed in the credits as a Field Marshal. He actually held the rank of Colonel-General.

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The Changing of the Guard - S1-E6

Factual error: The Royal Navy lieutenant aboard the American warship is wearing a moustache. Royal Navy personnel must be either clean-shaven or wear a "full set" (beard and moustache). They are not (and never were) permitted to wear a moustache alone.

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Cold War - S7-E10

Factual error: The rank insignia of the Soviet officers is completely inaccurate. The captain wears the epaulets of a captain first rank (captain) and the sleeve insignia of a captain second rank (commander). Lieutenant Stephashin wears the epaulets of a senior lieutenant and the sleeve insignia of a captain third rank (lieutenant-commander). The third officer wears the epaulets of a captain second rank and the sleeve insignia of a captain third rank.

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Los Moscos - S2-E1

Factual error: Outside the church headquarters where Norman has his stroke is a board saying 'United Methodist Church'. The UMC didn't come into existence until 1968. It was the Methodist Episcopal Church in the 1930s.

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Factual error: Richard I was not fighting his way back across Europe following the Crusades when he was killed. He had already returned to England and put down John's rebellion before returning to France to put down rebellions there.

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The Poisoned Chalice - S1-E1

Factual error: In the Pope's coronation procession they play the anthem Zadok the Priest. It was composed by Handel for the coronation of George II in 1727, 235 years after this coronation took place.

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Factual error: Richard, John and Eleanor are all addressed as "Your Majesty." Henry VIII was the first English king to use that form of address, in the 16th century. Medieval kings and queens were addressed as "Your Grace."

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Factual error: Nottingham was an important fortified city with a castle in the Middle Ages, not a small village as depicted.

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Defiance - S1-E4

Factual error: The batman at the RAF station introduces himself as "Aircraftsman Horton" (which also appears on the credits). While a common mistake made by those outside the RAF, the rank is actually Aircraftman, without an "s".

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Defiance - S1-E4

Factual error: When Pug first arrives in London, a car can be seen driving on the right.

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Cataclysm - S1-E3

Factual error: Churchill tells his aide to fetch "Air Vice-Marshal Dowding". Dowding was actually an Air Chief Marshal, two ranks higher, and wears the correct rank insignia for that rank when he is seen later. As a keen military man, this is not an error Churchill is likely to have made.

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Show generally

Factual error: One of the US Marine Corps guards in the government building (in 1941) is wearing the single rank chevron of a lance corporal. This rank was not used in the USMC between the 1930s and 1958.

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Show generally

Factual error: Whenever the Stars and Stripes is shown it is the modern 50-star version, not the wartime 48-star version as it should be.

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Factual error: Group Captain Massey is referred to several times, even by British officers, as "Captain" Massey. Group captains are always called group captains.

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Factual error: Johnnie Dodge wears no medal ribbons. Even if the real Dodge had not had the DSO, DSC and MC, it would be inconceivable that a major who had fought in two world wars would have no campaign ribbons.

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Factual error: Colonel von Lindeiner was not executed. He testified to the investigation into the Gestapo murders and died in 1963 at the age of 82.

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Other mistake: When giving Sting to Bilbo, Gandalf tells him it is an Elven blade and will therefore glow blue when Orcs are near. However, Glamdring and Orcrist are also stated to be Elven blades, but they do not glow blue.

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Factual error: MacKenzie is referred to as "Gunnery Sergeant". This is not a rank used by British and Commonwealth forces. He actually wears the rank insignia of a Flight Sergeant.

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Continuity mistake: After John and Lori crash into the rear of Donny's car, the front of their car is visibly smashed in. However, when we see their car later it seems more or less undamaged except for a damaged number plate.

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Factual error: When the wraiths first invade the stockade, one of the officers orders his men to fire their "rifles". This is the 16th century. They're firing muskets.

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Factual error: The Major and the band are (correctly) summonsed to appear before a magistrates' court for driving without insurance, but then appear before a judge in full robes. Judges do not sit in magistrates' courts.

