Best crime TV factual errors of all time

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Breaking Bad picture

Madrigal - S5-E2

Factual error: In the opening scene for the episode, a character commits suicide by electrocuting themselves with a defibrillator. The device used was an AED (automated external defibrillator) which analyses the electrical rhythm of the heart and only delivers a shock when the heart rhythm is ventricular tachycardia or ventricular fibrillation. In this case, the device would not have delivered a shock as the person did not have both ECG electrodes attached and therefore would not have detected a cardiac rhythm. The person would also have had a normal heart rhythm.

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Batwoman picture

The Rabbit Hole - S1-E2

Factual error: Alice and Kate's little reunion underwater is disrupted by policemen that fire at them, and one of the shots reaches the transport truck, ignites it and makes it explode. The scene is baffling; forgetting the complete disregard for fellow policemen in the vehicle, how would bullets have enough strength to penetrate into an armored truck deep underwater, reach a critical weak point from that angle (the truck is upright, they should be barely get to shoot the roof of it) and still underwater cause inside the completely immersed vehicle a spark that would ignite fuel and make the whole truck explode? (00:31:45)

Sammo

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The Twilight Zone picture

Elegy - S1-E20

Factual error: The astronauts land on an asteroid said to orbit a binary star 655 million miles from Earth. This is impossible, as that distance would place them well within our solar system. In fact, they'd be inside the orbit of Saturn, where of course there aren't (nor could there be) any extraneous suns. The nearest star to our system is, in fact, trillions (not millions) of miles away. (00:02:15 - 00:04:00)

Jean G

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Arrow picture

The Scientist - S2-E8

Factual error: There is no way Laurel Lance would have been allowed on the prosecution team for Moira Queen's murder trial. Due to the facts that she both dated and as a lawyer represented the defendant's son, the defendant's daughter used to intern for her, and her boyfriend was one of the people killed in the Glades, it would have taken all of two seconds for the court to have her removed if she didn't willingly recuse herself, since her presence would be a major conflict of interest.

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The Wire picture

All Prologue - S2-E6

Factual error: The police "clone" the cargo dock's computer, as though it were a cell phone, so that they can watch all the cargo traffic and see when containers disappear. In reality, to "clone" a computer would simply make an exact copy of that computer's hard drive at a specific point in time. In order to see what is happening on a specific computer in real time, it is necessary to install some sort of spyware on The Target machine.

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Dexter picture

If I Had a Hammer - S4-E6

Factual error: In the newspaper article from the Trinity killers past - the report states that someone called 911 and dispatch gave them instructions. The death occurred in 1959. The first 911 call was made in 1968. (00:39:24)

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24 (2001)

24 picture

Day 4: 2:00 P.M.-3:00 P.M. - S4-E8

Factual error: When Edgar proves that Mary-Ann Taylor framed Sarah to be the rat in CTU, he claims that she remotely took control of her computer by sending the signal over "a plain old AC power line." This is not possible, unless the computers were equipped with special hardware to separate the AC from the signal. If they were, this traffic would have been observed by James Heller's assistant.

ronin692k

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Cold Case picture

Sabotage - S5-E12

Factual error: When Rush and Miller pull up to the vacant lot, the Los Angeles skyline is visible in the background. The series is set in Philadelphia. (00:21:54)

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White Collar picture

Point Blank - S2-E9

Factual error: In the scene where Mozzy is using a synthesizer to try and figure out the musical code, he starts playing random chords in frustration. Since the synthesizer is a Minimoog (a monophonic instrument) this is impossible. (00:12:45)

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iZombie picture

Dead Beat - S2-E18

Factual error: They used an EpiPen to bring Liv back but they're holding it backwards. The way it's being held, Ravi would have injected himself instead of Liv and she wouldn't be revived.

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Houdini and Doyle picture

Show generally

Factual error: The show starts in 1901 with a woman constable working for the Metropolitan Police Service (Scotland Yard). However women didn't join the Metropolitan Police until 1919 (which is also when the first woman's police uniform was created). Prior to that, women volunteered in the Women's Police Service, but that wasn't formed until 1914.

Bishop73

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Father Brown picture

The Devil You Know - S6-E6

Factual error: A character is referred to in German as a she-devil, which is given as "sie teufel." This is German for the two words "she" and "devil" but not for the word "she-devil", which is "Weibsteufel." Or just "Teufelin." (00:32:15 - 00:33:20)

paolog

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Knight Rider picture

The Topaz Connection - S1-E16

Factual error: A secret file is password-protected on a computer, requiring a six-digit numerical access code. KITT states that the possibilities "are virtually unlimited." In truth, if each digit can be 0 through 9 (numerical meaning no letters or symbols), the possibility is 1 in 10^6, or 1 in a million. A supercomputer like KITT should have no problem running each number systematically until a correct code is found.

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Vigil picture

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.

Necrothesp

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

Suggested correction: The Royal Navy police are not equipped to handle murder; local police are usually used for more serious offences so no claim of a cover up. There are no MoD police attached to a submarine either, so in theory somebody would have to go to the boat. (However they still wouldn't risk surfacing).

Initially there is no suspicion of murder, only an unexplained sudden death. There would be absolutely no need to airlift a civilian detective aboard a top-secret submarine. It wouldn't be the first time a sudden death had occurred aboard a Royal Navy vessel.

Necrothesp

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Numb3rs picture

Noisy Edge - S1-E12

Factual error: In the beginning of the episode, Charlie is stating that "there is always a solution" and "if there's any limitation it's got to be in the mathematician, not the math". Unfortunately, according to Kurt Godel's incompleteness theorems, this is not true. Simply put, there are mathematical problems that cannot be proven/solved.

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CSI: NY picture

Not What It Looks Like - S3-E2

Factual error: Season 3, episode 49 (Not What It Looks Like). Breaking glass with sound is possible, but would not work as depicted in the episode. First, in order to break the glass, you have to force the glass to vibrate at its natural frequency - that is, the frequency at which it would vibrate if it were tapped. Each piece of glass has its own natural frequency, depending on a range of factors including size, chemical makeup, shape, hardness, and manufacturing methods. No single frequency would shatter all the glass in the store at the same time. Finally, in order to break the glass the piece has to be closed-ended. You can't shatter a plate of glass with sound (nowhere for the sound waves to resonate). Please see http://www.madsci.org/posts/archives/feb98/887203231.Ph.r.html.

Kevin Hall

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Criminal Minds picture

Derailed - S1-E9

Factual error: The train car in which Elle and the other passengers are held hostage is supposed to be an Amtrak type long distance railroad car traveling from El Paso to Dallas, yet on the inside of the car we can see a large poster showing the Washington, DC Metro system map.

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