Best drama TV factual errors of all time

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More Agatha Christie's Poirot factual errors
Chuck picture

Chuck Versus the Fake Name - S3-E8

Factual error: When they first bring Grueber into Castle, Sara states that "he is one of five people who can hit a target from half a mile away." Half a mile is 880 yards. Basically every person who has graduated from (or likely everyone who has been selected for) sniper school in any military in the world should be able to do this. (00:05:20)

Prince Ly Squisher

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Deutschland 83 picture

Able Archer - S1-E8

Factual error: Lenora packs her briefcase with various passports, including a burgundy covered one with the UK insignia. UK Passports in the 1980s had a dark-blue cover and did not adopt the EU standard burgundy cover until 1988.

samlond

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Life on Mars (US) picture

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Factual error: The camera starts out-of-focus looking down a crowded sidewalk full of background actors in period clothes and hairstyles (1973). As the camera racks into focus, Sam is walking toward the camera with many awnings visible in the background - a large blue one reads "24 Hr ATM". Though versions were invented prior to 1973, they didn't come into wide usage until the mid-to-late-80's and certainly weren't available in East Village bodegas at the time of this episode.

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Matlock picture

The Madam - S5-E3

Factual error: Radio talk show host David Campbell works at "WRQE 480 AM." There is no such frequency. The AM radio dial begins at 530.

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FlashForward picture

137 Sekunden - S1-E3

Factual error: When browsing for information about the crow deaths in the Ganwar Region of Somalia, the computer indicates that the CDC requested additional funding from DHS. The only problem with that is, DHS was formed in 2002, 11 years after the incident in Ganwar. (00:40:05)

klaser

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Suggested correction: Although the Department of Homeland Security - commonly abbreviated as DHS - was not formed until 2002, in the later episode "Revelation Zero" it is indicated that DHS stands for an agency called Demographic and Health Services.

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MacGyver picture

Seeds + Permafrost + Feather - S3-E17

Factual error: Bozer and for that matter I would assume all of the team went to a spycraft academy. A basic subject in any of such academies is surveillance, including proper techniques to follow and stake out someone. Bozer being so inept at tracking MacGyver's father is inconceivable given their training.

toroscan

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Chicago Fire picture

A Volatile Mixture - S7-E5

Factual error: In the scene at O'Hara airport the paramedics meetup with a TSA officer. The TSA officer has a gun as a part of his uniform. TSA officers do not carry firearms. In addition, the CBP officer in the scene does not have on a proper CBP uniform. The CBP officer uniform has rank epaulets and officer has no epaulets, and the CBP uniform doesn't have a bar tie clip and the gun belt buckle is brass not stainless metal. (00:42:00)

Snag.1

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Blindspot picture

Existential Ennui - S5-E3

Factual error: The episode states that there is border control between Germany and Czechia. There is no border control within the Schengen area of the EU (which includes Germany and Czechia). You can cross borders by car or fly in a plane without showing your ID.

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House of Cards picture

Chapter 35 - S3-E9

Factual error: When Doug Stamper sits down at his laptop and throws the contents of his cup at the screen, the image immediately freezes and distorts. This would not happen so quickly in a real world event. It may eventually happen but not instantaneously. (00:23:10)

Mike Walker

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Ghost Whisperer picture

The One (2) - S1-E22

Factual error: The tail section of the crashed plane is from an early model 737, based on the curvature where the forward edge of the vertical stabilizer meets the top of the fuselage. The maximum seating capacity would have been about 130 passengers, while the number of crash victims was given as approximately twice that.

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Pride and Prejudice picture

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Factual error: During Lizzie's visit to Rosings Park, Lady Catherine presses her to stay longer, saying that if she will stay another month, she will be able to accommodate Lizzie "on the barouche-box" as far as London. This is nonsensical. What Austen actually wrote (Ch. 37) was: "And if you will stay another month complete, it will be in my power to take one of you as far as London, for I am going there early in June for a week; and as Dawson does not object to the barouche-box, there will be very good room for one of you. . ." The box is the coachman's seat on top of the carriage. Dawson is a servant, but if there were enough room inside the carriage, she would ride inside. What Lady Catherine is doing is offering Dawson's inside place to Lizzie. But in the movie, she is offering to let Lizzie ride outside next to the coachman. Not much of a treat.

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The Dead Zone picture

Cold Hard Truth - S3-E4

Factual error: When Johnny and Bruce are riding in the truck, listening to the 'shock jock', Bruce turns off the radio by turning the volume control on the left side of the radio. Johnny says he wants to hear it and turns the radio back on by turning the knob on the right, which is the tuning dial.

wizard_of_gore

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Revelations picture

Hour Six - S1-E6

Factual error: Jonah tells Richard that Saturn has a "rogue moon" in a retrograde orbit that travels "at four times the speed" of Saturn's other moons. The graphic on Jonah's computer shows that the moon in question is Phoebe, which does indeed orbit in the opposite direction from other Saturnian moons. And the graphic correctly shows Phoebe's orbit as being much further from the planet than the other moons. However, as a direct consequence of its greater orbital radius, Phoebe is actually among Saturn's *slowest* moons. It has a longer orbital period (or "month") and a slower orbital velocity than all the Saturnian moons with smaller orbital radii, of which there are twenty.

DavidK93

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The Blue and the Gray picture

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Factual error: Disc 2: There is a scene where a cannon shell explodes inside a hospital ward. Everyone in the ward is killed, but there are no signs of limbs torn off or even shrapnel wounds, only some blood here and there. The same thing happens at the Battle of Bull Run when the old woman gets blown out of her bedroom by cannon fire. (01:32:00)

Daz

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7th Heaven picture

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Factual error: In the episode entitled 'Paper or Plastic' where Lucy gives birth, she gives birth in the elevator and when the doors open she is standing there holding her daughter. I can excuse the standing minutes after giving birth, but she is still fully clothed. The paramedics would have removed her skirt and underclothes so as not to ruin them (giving birth is messy) and they would not have redressed her. She is then shown laying on the gurney fully clothed, no blanket covering her.

Boobra

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