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Continuity mistake: According to one of the characters, the firing squad is drawn from the 3rd Battalion of the 701st Infantry Regiment, the same regiment as most of the other characters. However, all the members of the firing squad (except the officer and sergeant, who are credited characters seen elsewhere in the film) have "710" on their collar patches. This can be seen when the sergeant, who has "701" on his collar patches, is briefing them.

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Factual error: Some of the SS rank insignia is incorrect. Most of them do wear correct insignia, with two exceptions. Wagner, who is addressed as Hauptscharführer, actually wears the collar and epaulette insignia of the next higher rank of Sturmscharführer. In reality, Wagner held the lower rank of Oberscharführer. Frenzel is addressed using his correct rank of Oberscharführer, but oddly wears the collar patches of the lower rank of Scharführer and the epaulettes of the higher rank of Hauptscharführer. Bauer and Beckmann, on the other hand, wear the correct collar patches and epaulettes for the rank of Oberscharführer which they did hold.

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Factual error: A very common error in First World War films. British soldiers were not permitted to shave their upper lips until 1916 - in 1914 almost all (unless physically unable to grow them) would have had moustaches.

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Factual error: Units in trenches were very closely packed and officers visited their subordinates regularly. It is inconceivable that three platoons from different sides could have fraternised for so long without a single more senior officer showing up to find out what was going on. The basic unit was the company and all the officers of the company usually shared the same dugout.

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Show generally

Factual error: With the exception of the RSM, no NCOs are ever seen. Stephen appears to have no platoon sergeant and no section NCOs (corporals or lance-corporals). There is no company sergeant-major (the RSM appears to do his job). There are no NCOs in the tunnelling company (which appears to consist only of a captain and half a dozen sappers). The entire army appears to pretty much consist of officers and privates with nobody in between.

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Show generally

Factual error: The battalion commander wears the correct crown and pip of a lieutenant-colonel, but the four cuff rings of a full colonel (lieutenant-colonels wore three).

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The Hounds of Baskerville - S2-E2

Factual error: Sherlock finds a photo of Major Barrymore's father and says he's wearing the Distinguished Service Order. The ribbon is not that of the DSO.

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Factual error: Lanoe Hawker is depicted with a beard. As a British Army officer this would be forbidden. Hawker actually only had a moustache.

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Factual error: Roy Brown describes himself as a captain in the Royal Canadian Flying Corps and wears a British Army uniform. In actual fact Brown was a flight commander in the Royal Naval Air Service and would have worn Royal Navy uniform.

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Show generally

Factual error: Filipino police officer Aida Fariscal is described in the screen caption as a captain. She actually held the rank of senior inspector, since the Filipino police does not use army-style ranks.

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Show generally

Factual error: Throughout the series, traffic in Pakistan is depicted driving on the right. In Pakistan, traffic drives on the left.

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The Hounds of Baskerville - S2-E2

Deliberate mistake: The army major wears a full beard. British Army personnel may not wear beards. (The beard is a nod to the original canon character on which he's based, John Barrymore, who is described in the book multiple times as being a "black-bearded man").

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Factual error: It is highly unlikely that a Roman Catholic priest would have been permitted to join the army as an ordinary private. He would have been commissioned as a chaplain.

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Factual error: Although correctly addressed as "captain" towards the end of the film, Richthofen continues to wear the rank insignia of an oberleutnant (lieutenant).

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Factual error: There appear to be no NCOs whatsoever in any of three platoons shown, British, French or German. Only an officer each and privates. No sergeants or corporals.

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A Father's Great Expectations - S1-E1

Factual error: When JFK leaves to become a PT-boat commander he is wearing full lieutenant's rank insignia. He was actually a lieutenant junior grade when he took command of PT-109.

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A Father's Great Expectations - S1-E1

Factual error: The officer who phones Joseph Kennedy Sr to tell him that JFK is missing in action introduces himself as a commander at the War Department. However, he is wearing naval captain's rank insignia and (since the War Department only dealt with the army and JFK was a naval officer) would actually work for the Navy Department.

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Factual error: Throughout the film, Wallace is portrayed as a Highland clansman in traditional highland garb. This was done by Gibson to emphasise the Scottish/English conflict, but it is not historically accurate. In fact, Wallace was a Lowland knight from exactly the same ethnic background as the Anglo-Normans he was fighting and would have worn the same style of armour as they did.

