Best crime TV factual errors of all time

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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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Ray Donovan picture

Yo Soy Capitan - S2-E1

Factual error: Terry calls Frances but he only dials 5 numbers. The minimum phone number especially in Los Angeles is 7 digits. (00:16:55)

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Bonnie and Clyde picture

Night Two - S1-E2

Factual error: In the scene where Bonnie gives Clyde the unloaded pistol through the jail bars, that gun was not manufactured until after 1972. It is a Bauer .25 ACP semi-automatic stainless steel pistol. Bonnie and Clyde's reign of lawlessness ranged from 1931 to 1934.

blooiris

More Bonnie and Clyde factual errors
Quantico picture

Kudove - S2-E1

Factual error: The shoulder patch on the U.S. customs and Border Protection officer's uniform is wrong. The real patch doesn't state Dept of Customs and Border Protection and United States Homeland Security in a smaller circle on the patch. The real patch just states U.S. Customs and Border Protection - U.S. Customs and Border Protection is not a department. Also, the officer doesn't have a name tag on over the right pocket. (00:04:00)

Snag.1

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The F.B.I. picture

Flight - S5-E7

Factual error: At the start of this episode you see the terminal at Washington Reagan National Airport, but when Mr. Haslett picks up his ticket you hear an announcement stating it is the Seattle, Washington Airport. (00:00:20)

Regulus

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Ironside picture

Force of Arms - S1-E16

Factual error: The chopper's main rotors are at a speed enough to cause rotor wash, but the men's coats or hair don't move at all, when they should have been buffeted around.

Movie Nut

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A Confession picture

Show generally

Factual error: Almost none of the senior police officers wear the correct medal ribbons. Brian Moore and Pat Geenty wear the Order of the British Empire, which neither had. Geenty wears the General Service Medal, for military service in Northern Ireland, although he was never in the armed forces. Moore does not wear the Queen's Police Medal, which he was awarded in 2009. Both wear the Diamond Jubilee Medal in 2011, although it was not awarded until 2012. Andy Parker wears an unidentified ribbon (possibly intended to be the Queen's Police Medal, which he was awarded in 2010, but looking nothing like it) and the Golden Jubilee Medal, but does not wear the Diamond Jubilee Medal or the Police Long Service and Good Conduct Medal to which he was also entitled. Mike Veale and Ray Hayward wear no medal ribbons at all, although both would be entitled to the Golden Jubilee Medal and Police Long Service and Good Conduct Medal (and Veale also to the Diamond Jubilee Medal after 2012).

Necrothesp

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Kojak picture

Siege of Terror - S1-E1

Factual error: The armed robbery is reported by the radio call as happening in "4014 Nostrand Avenue", which is a real street in Brooklyn. However, the first detectives to respond to the dispatch identify themselves as being from "Manhattan South" (makes sense, Kojak being a Lieutenant of the fictional 11th Manhattan South precinct), and the rest of the episode is set obviously in Manhattan. That's many miles away.

Sammo

More Kojak factual errors
Bull picture

Free Fall - S1-E16

Factual error: Almost all the people being shown skydiving have no experience doing it, but the instructor allows them to jump out of the plane unassisted after only giving a theoretic introduction into the subject. First time skydivers are always assisted in some fashion, usually through a tandem-jump or a parachute opened by a line attached to the plane.

Tanngrisnir

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Murder on the Orient Express picture

Episode #1.1 - S1-E1

Factual error: The series is set in 1933, as the initial captions show. Yet the locomotive pulling the Orient Express is a JNR Class C58: the C58 series was built starting from 1938 (C58 239 used here is from 1940).

Sammo

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Perry Mason picture

Chapter Five - S1-E5

Factual error: Pete uses the term "throwing shade" when talking to Perry Mason in the middle of the episode. As this show is set in 1932, the phrase "throwing shade" did not yet exist (the phrase was first introduced in the 1990s). (00:35:00)

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

Suggested correction: The phrase was not first introduced in the 1990's. While it did become popular in the 1980's, the idea of "throwing shade" as an idiom would have been around before then. A variation of the idiom is found in writings from the 1800's, for example "Mansfield Park" by Jane Austen.

Bishop73

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Crossing Jordan picture

There's No Place Like Home - S2-E1

Factual error: This is at the end of the episode, when Jordan takes the key that she found for the 66 Ford and tries it in the ignition it should have been a square key. Round keys were for the doors and trunk. Back then they made two keys - one that opened the car doors and trunk and one that started the ignition. She never even tried the key in the trunk.

Imemine

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Riverdale picture

Chapter Seventy-Nine: Graduation - S5-E3

Factual error: Archie revealed that he joined the Army to avoid repeating his senior year and was shipping to Basic Combat Training the following morning. Before leaving he would need to wait for his background and medical checks to be completed (including getting his dropped murder charge reviewed for suitability), which could take weeks. Also, the Army usually requires a diploma or GED to ship to basic. There were brief periods when the Army was accepting dropouts but it was not when this episode took place.

AD

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Code of a Killer picture

Show generally

Factual error: The detective constable is addressed as "Sir" by uniformed constables. They actually hold the same rank. Detectives do not outrank uniformed officers in Britain.

Necrothesp

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Rookie Blue picture

The Girlfriend Experience - S3-E8

Factual error: The group set up a sting for prostitution/solicitation, even though it isn't illegal in Canada. The unnamed city they patrol is Canadian, established in the "sister cities" they name, plus often referring to Rochester and New York as "across the border. As for prostitution, the only two times its illegal for adults in Canada is public solicitation (street walking) which doesn't apply for websites, or in running bawdy (cat) houses, neither of which apply here.

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NCIS: Los Angeles picture

The Livelong Day - S5-E7

Factual error: When the stolen freight train is braking, the air pipe becomes disconnected. This should trigger the brakes on the train, but the train keeps going with no brakes. When the train is being slowed with no brakes working, why are there sparks coming from all wheels on the train? (00:32:00 - 00:38:00)

M1CGP

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Liar picture

Season 2 generally

Factual error: DI Renton is a Metropolitan Police officer 'parachuted' into Kent to solve a big case. This hasn't happened for many decades. Local police forces investigate their own crimes without help from the Met.

Necrothesp

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Millennium picture

19:19 - S2-E7

Factual error: Broken Bow is in the southeastern corner of Oklahoma. US 60 is shown here, but actually cuts across the northern part of the state. (00:09:30)

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