Continuity mistake: When Humphrey points out of the strangely lacking item amongst those lined up, the items in question change position between shots; when there's the shot of the whole row, the canteen is at an angle, it is parallel to the rest when the camera pans in close-up. The sandwich bag too is folded differently. (00:06:00)
Other mistake: The police force is searching the room of the deceased at the beginning of their investigation, Humphrey stands in front of a map of Saint Marie with the exclusion zones. The map though shows an island upside down compared to the map you could see in Episode 7 of season 2. (00:10:10)
Continuity mistake: Florence and Humphrey take a walk with Emer Byrne. Behind them, a man with a rather noticeable orange T-shirt. Later in the scene when they go back to the jeep, the same man appears again together with the other guy he was chatting with, again walking back and forth just to pad the background. (00:16:00)
Factual error: Emer Byrne's Irish passport is fake. Look at the expiration date; the day of that date does not match the date of issue. A passport issued on September 24 wouldn't expire on September 01 as seen there, but on September 23. (00:16:15)
Audio problem: Catherine has been a character on the show from season 1, almost the first episode. Never has she pronounced the name of the island, Saint Marie, like she does in this episode: "Welcome to St. Mary." (00:20:20)
Continuity mistake: Martha and Florence are chatting in front of two glasses of wine, courtesy of Catherine. Martha's hand is at a different height, higher on the stem of the glass in one angle, lower against its base in the other main angle the scene is shot under. (00:20:35)
Revealing mistake: When Dwayne holds the copy of the local newspaper with his goat comment making the headline, the text of the article repeats itself; you can see aligned in both columns the name of the commissioner accompanied by "pictured right." (00:23:15)
Continuity mistake: When Richard has the epiphany about the case with the realization about the mayor, he keeps looking left and right and babbling with both markers in hand. The white one though in some shots has its red lid on, and in others hasn't. (00:32:00)
Continuity mistake: The whole sequence with Humphrey doing his 'visually aided' re-enactment of the night of the murder contains little shot-to-shot inconsistencies from the moment he takes the second whiteboard on. The photo switches hand, he leans to the top of the board when it's time to stick the picture on it, but the same hand is lower on the board at the cut, and so on; in some shots he's touching the board and in their reverse angles he is not. (00:35:40)
Continuity mistake: During the denouement, in the close-ups of Mayor Joseph Richards he and especially JP in the background have strongly sunlit areas over their bodies. In the wider angles, the set is uniformly in shadows. (00:46:30)
Factual error: When Humphrey makes the big reveal opening the suitcase full of cash, it's a bunch of wad of bills, each with the currency straps indicating a value of 50,000 (Eastern Caribbean) dollars. Thing is, it's all in $50 notes, which means there should be 1,000 bills in each wad, which is obviously not the case. (00:47:20)
Continuity mistake: At the end of the episode Commissioner Selwyn Patterson warns Dwayne against equating him to farmyard animals. His hat switches hands during the scene, as you can see when he turns around to leave, and his left arm is down his side instead of bouncing the hat as shown in the next shot. (00:49:50)
The Secret of the Flame Tree - S6-E2
Continuity mistake: There is a long lecture by the editor, Patricia Lawrence, at the beginning of the episode. The victim reaches the cliff where she will meet her demise. Meanwhile Patricia says "Exploring the many pathways that will eventually lead..." and there is a cut to a close-up of the writer. During the instantaneous, mid-sentence cut, the wind on set increased exponentially; all of a sudden it even moves the earrings of the woman enjoying the conference behind Sylvie Baptiste. (00:03:40)
The Secret of the Flame Tree - S6-E2
Continuity mistake: Before the series' opening, the camera scrolls towards the body. Esther is lying on the rocks, her feet apart. When Goodman and Florence check the body, the feet moved closer. (00:04:00 - 00:06:20)
The Secret of the Flame Tree - S6-E2
Continuity mistake: After the opening, Humph makes his way to the file cabinet almost moonwalking and whistling a jaunty tune. Dwayne looks askance at this merriment turning towards Florence. That is in the wide shot, but in close-up Dwayne is looking still at his paper, and only a second later turns towards her. (00:04:45)
The Secret of the Flame Tree - S6-E2
Continuity mistake: When for some reason Humphrey's staff is nagging him about receiving the text message, the position of his hand on top of the file cabinet changes between shots. He is right at the edge of it, but further behind later. (00:05:05)
The Secret of the Flame Tree - S6-E2
Continuity mistake: In the overhead shot of the corpse when the police checks it out, Florence has her hands on her hips, but she is writing in the following close-up. (00:06:30)
The Secret of the Flame Tree - S6-E2
Continuity mistake: Humphrey, Dwayne and Florence move to the cliff the victim seems to have committed suicide from. JP's arms are down his sides in the first shot, on his belt in the wider angle. (00:07:25)
The Secret of the Flame Tree - S6-E2
Continuity mistake: The spot on the ground where Florence and JP are standing as Esther's belongings are shown, differs between shots. (00:07:50)
The Secret of the Flame Tree - S6-E2
Continuity mistake: Esther's belongings are positioned differently between the panning shot on the ground and the wide shot; just look at the angle of the diary and the pen's. (00:07:50)
Answer: There's probably no particular reason. Sets and props on long-running TV shows often change as needed and for various reasons throughout a series run.
raywest ★