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Factual error: Until 1916, British soldiers were not permitted by regulations to shave their upper lips. That included officers (even generals). Almost all the 1914 cavalrymen should therefore have moustaches. Many don't.

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Factual error: Major Stewart addresses the Indian NCO as "Sergeant Major" and he is so described in the credits. There was no such rank in the British Indian Army. Indian cavalry sergeants were known as Daffadars. More senior Indian cavalry officers held VCO ranks (Jemadar, Risaldar and Risaldar Major) which had no British equivalent. Given the importance of rank and protocol, it is highly unlikely that a British commissioned officer would be unaware of this.

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Visible crew/equipment: As Cooper is unloaded from the wagon in Fort Grant and taken into the jail, a man can be seen on the far left of the shot who appears to be wearing modern clothes, with a yellow polo shirt, baseball cap and sunglasses.

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Continuity mistake: The DA addresses Deputy Looney in court as "Detective". He is a uniformed deputy, not a detective. It would be surprising for a lawyer in court to make such a mistake.

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Show generally

Factual error: Admiral Burkley, Kennedy's physician, is depicted wearing the insignia of a full admiral (one wide and three narrow rings) and the star of a line officer above his cuff rings. In actual fact, Burkley was a rear admiral (one wide and one narrow ring) and medical officers wear an oak leaf above their rank rings.

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Factual error: At the end the narrator talks of "the Honourable" Winston Churchill. He was actually the Right Honourable.

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Series 5, Episode 2 - S5-E2

Character mistake: Referring to the US, Russian and Chinese governments, the admiral says that "Washington, Moscow and Shanghai" have been informed. The capital of China is Beijing.

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Series 5, Episode 2 - S5-E2

Character mistake: The submarine captain says they have no "kitchen staff" on board. No naval officer would refer to a ship's galley as a "kitchen". It's a tradition thing.

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Series 5, Episode 2 - S5-E2

Factual error: Matt says he was in the Royal Marines, to which the submarine captain says "you were in the army?" Any naval officer would know the Marines are certainly not Army.

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Series 5, Episode 2 - S5-E2

Factual error: Many of the Royal Navy details are completely wrong. The submarine captain's cap badge is not that of the Royal Navy. "Midshipman" Leonard wears the insignia of a chief petty officer. "Officer" (not a naval rank) Neal wears the insignia of a petty officer. "Officer" Shaw wears the insignia of an able rating. The Flag Office Submarines is depicted as a full admiral, whereas in fact he was a rear-admiral and the position no longer exists.

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Show generally

Factual error: The two junior Royal Navy officers in Sierra Leone are listed on the credits as Junior Third Officers. This is a Merchant Navy rank - they are actually Lieutenants.

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Show generally

Factual error: Although addressed as "Kapitänleutnant" in the film, Hartenstein had actually been promoted to Korvettenkapitän three months before the film is set. He is never seen wearing rank insignia, but he does correctly wear a Korvettenkapitän's oak leaves on his cap peak.

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Show generally

Factual error: The Merchant Navy rank insignia is very poorly researched. Each officer seems to have a different style of insignia, despite working for the same company and they incorrectly wear rank insignia on the shoulders of their blue uniforms as well as the cuffs. The main character, Junior Third Officer Mortimer, wears a bizarre mix of insignia, apparently consisting of a Royal Navy petty officer's sleeve badge, a Royal Navy chief petty officer's cuff buttons, and a rank badge of three inverted chevrons on his shoulder boards that doesn't seem to resemble anything from reality. In reality, he should simply wear a single cuff ring (or shoulder bar in white uniform).

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Part 1 Roots: The Saga of An American Family - S1-E1

Factual error: The slave ship 'Lord Ligonier' flies the White Ensign. This has always been reserved for the Royal Navy; British merchant ships (as American ships were in 1765) have flown the Red Ensign since 1674.

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Factual error: None of the British army officers is wearing the gorget, which was an officer's insignia at this time.

