Necrothesp

Show generally

Factual error: The Merchant Navy rank insignia is very poorly researched. Each officer seems to have a different style of insignia, despite working for the same company and they incorrectly wear rank insignia on the shoulders of their blue uniforms as well as the cuffs. The main character, Junior Third Officer Mortimer, wears a bizarre mix of insignia, apparently consisting of a Royal Navy petty officer's sleeve badge, a Royal Navy chief petty officer's cuff buttons, and a rank badge of three inverted chevrons on his shoulder boards that doesn't seem to resemble anything from reality. In reality, he should simply wear a single cuff ring (or shoulder bar in white uniform).

Necrothesp

Part 1 Roots: The Saga of An American Family - S1-E1

Factual error: The slave ship 'Lord Ligonier' flies the White Ensign. This has always been reserved for the Royal Navy; British merchant ships (as American ships were in 1765) have flown the Red Ensign since 1674.

Necrothesp

Factual error: None of the British army officers is wearing the gorget, which was an officer's insignia at this time.

Necrothesp

Factual error: Barbossa addresses one of his officers as "lieutenant-commander". This rank was not introduced into the Royal Navy until 1914.

Necrothesp

Show generally

Factual error: John Basilone was actually a Sergeant when he won the Medal of Honor at Guadalcanal, but is shown wearing the insignia of the higher rank of Platoon Sergeant. However, when his medal citation is read out it does give his correct rank (although senior sergeants in the US forces are commonly addressed simply as "sergeant", official citations give their full rank).

Necrothesp

Par Avion - S3-E12

Factual error: The police officer introduces himself to Claire as "Officer" Barnes. In Australia, ordinary police officers hold the rank of Constable, not Officer. (00:06:10)

Necrothesp

Par Avion - S3-E12

Factual error: The neurosurgeon introduces himself as "Doctor" Woodruff and also has this written on his coat. In Australia, where this scene is set, surgeons are always addressed and referred to as "Mister" after the British fashion.

Necrothesp

Factual error: At his wedding, Captain Von Trapp is wearing three medium-width rank rings on the cuffs of his uniform (similar to a Commander in the Royal Navy and US Navy). In the Austro-Hungarian Navy, in which he served, this rank badge did not exist. Von Trapp actually held the rank of Korvettenkapitän (Lieutenant-Commander), indicated by one medium ring and one narrow ring. Even had he held the rank of Linienschiffskapitän (Captain), he would have worn one medium and three narrow rings. The only rank which had vaguely similar insignia to that in the film was Linienschiffsleutnant (Lieutenant), with three narrow rings. Even allowing for artistic licence re Von Trapp's actual rank, the insignia he is wearing simply did not exist.

Necrothesp

Live Together, Die Alone, Part 1 - S2-E23

Factual error: The prison Desmond is released from looks nothing like any British prison, let alone the British military prison (the "Glasshouse"), which is more of a training camp than a traditional prison. The guards wear no cap badges on their berets (all British service personnel wear cap badges) and their berets are worn almost vertically on their heads, whereas British berets are pulled hard to the right. The NCO who releases him is credited as a "master sergeant" in the episode credits - an American rank which has never been used in the British Army. (00:05:30)

Necrothesp

Factual error: Rita says that George was a gunner in the RAF during the war. The photograph of him in uniform in his and Connie's house shows him wearing a (double wing) pilot's brevet instead of the single wing of an air gunner.

Necrothesp

Factual error: Although B. B. Rush's wears the rank insignia of a Specialist and he is addressed as Specialist by his interrogator, all the documentation shows his rank as Private First Class.

Necrothesp

Character mistake: Hicox uses the word "momentarily" in the American sense of "in a moment". In British English it means only "for a moment". An educated Englishman in the 1940s would never have used the word in the American sense.

Necrothesp

Factual error: When we first see him in Royal Marines uniform, Hicox is wearing a beret with a short 'tail' (the end of the drawstring used to tighten the beret). This is indeed a feature of military berets in some countries, but not in Britain.

Necrothesp

Factual error: The exterior of the village church looks nothing like an English church. Churches in Eastern Europe, where it was filmed, are very different.

Necrothesp

Factual error: The Emperor ruled the Roman Empire, not the Pope. Neither he nor one of his bishops would have any authority over Roman provinces or Roman soldiers.

Necrothesp

Factual error: All the Roman troops wear armour and uniforms appropriate to the 1st century AD (the "classic" era most often depicted in illustrations). The film is actually set several hundred years later, by which time Roman soldiers looked very different.

Necrothesp

Character mistake: Hicox salutes General Fenech, who returns the salute. But Fenech is bareheaded and therefore under British military protocol cannot salute. He would instead acknowledge the salute with a nod.

Necrothesp

Vincent and the Doctor - S5-E10

Factual error: By the time the Doctor and Amy meet him, Vincent van Gogh had already mutilated his ear. He should be missing part of his left earlobe.

Necrothesp

Factual error: The head of the prison is described as the "warden". This is an American term. In countries dominated by Britain, as Egypt was at the time, the head of a prison is the "governor".

Necrothesp

Continuity mistake: James is described on the cast list as a Staff Sergeant, but he wears the rank insignia of a Sergeant First Class.

Necrothesp