Best thriller TV factual errors of all time

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The Returned picture

Simon - S1-E2

Factual error: Thomas holds the Gendarmerie rank of Capitaine (by which he is frequently addressed by his subordinates), and thus should wear three horizontal silver bars on his epaulettes. However, in the only scene where his rank is displayed he instead wears the two chevrons of an ordinary gendarme.

Necrothesp

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The Night Agent picture

The Devil We Know - S1-E9

Factual error: There are two Marines posted at Marine 1, the Presidential helicopter. Their pants are ridiculously long and not the image of Marines with well-fitted uniforms. Their position of attention is wrong, with the hands clenched and placed on their thighs as opposed to being fixed at the sides. Worse, when they saluted with their right hands were above the service cap brim, instead of the fingertips touching the bottom of the brim.

toroscan

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Show generally

Factual error: Abby gets out of the train via the driver's door. You see a front view of the train. The number on the train is 321434. This train runs on overhead lines, and it is being shown as a Gatwick Express train from Gatwick Airport to Victoria. The railway from Gatwick to Victoria has a third rail conductor, so this Class 321 train would not have been able to move. (00:50:02)

M1CGP

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The Beast picture

Mercy - S1-E8

Factual error: At the beginning of the episode, Patrick Swayze is looking at photos of two Iraq veterans who have been murdered. He identifies one as a Marine Lance Corporal and the other as an Army PFC, but both pictures show men in U.S. Army uniforms. A bit later, his partner, who is supposed to be a Marine vet, refers to his decision not to "re-up," using the Army term for re-enlistment, rather than "ship over," as it's referred to in the Navy and Marines.

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Whiskey Cavalier picture

The Czech List - S1-E2

Factual error: Will is asked by Jai to place his wrist watch - which is filled with explosives - against a wall. He does, and it somehow sticks to the vertical concrete wall. An adhesive back would have been noticed by Will, as it was against his skin on his wrist. Not to mention that an explosion in a contained space that small would have deafened them both, or worse. (00:35:05)

toroscan

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One of Us picture

Show generally

Factual error: The DI refers to the local policeman as "Officer" Fuller. No British police officer would use this term to refer to another British police officer. She'd have said Constable Fuller or PC Fuller.

Necrothesp

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Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan picture

Falcon - S3-E1

Factual error: Luka's military officer cap isn't a Russian cap, it is a Hungarian police cap. The Russian cap is bigger.

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Nowhere Man picture

Absolute Zero (Pilot) - S1-E1

Factual error: When Tom is locked up in an institution for the mentally ill, he is given a bed on a mixed gender ward/wing (both men and women). Wings and wards in mental institutions have not been mixed gender for more than 100 years - it is inconceivable that this practice would be existing in the 1990s in a large city in the USA.

swordfish

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The Last Thing He Told Me picture

Protect Her - S1-E1

Factual error: When Jules and Hannah are talking about the financial shenanigans at Owen's firm, Jules says that the owner of Owen's company had fraudulently driven up the price of the stock before the IPO. This is impossible. The IPO is the first time the shares become tradeable.

bnemirow

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Liar picture

Season 1 generally

Factual error: The series is based in the east-facing Deal, Kent. Even if this is not explicitly mentioned, there are visual references to the Thanet and Dover Police. So how can you have repeated sea view sunsets? Either that or they are having wine for breakfast at the breakfast table. The sun rises in the east and Deal enjoys a beautiful sunrise.

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The Man in the High Castle picture

Kindness - S1-E9

Factual error: In the transition shot showing Hobart Building in San Fransisco, items not belonging to the scene are visible and have not been edited out. These items include; modern phone numbers, web addresses for several companies and educational institutions, satellite dishes and American flags. (00:24:10)

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Babylon Berlin picture

Episode #4.9 - S4-E9

Factual error: Renate escapes from the prison in a Morris Ten Four, with the badge visible on the bonnet. However, this designation was not introduced until 1935 and the episode is set in 1931.

Necrothesp

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Lioness picture

Along Came a Spider - S2-E3

Factual error: Captain Carrillo is target shooting with a hand weapon. She empties the magazine, but she catches the magazine and hands it to her ranger partner instead of letting the empty magazine fall to the ground. As a trained military officer and training with special operators, catching an empty magazine is an extremely bad habit and practice, which is a big no-no. (00:40:23)

Snag.1

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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.

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X-Men: Evolution picture

Adrift - S2-E6

Factual error: The map of the western United States shown during the weather report at the start of the episode shows some states drawn incorrectly. Idaho's entire western border is a straight line, whereas in real life, Oregon has a horn-shaped indentation on its northeastern border that it shares with Idaho. Idaho also looks like a crude staircase, with the southwestern border of Montana going down to central Wyoming, whereas that area in real life is around the northwestern part of Wyoming.

Phaneron

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Continuum picture

Family Time - S1-E9

Factual error: In the barn, one of the kids shoots Cameron, then drops the gun and flees. Cameron picks up the gun and checks how many rounds are in the magazine and then puts the magazine back in. However, after that, she pulls the slide back to chamber a round. But the semi-automatic pistol would already have a round in the chamber since it was just fired, and her action should have ejected an unspent round, which it doesn't.

Bishop73

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