Best drama TV factual errors of all time

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Summerland picture

Show generally

Factual error: In episode 2-11: "Safe House," Bradin's PSAT score report is shown. He has a 726 verbal and a 746 math, for a total of 1472. However, the PSAT has three sections - verbal, math, and writing skills - and each is scored on a scale of 80 points, not 800. So PSATs run on a scale of 240, not the familiar 1600 that the SAT used until earlier in 2005.

DavidK93

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Point Pleasant picture

Who's Your Daddy? - S1-E3

Factual error: When she's giving the historical tour, Sarah talks about how the Puritans who settled in Point Pleasant faced hardships during their first winter there. But the first village at Point Pleasant was built in 1817, a century and a half after Puritans ceased to exist as a distinct group.

DavidK93

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The Prisoner picture

Many Happy Returns - S1-E7

Factual error: Number 6 wakes up to find the Village deserted, but the central plaza fountain is still running - until he looks at it from the bell tower, when it's suddenly off. The Village fountains never appeared to be on timers (they were always on, day and night), and no one is there to turn the water off, yet it's somehow still off when Number 6 returns at the end.

Jean G

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Medical Investigation picture

Coming Home - S1-E3

Factual error: At the convalescent home, Dr. Conner asks if a lector has been to the home to give communion. Later, he describes a lector as a person who gives communion at church or to the homebound. A Eucharistic Minister or Extraordinary Minister of Holy Communion gives communion in the Catholic Church.

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Helen of Troy picture

Show generally

Factual error: When they first assault the city, the Greeks construct catapults. Only problem: catapults were invented at 400 - 300 BC, i.e. about 800 years later; and the first models looked similar to giant crossbows. The one-armed onager and similar types (as seen here) were a later Roman invention.

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House of Cards picture

Chapter 35 - S3-E9

Factual error: When Doug Stamper sits down at his laptop and throws the contents of his cup at the screen, the image immediately freezes and distorts. This would not happen so quickly in a real world event. It may eventually happen but not instantaneously. (00:23:10)

Mike Walker

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Unforgotten picture

Episode #1.1 - S1-E1

Factual error: When reviewing the phone numbers in the 1970s diary, they start '01' which was a change to UK numbers only brought in 1995.

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Grimm picture

Map of the Seven Knights - S5-E10

Factual error: The Czech crime database (which appears to be an official Czech database) is headed 'Czechoslovakia'. Czechoslovakia has not existed since the Czech Republic and Slovakia separated in 1993 and neither country uses the term any more.

Necrothesp

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Murder, She Wrote picture

Thicker Than Water - S8-E4

Factual error: At the end of the episode after Wayne is shot, there is a brief shot of the outside of the hospital where he has been taken. The sign outside the hospital says Dalesboro, Ohio. Why would someone shot in coastal Maine end up in a hospital in Ohio?

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New Tricks picture

The Fourth Man - S7-E10

Factual error: At the car auction the Jaguar that the UCOS team are buying is described by the auctioneer as a 1967 model, but it is a C reg, which dates it to 1965.

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Victoria picture

A Soldier's Daughter - S2-E1

Factual error: Captain Souter is shown lying dead in the snow following the massacre at Gandamak. In fact, Thomas Souter was one of the few who survived to be captured by the Afghans and was later freed.

Necrothesp

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FlashForward picture

137 Sekunden - S1-E3

Factual error: When browsing for information about the crow deaths in the Ganwar Region of Somalia, the computer indicates that the CDC requested additional funding from DHS. The only problem with that is, DHS was formed in 2002, 11 years after the incident in Ganwar. (00:40:05)

klaser

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

Suggested correction: Although the Department of Homeland Security - commonly abbreviated as DHS - was not formed until 2002, in the later episode "Revelation Zero" it is indicated that DHS stands for an agency called Demographic and Health Services.

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MacGyver picture

Seeds + Permafrost + Feather - S3-E17

Factual error: Bozer and for that matter I would assume all of the team went to a spycraft academy. A basic subject in any of such academies is surveillance, including proper techniques to follow and stake out someone. Bozer being so inept at tracking MacGyver's father is inconceivable given their training.

toroscan

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Fallout picture

The End - S1-E1

Factual error: Looking at a nuclear explosion that close will burn your retinas irreparably. One can be blind 30 miles away, just by seeing the flash. The little girl at the start is looking directly at the explosion when it hits, and continues to watch.

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Deutschland 83 picture

Able Archer - S1-E8

Factual error: Lenora packs her briefcase with various passports, including a burgundy covered one with the UK insignia. UK Passports in the 1980s had a dark-blue cover and did not adopt the EU standard burgundy cover until 1988.

samlond

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Penny Dreadful picture

Verbis Diablo - S2-E2

Factual error: Sir Malcolm tells Vanessa to wear a facemask when they go to minister to the poor as cholera is rife in the area. However, the series is set in the 1890s and it had been well-known since the 1850s that cholera was caused by contaminated food and water and not by airborne germs. As an educated man, Sir Malcolm is bound to know this.

Necrothesp

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The Looming Tower picture

Tuesday - S1-E9

Factual error: At O'Neil's retirement party, '2-Way' by Lil Romeo is playing while one of the characters is dancing. This scene is set in the summer of 2001, the song was released in April 2002, nearly a year after the retirement party took place.

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