Part 1 Roots: The Saga of An American Family - S1-E1
Factual error: The slave ship 'Lord Ligonier' flies the White Ensign. This has always been reserved for the Royal Navy; British merchant ships (as American ships were in 1765) have flown the Red Ensign since 1674.
Factual error: In season 1, there is an Egyptian woman wearing ornate jewellery around her head. Unfortunately, at least 3 components are old UK currency coins from the latter half of the 20th century. Clearly visible are copper 2p pieces and one old silver 10p coin. (00:38:40)
Factual error: The survivors of the Wormhoudt massacre were not picked up by the same SS soldiers who had carried out the massacre as in the series. They were picked up by a Wehrmacht ambulance unit, which is how they managed to survive to become prisoners of war.
Factual error: The Navy Seals call in air support and provide a fire mission to given coordinates. The targets are engaged with rockets and gatling/chain guns. The UH-60 Black Hawk is shown leaving after the air strike. This UH-60 however only had mini-guns in the doors. The type of UH-60 needed for this action would be the UH-60 DAP, which is configured as a gunship and has no troop carrying capacity. The DAP can carry chain guns, mini-guns, missiles and or rockets. (00:03:00 - 00:03:23)
Factual error: In a scene set in March 1968, after Tammy Wynette finishes recording "D-I-V-O-R-C-E," George Richey introduces himself to George Jones as the musical director of "Hee Haw." John Aylesworth and Frank Peppiatt created the "Hee Haw" series in 1969.
Factual error: The Merchant Navy rank insignia is very poorly researched. Each officer seems to have a different style of insignia, despite working for the same company and they incorrectly wear rank insignia on the shoulders of their blue uniforms as well as the cuffs. The main character, Junior Third Officer Mortimer, wears a bizarre mix of insignia, apparently consisting of a Royal Navy petty officer's sleeve badge, a Royal Navy chief petty officer's cuff buttons, and a rank badge of three inverted chevrons on his shoulder boards that doesn't seem to resemble anything from reality. In reality, he should simply wear a single cuff ring (or shoulder bar in white uniform).
Episode #1.2 - S1-E2
Factual error: The settlers prepare to burn Verity at the stake as a witch. Witches were never burned in England or her colonies; they were hanged.
Factual error: They show a clip of a kamikaze diving into a ship. The clip they show was actually an event from much later in the war: offshore of Okinawa. No ship on either side was struck by a plane during the Battle of Midway.
Factual error: Johann Eck is dressed as a cardinal and Albrecht von Brandenburg addresses him as "Your Eminence" and kisses his ring. In reality, Eck was not a cardinal. Albrecht, however, was. It should be Eck showing deference to him, not vice versa. Albrecht was also only thirty, half the age of the actor playing him.
Factual error: The Mitanni king and his son are depicted as black Africans. The Mitanni originated in the modern Iran/Iraq area, or possibly as far east as India, but certainly nowhere near Africa. They were definitely not black Africans.
Factual error: When Blackthorne is on Rodrigues' ship, Rodrigues offers him grog. But grog was only invented in 1740, by British Vice Admiral Edward Vernon, whose nickname was "Old Grog" because of his preference for coats made of grogram cloth.
Factual error: Karl Silberbauer, who headed the raid on the secret annexe, wears the insignia of an SS-Sturmbannführer (major). He was actually an SS-Hauptscharführer (senior sergeant). His superior is addressed in German as "Herr Major" (not an SS rank and not how an SS officer would be addressed), but wears the insignia of an SS-Standartenführer (colonel).
Factual error: Season 1 Episode 1 Arrival - Doctor Jaax is a Lt. Col. in the US Army. Her BDU blouse has a US flag on the right sleeve. The time period of the show is 1988, as there is a doctor wearing a Dukakis T-shirt. The US Army didn't have a US flag on the BDU uniform until 2005. (00:11:20)
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.
Factual error: Gordon Liddy is in federal prison and in solitary confinement, and he is still wearing his gold wedding band. (00:29:36)
Factual error: Pierre Bezukhov's spectacles are of the type with nose pads, which were not invented until the late 1920's.
Factual error: Sir John Franklin's wife is consistently addressed and referred to as Lady Jane. Since she only held a title due to her husband's knighthood and not in her own right, she was actually Lady Franklin. Nobody in the circles in which she moved would have addressed or referred to her as Lady Jane.