Murdoch.com - S2-E10
Factual error: Enid, the telegraph operator, exclaims that "He is sending an SOS." However, in the 19th century, distress calls did not include the letters "SOS," It was not until the early 20th Century that SOS was chosen as the international distress call.
Factual error: The briefer on the oil platform mission says the platform is 12 stories, and 80 million square feet. Doing the math, that makes it half a mile per side if completely square. It is nowhere near that size as shown. The largest oil rig in the world - Berkut in Russia's Far East - has a combined deck area of only 342,000 square feet. (00:13:35)
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.
Factual error: At the beginning of the intro, the narrator says that the only way to resurrect a vampire is with a sacred rite that can only be performed once a century when the moon is in the eighth house of Aquarius. In Astrology, the eighth house is Scorpio.
Factual error: The British schoolroom has a UK flag at the front. American schools might do that; UK schools don't. There's even a little one on the teacher's desk.
Factual error: In the whole episode, Romania is depicted as a monarchy with the king in a position that allows him to make political decisions. However, Romania ceased to be a monarchy in 1947. By the time depicted in the episode (circa 1997), Romania was a republic and its head of state was the president. Members of the ex-royal family did not hold any positions in the Romanian government and were certainly not authorized to represent Romania in international events.
Yankee White - S1-E1
Factual error: Air Force One landed in Wichita, Kansas. The local coroner claimed Jurisdiction for Wichita County. The city of Wichita, Kansas is in Sedgwick County, in southern Kansas. Wichita County, Kansas is in western Kansas, about 250 miles from the city of Wichita. (00:05:40)
Factual error: On the map behind the colonel during the first scene, Iceland is labelled as being under Nazi control. This is incorrect, as the British were in control of the country during the whole of the war. (00:05:10)
Factual error: When discussing a recent search of a suspect's home, Hill Harper says "we got his hard drives", but pulls a computer power supply out of a bag. Hard drives are significantly smaller and don't have a bundle of wires coming out the back of them.
Factual error: When Cindy wanted a hitman to kill Ian she looks in the yellow pages to find one. Surely the police and the makers of the yellow pages would have been alerted if a hitman agency wants to advertise itself in the yellow pages?
Factual error: In the scene where Anna is standing with George beside his father's GTO, Elaine suddenly runs in and pries her away from George. Elaine and Anna get into the cab. As the cab pulls away, the side door is marked as an NYC cab with a taxi license number, etc., but the license plate in the back is a California plate.
Factual error: Nick tells fellow vampire Aristotle, "You still owe me for that time at the Battle of Hastings." Nick was brought across in 1228, or so the intro told us every week. The Battle of Hastings, as any British school kid knows, was fought in 1066, over 100 years before Nick's mortal birth. (00:29:30)
Factual error: Kyle says he has to log on before school. The next shot shows "Monday 8 days later." 8 days before is a Sunday. (00:04:45)
Poppy's By the Tree (1) - S2-E1
Factual error: At the end of the episode, the killer shoves a long machete up through the mattress. This isn't possible considering he's under a bed and there's not enough vertical space to shove a machete straight up.
Factual error: In the opening scene Marshal Dillon walks in Boot Hill cemetery. Dates on grave markers include 1883 and 1882. At the end of the episode Marshal Dillon and Chester discuss an Army deserter who had just been acquitted of a murder that Marshal Dillon was sure he had committed. The army deserter is being sent back to his unit to fight the Sioux and Cheyenne Indians under Gen. Custer. The viewer knows the army deserter will soon die in the Battle of Little Big Horn on June 25, 1876 - seven years before the date on one of the grave markers. (00:00:25 - 00:24:30)
Dream Logic - S2-E5
Factual error: When discussing whether Dr. Nayak's server could have been hacked, Agent Broyles says there was "no sign of a DDoS attack." A DDoS (Distributed Denial of Service) attack is not a means of hacking into a server to alter data - it refers to flooding a web site with so many connections, through automated means, that legitimate visitors can't connect to it. It's a mode of attack that has no relevance to the situation they were discussing.
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.
Don't Forget the Diver - S4-E2
Factual error: While Capt. Square is looking through his binoculars at what he thinks is Mainwaring's platoon marching with their rifles, a 1960's Bedford lorry drives past on the road behind them.
How I Met Everyone Else - S3-E5
Factual error: When Ted is talking about what Marshall told him after he met Lilly, the two boys are playing with Playstation 2 controllers. The scene takes place in 1996, and Playstation 2 didn't come out until 2000.
Suggested correction: The show is set in the early 1900's, which is the early 20th century. By the time this event transpired, SOS would have been established as a universal distress signal.
The show starts in 1895 and by season 2, it was still the 19th century and before Germany adopted SOS in 1905.
Bishop73