Best crime TV factual errors of all time

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More A Confession factual errors
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Bonnie and Clyde picture

Night Two - S1-E2

Factual error: In the scene where Bonnie gives Clyde the unloaded pistol through the jail bars, that gun was not manufactured until after 1972. It is a Bauer .25 ACP semi-automatic stainless steel pistol. Bonnie and Clyde's reign of lawlessness ranged from 1931 to 1934.

blooiris

More Bonnie and Clyde factual errors
Code of a Killer picture

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.

Necrothesp

More Code of a Killer factual errors
Bull picture

Free Fall - S1-E16

Factual error: Almost all the people being shown skydiving have no experience doing it, but the instructor allows them to jump out of the plane unassisted after only giving a theoretic introduction into the subject. First time skydivers are always assisted in some fashion, usually through a tandem-jump or a parachute opened by a line attached to the plane.

Tanngrisnir

More Bull factual errors
City on a Hill picture

Season 2 generally

Factual error: Throughout season 2 there are a few shots taken of buildings with PTZ style surveillance cameras attached to said buildings. PTZ cameras are the ones with an arm and a ball with a black lens spanning 360°. This show takes place in 1992, and from what limited dates as to surveillance camera creation I could find, PTZ cameras were not available until the 2000's. In 1992 the large blocky ones were only available with terrible resolution.

More City on a Hill factual errors
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Quantico picture

Kudove - S2-E1

Factual error: The shoulder patch on the U.S. customs and Border Protection officer's uniform is wrong. The real patch doesn't state Dept of Customs and Border Protection and United States Homeland Security in a smaller circle on the patch. The real patch just states U.S. Customs and Border Protection - U.S. Customs and Border Protection is not a department. Also, the officer doesn't have a name tag on over the right pocket. (00:04:00)

Snag.1

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Dirk Gently picture

Pilot - S1-E1

Factual error: When Susan is sorting Ruth's things, she finds Gordon's iPhone wrapped in a newspaper from 1994 with her voice-mail to him and realizes he went back in time, where Ruth killed him and took the phone from his corpse. Even if the phone had been turned off, after 16 years idle, the battery would have died long ago, but we see the phone is on with her message waiting. (00:55:50 - 00:56:45)

Captain Defenestrator

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The Good Fight picture

The Gang Goes to War - S4-E5

Factual error: A general court-martial is being held. A general court-martial, the highest level of military court, consists of a trial counsel, defense counsel, a military judge, and a panel that must have at least five officers. An enlisted accused can request a panel composed of at least one-third enlisted personnel. In this TV show episode there were only two officers and five enlisted personnel on the panel. (00:40:50)

toroscan

More The Good Fight factual errors
Sherwood picture

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.

Necrothesp

More Sherwood factual errors
In the Heat of the Night picture

A Matter of Justice - S8-E1

Factual error: About 45 minutes into the episode, the girls' car stalls because the alternator's wire has been removed to cause this. For a car to stall like this, the battery has to be heavily drained which it would wind up being. When the killer comes up to the car, he tells her to try and start the car. She does and it turns over but doesn't start. The battery would never have enough amperage to turn over the car if it didn't have enough to keep the motor running.

terry s

More In the Heat of the Night factual errors
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True Detective picture

Season 1 generally

Factual error: A number of times throughout the season they refer to LSD being found in dead bodies and LSD being matched with other LSD found in other (living or dead) bodies. LSD starts a chain reaction in the brain which requires about an hour to take a noticeable effect. And, by that time, it has completely broken down and no longer exists as LSD in the body - before the person even begins to get high. There is no test for LSD even in the most bombed living individual, let alone a dead body years later.

roy sandefur

More True Detective factual errors
Tokyo Vice picture

Show generally

Factual error: Jake and Miyamoto go to an establishment where there are girls dancing on stage. The girls are first dancing to "Motivation" by Kelly Rowland, released in 2011, and "Aly Walk With Me" by The Raveonettes, released in 2007. But, this scene takes place in 1999.

jshy7979

More Tokyo Vice factual errors
Crossing Jordan picture

There's No Place Like Home - S2-E1

Factual error: This is at the end of the episode, when Jordan takes the key that she found for the 66 Ford and tries it in the ignition it should have been a square key. Round keys were for the doors and trunk. Back then they made two keys - one that opened the car doors and trunk and one that started the ignition. She never even tried the key in the trunk.

Imemine

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Kojak picture

Siege of Terror - S1-E1

Factual error: The armed robbery is reported by the radio call as happening in "4014 Nostrand Avenue", which is a real street in Brooklyn. However, the first detectives to respond to the dispatch identify themselves as being from "Manhattan South" (makes sense, Kojak being a Lieutenant of the fictional 11th Manhattan South precinct), and the rest of the episode is set obviously in Manhattan. That's many miles away.

Sammo

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The F.B.I. picture

Flight - S5-E7

Factual error: At the start of this episode you see the terminal at Washington Reagan National Airport, but when Mr. Haslett picks up his ticket you hear an announcement stating it is the Seattle, Washington Airport. (00:00:20)

Regulus

More The F.B.I. factual errors
Ironside picture

Force of Arms - S1-E16

Factual error: The chopper's main rotors are at a speed enough to cause rotor wash, but the men's coats or hair don't move at all, when they should have been buffeted around.

Movie Nut

More Ironside factual errors

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