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Factual error: Barbossa addresses one of his officers as "lieutenant-commander". This rank was not introduced into the Royal Navy until 1914.

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Show generally

Factual error: John Basilone was actually a Sergeant when he won the Medal of Honor at Guadalcanal, but is shown wearing the insignia of the higher rank of Platoon Sergeant. However, when his medal citation is read out it does give his correct rank (although senior sergeants in the US forces are commonly addressed simply as "sergeant", official citations give their full rank).

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Par Avion - S3-E12

Factual error: The police officer introduces himself to Claire as "Officer" Barnes. In Australia, ordinary police officers hold the rank of Constable, not Officer.

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Par Avion - S3-E12

Factual error: The neurosurgeon introduces himself as "Doctor" Woodruff and also has this written on his coat. In Australia, where this scene is set, surgeons are always addressed and referred to as "Mister" after the British fashion.

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Factual error: At his wedding, Captain Von Trapp is wearing three medium-width rank rings on the cuffs of his uniform (similar to a Commander in the Royal Navy and US Navy). In the Austro-Hungarian Navy, in which he served, this rank badge did not exist. Von Trapp actually held the rank of Korvettenkapitän (Lieutenant-Commander), indicated by one medium ring and one narrow ring. Even had he held the rank of Linienschiffskapitän (Captain), he would have worn one medium and three narrow rings. The only rank which had vaguely similar insignia to that in the film was Linienschiffsleutnant (Lieutenant), with three narrow rings. Even allowing for artistic licence re Von Trapp's actual rank, the insignia he is wearing simply did not exist.

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Live Together, Die Alone, Part 1 - S2-E23

Factual error: The prison Desmond is released from looks nothing like any British prison, let alone the British military prison (the "Glasshouse"), which is more of a training camp than a traditional prison. The guards wear no cap badges on their berets (all British service personnel wear cap badges) and their berets are worn almost vertically on their heads, whereas British berets are pulled hard to the right. The NCO who releases him is credited as a "master sergeant" in the episode credits - an American rank which has never been used in the British Army.

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Factual error: Rita says that George was a gunner in the RAF during the war. The photograph of him in uniform in his and Connie's house shows him wearing a (double wing) pilot's brevet instead of the single wing of an air gunner.

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Factual error: Although B. B. Rush's wears the rank insignia of a Specialist and he is addressed as Specialist by his interrogator, all the documentation shows his rank as Private First Class.

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Character mistake: Hicox uses the word "momentarily" in the American sense of "in a moment". In British English it means only "for a moment". An educated Englishman in the 1940s would never have used the word in the American sense.

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Factual error: When we first see him in Royal Marines uniform, Hicox is wearing a beret with a short 'tail' (the end of the drawstring used to tighten the beret). This is indeed a feature of military berets in some countries, but not in Britain.

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Factual error: The exterior of the village church looks nothing like an English church. Churches in Eastern Europe, where it was filmed, are very different.

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Factual error: The Emperor ruled the Roman Empire, not the Pope. Neither he nor one of his bishops would have any authority over Roman provinces or Roman soldiers.

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Factual error: All the Roman troops wear armour and uniforms appropriate to the 1st century AD (the "classic" era most often depicted in illustrations). The film is actually set several hundred years later, by which time Roman soldiers looked very different.

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Character mistake: Hicox salutes General Fenech, who returns the salute. But Fenech is bareheaded and therefore under British military protocol cannot salute. He would instead acknowledge the salute with a nod.

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Vincent and the Doctor - S5-E10

Factual error: By the time the Doctor and Amy meet him, Vincent van Gogh had already mutilated his ear. He should be missing part of his left earlobe.

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Factual error: The head of the prison is described as the "warden". This is an American term. In countries dominated by Britain, as Egypt was at the time, the head of a prison is the "governor".

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Continuity mistake: James is described on the cast list as a Staff Sergeant, but he wears the rank insignia of a Sergeant First Class.

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Factual error: Captain Jennings is referred to as the CO (Commanding Officer). In the British Army only battalion and regimental commanders are referred to as COs. Company commanders like Jennings are OCs (Officers Commanding). Not a mistake any British soldier is likely to make.

