Factual error: Celestial navigation can determine one's position on the earth's surface to within about one mile, not precise enough to give the location of a buried treasure. It also requires more than a sextant. It requires tables published in a nautical almanac (which is updated each year), charts on which to plot lines of position, and an accurate chronometer that is set to the precise time at the Prime Meridian (Greenwich Mean Time).
Who Killed J.B. Fletcher? - S7-E14
Factual error: Bremerton, Washington is not a hick town as depicted in this episode (it is the home of Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, a US Navy installation that employs 14,000 people) and the people there do not have southern accents.
Dead Letter - S6-E6
Factual error: Unlike the Connie Kowalski character in this episode, real insurance investigators are not trained in arson investigation. Insurance investigators search for evidence of fraud relating to insurance claims. Arson investigators are professional firefighters who have had extensive additional training in arson investigation.
Fire Burn, Cauldron Bubble - S5-E13
Factual error: The only instances of "witchcraft" or "witch trials" in America were in Salem, Massachusetts. There were none in Maine or anywhere else. The Salem witch trials spanned 15 months, from February, 1692 to May 1693. Over 200 people were accused of witchcraft, but only 30 were found guilty. Of the 30, 14 women and 5 men were executed by hanging and one man, Giles Corey, was executed by "pressing." Another five died in jail, but none were burned at the stake, which was a punishment unique to Europe.
Funeral at Fifty-Mile - S1-E22
Continuity mistake: When Jessica walks from the house to the barn at the end, she is wearing knee high brown boots. By the time she reaches the barn they have been replaced with court shoes.
Revealing mistake: When the first scene at Emma's hideaway was shown, obviously the two characters Emma and Jessica were filmed seperately on the couch and then the film was put together (as both are played by Angela Lansbury). However Jessica did a lot of moving while she was talking, so Emma was looking straight across at where she had been, despite her bending down while she talked.
Audio problem: When singing "Goodbye little yellow bird" Emma blows a kiss to Oliver offstage, but she is still singing the song when she is blowing the kiss. Although it's possible she was pretending as it was part of the act, her voice wasn't even muffled by her hand.
Continuity mistake: When Emma was almost hit by a car she jumped up onto the edge of the wall and then back down onto the floor. When she landed she was facing the theatre door, but when Oliver came of the door and the shot changed, she was facing away from the wall. This happened in the transition from stunt person to Angela.
Tinker, Tailor, Liar, Thief - S8-E15
Revealing mistake: In the second close up shot of Nigel Atkins lying dead, after Jessica drops her Harrod's bag in the chair, it is obvious he is still alive as you can see his pulse on the side of his neck.
Factual error: At the end of the episode after Wayne is shot, there is a brief shot of the outside of the hospital where he has been taken. The sign outside the hospital says Dalesboro, Ohio. Why would someone shot in coastal Maine end up in a hospital in Ohio?
Deadly Lady - S1-E2
Revealing mistake: When Howard Duff's two daughters enter the police station to identify his body, the cop pulls back the blanket. Howard's eyelids are moving even though he is supposed to be dead.
The Corpse Flew First Class - S3-E12
Factual error: As the airplane is coming in to land at Heathrow, there is an establishing shot of the wheels down, and in the background there are cars on the road, but driving on the right, wrong for the UK.
One Good Bid Deserves a Murder - S2-E17
Continuity mistake: The first time Jessica is shown asking for her room number, she asks for room 812. Later in the episode she asks for room 810.
The Murder of Sherlock Holmes - S1-E1
Continuity mistake: When Jessica's publisher at the beginning of the party holds her hand and kisses it, he is holding her hand in different ways in the separate shots. (00:18:20)
The Murder of Sherlock Holmes - S1-E1
Continuity mistake: Mr. Giles holds the telephone as he interrogates the private eye, who answers in a rather defiant way to the threat of "the local constable" getting involved. So Giles puts the receiver down, but notice that in the first shot he is passing it from the right to the left hand. In the close-up it is the right hand to hang up, though. (00:23:15)
The Murder of Sherlock Holmes - S1-E1
Continuity mistake: During the scene at the train station, Jessica's nephew introduces to her Kitt Donovan from the publishing company. Just as he says "in public relations", a man pops in the foreground - it is an extra that walks out of the rail car. In the reverse shot that follows, the same extra is only then coming out of the train. (00:09:35)
The Murder of Sherlock Holmes - S1-E1
Continuity mistake: Episode 1-0, "The Murder of Sherlock Holmes"; Mr. Giles opens the door of the antechamber of his office, finally putting an end to Jessica's long wait. Grady right away at the first click of the lock takes his hands off his pockets and tidies up his sleeves. But in the next shot when Grady actually enters and talks to the secretary, Grady is still with his hands on his pockets repeating the gesture. (00:10:10)
Another Killing in Cork - S11-E20
Continuity mistake: In the opening exterior shot of the train, it has at least six brown and green carriages. However, in the next exterior shot, the train is made up of three brown and cream carriages.
Plot hole: When Beverly is killed the killer shuts off the main power switch which would have turned all the lights off in the house, not just those in the bathroom. (01:31:00)
Continuity mistake: When Danny Kincaid is at the beach, he is wearing green shorts when he is taking his shirt and shoes off, but he has blue and black shorts on when he goes into the water. (00:19:00)
Answer: It was never revealed what caused Frank's death.
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