Factual error: Jeweler Albert Harrad calls Laura from his desk phone, but only punches six buttons before getting hold of her office. All U.S. phone numbers have seven digits: six wouldn't have connected him to anything. (00:37:30)
Factual error: The scenery is set in Berlin, following the 1989 Re-Union of Germany. Only thing is: the guards at the archive building use AK-47s, while after the Re-Union, the East German National People's Army and the West German Bundeswehr (Federal Defense Force) were joined - and the West Germans don't use any AKs.
Water's Edge - S3-E3
Factual error: Pete Taylor's corpse is a bare skeleton after just two years in the sea-shack's attic, though it shouldn't be. There should at least be traces of hair and clothing surrounding the bones. (00:40:00)
With This Ring, I Thee Kill! - S1-E7
Factual error: Rhodes views the silent movie and the film breaks, leaving the last frame frozen on the screen. Wouldn't happen. When 16mm film broke in 1970s projectors, any portion that jammed in the mechanism was exposed to intense heat from the projection lamp, and would burn. (00:35:30)
Factual error: In the banner for the exibition in France at the start, the French isn't right. It says "Opéra nationale" and "La morte de Marie Antoinette Des objets fabriqués de le temps de Marie Antoinette". It should be "Opera national" and "La mort de Marie Antoinette Des objets fabriqués à l'époque de Marie Antoinette" or "des objets fabriqués du temps de Marie Antoinette".
Us vs. Them - S2-E2
Factual error: We see Liam's driver's license. It says he's from Rhode Island, but the license looks nothing like RI's. It's issued by the State Motor Vehicle Commission, but RI does not have an MVC (only New Jersey does). And the expiration date is always the same as the holder's birthday, but here we see it's 2 days after his birthday.
Factual error: The Saturn in the show is an Ion which stopped production in March of 2007. Therefore, it couldn't be a silver 2009 Saturn they were looking for.
Factual error: Noticed this watching season 2, and I assume it was also the case in season 1. The entrance of the Miramar Playa has flags from various countries flying. One of them is the Canadian flag with the maple leaf. Wrong flag. In that period the Canadian flag was the "Red Ensign", or "Dominion Flag." The maple leaf flag wasn't introduced until 1965.
Factual error: The depiction of the hanging is completely inaccurate. By the 1890s, the gallows at Newgate were housed in a room within the prison, not in the courtyard. Prisoners' wrists and legs were pinioned before they were hanged, not left free as depicted. The long drop was used in Britain from the 1870s, not the short drop depicted. The large knot depicted was not used in Britain (although it was in America) ; a simple sliding loop was actually used, and this was positioned under the jawbone at the side of the neck, not at the back of the neck, which would quite probably not have broken the neck, leaving the person to strangle to death.
Factual error: A scene in a photographic darkroom shows Michael Gambon developing a colour print in a dish under safe lights. Not possible. Colour printing must be carried out in pitch dark usually inside a light tight print processor, as colour photographic paper is sensitive to all wavelengths of visible light.
Factual error: As Bentley is shown round the control room of the plant there are modern LED light panels and modern health and safety stop buttons which would not have existed in the 1960s.
Smells Like Teen Spirit - S6-E15
Factual error: German bearer bonds would never have English writing on them, and furthermore instead of just saying "German bearer bonds" the company or other entity that issued them would be named.
Factual error: Chief Superintendent Hilton wears the ribbons of the General Service Medal (awarded for military service in a combat zone, most commonly in Northern Ireland) and the Police Long Service and Good Conduct Medal (awarded for twenty years' service), but not the Golden Jubilee Medal (awarded to all officers with five years' service in 2002), which he would also have. When he reappears in Series 4, he is wearing the Golden Jubilee Medal, Diamond Jubilee Medal (awarded in 2012) and Police Long Service and Good Conduct Medal, which would all be correct, but no longer has the General Service Medal.
The Tale of the Whispering Walls - S2-E7
Factual error: Betty Ann is supposed to be telling this story on a Leap Year night with a full moon. While it's necessary for the plot, the most recent Leap Year with a full moon was in 1972, and is calculated to happen in 2048 next.
Factual error: At Walter's apartment, Annie notices a group of spy novels on his shelf. The "spy novels" are actually six books from the Goosebumps series by R.L. Stein, The Day My Butt Went Psycho by Andy Griffiths, four books from Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events, and the British covered edition of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J. K. Rowling. (00:18:30)
Factual error: Haloclines are referred to throughout, and depicted occasionally as some sort of underwater tornadoes. Haloclines are in fact just salinity gradients, and look nothing like they do on the show.
Factual error: At the dance in 1947, a US flag with 50 stars is visible.
Factual error: Will's hospital chart states he is taking Warfarin and Coumadin. These are both the same drug to prevent blood clots. He would not be on both. (00:31:50)
Factual error: There is no way cops would just walk up and open fire on a suspect unannounced, not knowing if he is armed or not, and with an innocent bystander so close.
Factual error: 1968: The basement's brick wall crumbles to reveal Trask's skeleton hanging in the alcove. Only it shouldn't be. Bodies do not remain assembled once the flesh and sinew are gone. Trask's remains ought to be a large pile of bones on the floor.