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Factual error: Tate refers to McNess as a "plank". The first recorded use of "plank" to mean "idiot" wasn't until 1981.

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Factual error: Steel helmets were introduced into the British Army in 1916. After their introduction no soldier would have gone into the front line, and certainly not over the top, in a peaked cap, as several of the soldiers do (the film is set in 1917).

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Factual error: One of the soldiers says that it isn't a holiday camp. Holiday camps were not introduced until the 1930s, over a decade after the film was set.

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Factual error: The "German" halftracks are all in fact American halftracks painted in German colours. The vehicles used by the two sides looked very different.

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Factual error: When he meets the general at the beginning of the film, Hessler refers to Conrad as "my corporal". He actually wears the rank insignia of an Unterfeldwebel, equivalent to a sergeant in the British Army and a staff sergeant in the US Army.

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Factual error: The Malmédy Massacre was not carried out by specially-prepared machine-guns hidden in the back of trucks, but by the guards surrounding the prisoners.

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Factual error: The German panzergrenadiers follow the tanks on foot right from the beginning of the advance. Panzergrenadiers were armoured infantry and travelled in halftracks, only dismounting to fight. Even ordinary infantry advancing with tanks would have used trucks - to do otherwise would have slowed the tanks down to a crawl and rendered them ineffective. There was a shortage of fuel in the Ardennes campaign, but the panzergrenadiers did use vehicles during the advance (except for a couple of battalions which used bicycles).

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Other mistake: Sergeant Fisher is never seen wearing any rank insignia. He therefore appears to be an ordinary PC.

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Factual error: Angel says he went to Canterbury University. It's actually called the University of Kent or the University of Kent at Canterbury, but never Canterbury University. Canterbury Christ Church University, Canterbury's other university, only became a university in 2005, after Angel is likely to have ceased being a student.

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Factual error: After the final battle, Zus dismounts the tank's machine gun and puts it over his shoulder, holding it by the barrel. But the gun has been fired throughout the preceding battle (which must have just ended, as the refugees are moving as quickly as possible and wouldn't hang around for more Germans to arrive) and the barrel would be much too hot to hold.

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Character mistake: Arthur (who knew him) says that Cary Grant was from Surrey and Iris (who is from Surrey) agrees with him. Cary Grant was actually from Bristol.

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Factual error: Winley says that he was on a "photo recon" mission. As an RAF pilot, he would use the British abbreviation "recce", not the American abbreviation "recon".

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Children of Earth: Day Three - S3-E3

Factual error: Frobisher tells the 456 he is the Permanent Secretary of the Home Office of the "United Kingdom and Northern Ireland". It should be the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Northern Ireland is part of the UK.

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Children of Earth: Day Three - S3-E3

Factual error: Andrew Staines was a junior Scots Guards officer in the 1960s according to the Torchwood database. However, the photograph of him in that era shows him with a general's capbadge.

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Captain Jack Harkness - S1-E12

Factual error: "Captain" Jack Harkness actually wears the rank insignia of a group captain, equivalent to an army colonel and never abbreviated to "captain". In fact, the RAF does not have a rank of captain (the equivalent rank is flight lieutenant). Neither does it have the position of "squadron captain", as he is described - a squadron commander in World War II usually held the rank of squadron leader (equivalent to an army major).

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Children of Earth: Day One - S3-E1

Character mistake: Lois says that Colonel Aduya's uniform "isn't British Army". In fact, it is entirely (and accurately) British Army with the exception of the small UNIT badge over the pocket.

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Children of Earth: Day One - S3-E1

Factual error: On the government database, Torchwood is described as being founded by HRH Queen Victoria. As a sovereign, she was actually HM (Her Majesty) not HRH (Her Royal Highness).

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Factual error: Carnehan describes himself as a "gunnery sergeant". This is an American rank and no such rank has ever existed in the British Army.

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Factual error: The senior SS officer visiting the commandant (and later at the funeral) is wearing two oak leaves and a pip on his collar patches. This rank badge didn't exist. Two oak leaves (without a pip) were worn by an Oberführer and three oak leaves with a pip by a Gruppenführer.

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