Best crime TV character mistakes of all time

Please vote as you browse around to help the best rise to the top.

More Adam-12 character mistakes
Knight Rider picture

Deadly Maneuvers - S1-E3

Character mistake: The sign in front of the tank Lt. Ladd is trapped in reads "ORDINANCE TESTING FIELD, DANGER.", but an ordinance is a type of decree or law. They probably meant 'ordnance', which is another word for artillery.

More Knight Rider character mistakes
More Agatha Christie's Poirot character mistakes
More NYPD Blue character mistakes
The A-Team picture

Blood, Sweat, and Cheers - S4-E8

Character mistake: In the scene where Jack is phoning Col. Decker to give him the A-Team's location, the camera zooms to a wanted poster of the three members. The poster lists Faceman as the rank of Captain, instead of Lieutenant.

matt_58

More The A-Team character mistakes
Law & Order picture

Remand - S6-E10

Character mistake: McCoy asks his witness, an expert geneticist, what the odds are that a DNA sample presented in evidence does not match that of the defendant. He answers "About one in two hundred." That is idiotic. If the DNA samples are identical the chances that the the sample presented in evidence does not come from the defendant is about one in two billion, not one in two hundred! A bright high school senior would know that, never mind an expert geneticist.

Upvote valid corrections to help move entries into the corrections section.

Suggested correction: If the odds are 1 in 200, that means the accuracy of the DNA is 99.5%. If the odds are 1 in 2 billion, that means the accuracy of the DNA is 99.9999999995%, which simply isn't true.

Bishop73

In fact as any geneticist (i.e, anyone like me) will tell you the chances of two identical DNA "fingerprints" coming from two different and unrelated individuals are around one in two thousand million. Two billion. In fact the odds are much higher than that but we scientists don't like to make claims that sound unlikely or fantastic. The accuracy of DNA fingerprinting is, as you point out, 99.9999999995%. You correction is wrong and the posting is correct.

Except that's not what happened in the scene or what happens in real life. You simply don't understand what you're arguing. You're not a geneticist.

Bishop73

More Law & Order character mistakes
The Wire picture

Unto Others - S4-E7

Character mistake: When Cutty quits the truant officer job and walks out of the office, he runs into his old girl from way back. She calls him David instead of Dennis. (00:51:00)

More The Wire character mistakes
More Vigil character mistakes
The Punisher picture

One-Eyed Jacks - S2-E5

Character mistake: When Frank is starting to show Amy how to take the gun from him he removes the magazine and makes the statement "clip empty" - any Marine, certainly one as well trained as him would never refer to that as a "clip" - it is a magazine. A "clip" is a device intended to help rapidly load ammunition into a magazine.

More The Punisher character mistakes
Death in Paradise picture

Murder from Above - S7-E1

Character mistake: A computer display of currency transactions shows the word "withdrawal" spelled as "withdrawl." (It is also spelled correctly higher up on the display). (00:25:05)

More Death in Paradise character mistakes
More The Adventures of Tintin character mistakes
FBI: Most Wanted picture

Predators - S1-E8

Character mistake: The FBI team responds to a murder crime scene. The victim is lying face down in the bed with blood everywhere. The team leader takes the victim's wrist with his bare ungloved hand. A trained FBI agent would never touch a murder victim without gloves - one to protect himself and two not to contaminate the crime scene. (00:10:00)

Snag.1

More FBI: Most Wanted character mistakes
The Borgias picture

The Moor - S1-E3

Character mistake: In the tent Djem reaches for food with his left hand. Totally a big no-no in the Arab and many other cultures! He would never lean on his right and leave his left arm - his unclean hand free.

More The Borgias character mistakes
More Castle character mistakes
Charlie's Angels picture

Waikiki Angels - S5-E6

Character mistake: At the Life Guard Trials, Kelly is the first Angel to arrive. She finishes 20th. Then, four other competitors arrive (21st / 22nd / 23rd / 24th). Then, Kris arrives. The judge says to her "You're 23." (00:11:15)

Great_Captain

More Charlie's Angels character mistakes
Law & Order: UK picture

Vice - S1-E3

Character mistake: When Brooks and Devlin talk to Teddy, the forensic scientist, Teddy puts his rubber glove on incorrectly, with the thumb hanging off the pinkie side of his hand. (00:09:45)

Cubs Fan

More Law & Order: UK character mistakes
Sherlock picture

The Great Game - S1-E3

Character mistake: In the opening scene, Sherlock makes a point to correct Barry's poor grammar. But later, when talking to Watson, Sherlock uses poor grammar by saying "who's sleeping with who." It should be "who's sleeping with whom." Not a mistake Sherlock would make.

Bishop73

More Sherlock character mistakes
Justified picture

The Hammer - S1-E10

Character mistake: Raylan Givens tells Judge Reardon that he carries a ".45 Glock" but this is untrue. Throughout the series with the exception of the beginning of the first episode Raylan Givens carries a Glock 17, which is only chambered in 9mm parabellum. His backup can be seen to be a Glock 26 which is also in 9mm.

GunsUp0331

More Justified character mistakes
More Murder, She Wrote character mistakes
Magnum, P.I. picture

The Big Blow - S3-E21

Character mistake: The party is supposed to be "One of the premiere social events of the season", but the only people invited (Higgins knows for sure who is gonna come, so it's not like there's low attendance because of the weather) are a Prince from a fictional European state nobody knows about with his commoner wife, the editor of a poetry magazine that needs Robin's funds to survive, a sports star and Robin's accountant. 5 people in total, already all in Robin's pocket, and nobody else in attendance. While you could say that having royalty and a golden glove winner is certainly noteworthy, those people don't meet anyone else. Hardly a 'social event'. (00:04:00)

Sammo

More Magnum, P.I. character mistakes

Join the mailing list

Separate from membership, this is to get updates about mistakes in recent releases. Addresses are not passed on to any third party, and are used solely for direct communication from this site. You can unsubscribe at any time.

Check out the mistake & trivia books, on Kindle and in paperback.