Best documentary TV factual errors of all time

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Breaking Vegas picture

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Factual error: In the episode, "Professor Blackjack", Manny puts a stack of one hundred dollar bills on the card table for the professor to bet. The bills are the new ones issued a few years ago with the enlarged portrait of Benjamin Franklin. The scene is supposed to take place in 1961.

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Mysteries of the Abandoned picture

Pompeii's Gate to Hell - S4-E8

Factual error: This episode includes a segment about an abandoned dry dock in San Francisco. At one point, one of the commentators several times refers to the U.S.S. Ward as a "battleship," and marvels that it was built in 17 days. The Ward (DD-139) was a 1200-ton destroyer, not a battleship, and was launched after only 17 days, but then took another two months to complete. By way of comparison, the California (BB-44), an actual battleship of 32,000-tons built during the same time period, too nearly five years to complete.

mdwalker

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The Tower picture

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Factual error: Both Inspector Shaw and Chief Inspector Bailie wear their medal ribbons in the wrong order. The Golden Jubilee Medal is worn first, followed by the Diamond Jubilee Medal, followed by (for Bailie) the Long Service and Good Conduct Medal.

Necrothesp

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Mayday picture

Fanning the Flames - S5-E5

Factual error: The crash took place in 1987. When we hear about the American salvage company that was hired to find the wreckage, we see a scene of traffic in Washington, DC that has a model of Lincoln Town Car that was not produced until 1998.

Leicaman

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Prehistoric Park picture

Supercroc - S1-E6

Factual error: When Nigel is in the gyrocopter thing and is over the sea/ocean, you can see off into the distance an island with what appears to be houses, but it is supposed to be prehistoric times.

Russel Denton

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Mysteries of the Bible picture

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Factual error: Near the beginning of the episode dealing with the life of Moses, they depict various scenes of ancient Egypt, during his time. But they show the Sphinx with the nose missing (as it looks today), when that face was intact until the early 19th century when Napoleon's troops used it for artillery target practice.

roy sandefur

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