Return of the Prodigal - S5-E1
Plot hole: Mickey Bricks returns to England by stealing the uniform of a Commander Cardwell, an officer in the Royal Navy, and taking his place on board an aircraft carrier that is sailing from Australia to the UK, leaving that day, a voyage that would take three to four weeks. During that time, Cardwell does not report his uniform stolen, nor does he report to the aircraft carrier to take up his duties, and since there was a car waiting to take him to the ship he is obviously supposed to be there. Theft of a military uniform is taken extremely seriously and once reported it would take no time at all to establish that "Cardwell" appears to be on board his ship! On top of that, during his entire time at sea nobody on board calls upon Mickey to perform any sort of military duties (of which he would have absolutely no knowledge), he doesn't run into anyone who knows Cardwell, and nobody asks to see his orders, military identification or travel warrant.
Return of the Prodigal - S5-E1
Factual error: Morgan attaches explosive blood bags to Emma and Sean in order to fool Neil Ryder into thinking he has killed them. He attaches them to their skin, covering them with a single layer of clothing. When they go off, they are going to hurt. Emma and Sean would be badly bruised, and after they have finished playing possum, they would be in agony, but they show no effects at all. He cannot be using a reduced charge in the bags, or they wouldn't have enough strength to punch a hole in their clothes.
Return of the Prodigal - S5-E1
Factual error: There is absolutely no way prison visitors would be allowed into the cell of the prisoner they are visiting - they would not even be allowed into any part of the prison except for the visiting room. This is nothing to do with the guards going easy on Albert - they would be sacked on the spot for such a blatant and highly visible breach of prison rules.
Return of the Prodigal - S5-E1
Plot hole: Emma Kennedy gets into the morgue and coroner's office when she is wheeled in on a gurney sealed in a body bag. Mickey distracts the morgue attendant so she can get out of the bag and go to the coroner's filing room. All well and good, but what happens when the attendant goes back into the morgue after Mickey leaves and sees the empty body bag on the gurney? There is no indication that Emma gets back into the body bag and there is no reason for her to do so.
Return of the Prodigal - S5-E1
Continuity mistake: During Albert's flashback explanation of how he got caught cheating at cards, a blonde girl is sitting at 90 degrees to him at the table. Then, in the next shot, she's sitting right next to him.
New Recruits - S5-E2
Other mistake: When Mickey first opens the newspaper to show the article on Fielding and Wood, in fact the article just repeats the same first three paragraphs of text again and again. (00:01:51)
New Recruits - S5-E2
Continuity mistake: When the gallery is initially shown, it is covered with red banners. When it is shown at the end of the episode, the banners have vanished. (00:45:17 - 00:57:15)
New Recruits - S5-E2
Factual error: The contract Stone and his team force Carlton Wood and Harry Fielding to sign guaranteeing Fowler's widow the royalties from his invention for life is signed under duress and is therefore invalid. It is hard to believe that none of Stone's team know this, but it is impossible to believe that Carlton Wood wouldn't.
New Recruits - S5-E2
Factual error: Knocking out fit, healthy adults by pumping an anaesthetic gas into a large, open room in which they are sitting is an incredibly stupid and dangerous thing to do. In order to do so, you'd have to know everything about them - age, weight, medical history, and so on. Killing them? Easy. Use cyanide gas. Knocking them out for a few hours? Impossible. Incidentally, why is it that the next morning when the grifters reveal their plan, nobody talks to the guards about what happened?
Other mistake: Mickey and Ash tell Sean and Emma all about the Fortnuss gold robbery, "the third largest bullion robbery in British criminal history." Emma tells them that they know absolutely nothing about it - they have never even heard of it. She goes on to explain that they don't know anything about the robbery because "We weren't exactly up on our current affairs in 1996." If neither she nor Sean knew anything about the raid, how would she know it took place in 1996? (00:06:29)
Factual error: Emma steals what is allegedly a "private ambulance", which is a small courier-style van. No ambulance - regardless of whether it's NHS or private - would ever be a van of such a small size. It's completely unsuitable both in terms of kit and in terms of transportation. On top of all that, you can see on the van where it states "Co-Operative Funeral Care", and the producers forgot to cover it up. (00:16:35)
Factual error: Albert's release papers show he was sentenced to 2 years' imprisonment at the county court. This is completely incorrect: he would have been sentenced at a Crown Court given his was a criminal offence. County courts are strictly for civil cases, not criminal ones. Additionally, "fraud" is not the offence under which he would have been convicted. (00:49:52)
Factual error: As someone with a criminal record Mickey Bricks would not be allowed an "open" visit with Harry Holmes / Albert Stroller while each was in prison. Their visit would be "closed" - Stroller/Holmes would be in a small booth, separated from Mickey by a Perspex screen. This mistake is made in both "Gold Mine" (with Holmes) and also in "Lest Ye Be Judged" (with Stroller).
Factual error: Emma gives their mark, Judge Anthony Stone, the name and address of Albert Stroller - Faverton Open Prison. Throughout the episode we see Stroller inside the prison, and we see what it looks like from outside when he is released. It is absolutely not an open prison, which would not have cell blocks and would not be enclosed in huge brick walls. The prison they show looks more like a medium or even high security inner city prison.
Factual error: Their mark, Judge Anthony Kent, presides over his courtroom using a gavel. British judges have never used gavels.
Factual error: Albert Stroller goes before the parole board, is approved, and released on the same day. That is impossible. The parole board will meet, interview the prisoner, then take depositions from other interested parties. If they approve parole, they will then pass their recommendation on to the Home Office who will approve or decline it. All this takes three or four days at least, so there is no way for Stroller to be out on the street to meet the bent judge right away.
Factual error: Albert's release papers show he was born on 3rd June 1933. However, in the season 4 episode "Getting Even", his time in the US Air Force fighting in Europe in WW2 is discussed at length. Given VE Day was in May 1945, that would have made him 11 (at the very oldest) at the end of WW2: impossible to have served in this timeframe. That doesn't even include the half year of USAF training he would have undergone. The youngest soldier to fight for the US was 12: Albert would have been 10 and a half.
Factual error: Andrew Campbell is a psychoanalyst (when Emma leaves his office, a close-up of his nameplate is shown). There's no way a psychoanalyst would be sitting on a parole board, which he does subsequently in the episode. Their skills simply aren't required or relevant to a parole board. The show seems to be confusing psychoanalysts with psychologists (who do indeed frequently sit on parole boards) - but the jobs, roles and requirements are completely different for each.
Other mistake: The end credits for this episode are actually a repeat of the credits for the previous episode Lest Ye Be Judged. (00:51:10)
Factual error: Ash tells the gang that corrupt politician Rhona Christie "took a marginal seat", which we know includes the youth club in Poplar, Greater London. In fact Poplar and Limehouse is an ultra safe Labour constituency. The sitting member has a majority of over 20,000. It has never been even close to marginal, and a meticulous researcher like Three Socks Morgan wouldn't make a mistake like that.
Suggested correction: There are a number of prisons in the UK that house both category C and D prisoners. This would mean it operates as an "open prison" to some prisoners, but still requires the security precautions of a higher security facility.
Rubbish. Stroller is under secure lockup - treated leniently by the guards perhaps but if the prison we see does have an 'open' section he most definitely is not in it.