Best mystery TV deliberate mistakes of all time

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Fringe picture

In Which We Meet Mr. Jones - S1-E7

Deliberate mistake: Dunham comments that she works for Homeland Security. While the FBI is under the jurisdiction of the Justice Department, she works as part of a special Homeland Security task force; so saying she works for DHS is an accurate statement.

Cubs Fan

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CSI: Miami picture

Bunk - S1-E13

Deliberate mistake: In the episode "Bunk," a man goes in the house looking for his cat. When the cat releases the fumes, it jumps down, but when the man dies, the cat is nowhere to be found. The cat is not mentioned ever again in the episode either.

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JAG (1995)

JAG picture

We the People - S2-E1

Deliberate mistake: Because the series changed networks after the end of season one, this episode completely ignores that season's cliffhanger about Harm being arrested as a suspect in the murder of Lt. Schonke.

Cubs Fan

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Agatha Christie's Poirot picture

Triangle at Rhodes - S1-E6

Deliberate mistake: The day of his scheduled departure, Poirot overhears conversations (mainly the one from the window of his room) he couldn't possibly be hearing given the long distance outdoors and the tone of voice. His reactions are shown as if he could hear and not simply see and infer the meaning. (00:23:00)

Sammo

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Forever Knight picture

Fever - S3-E13

Deliberate mistake: At the end, a line apparently cut earlier creates slight confusion. Nick says to Nat, "When LaCroix asked you why?" (why save vampires). In the earlier scene as shown, the elusive LaCroix spoke only briefly to Nat in the lab, and never asked her that question. (00:42:20)

Jean G

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Law & Order: UK picture

Show generally

Deliberate mistake: Because the opening narration was adapted from the original American series, the phrase describing the role of the Crown Prosecutors (e.g. "prosecutors who prosecute") is redundant.

Cubs Fan

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Leverage picture

The Stork Job - S1-E6

Deliberate mistake: When filming the fake movie with Sophie playing the nun, many holes are made in the door, but when she slowly kneels to the ground, there isn't a hole behind her, so it seems like she's been miraculously saved. But as the scene continues, the nun starts to bleed and dies. Technically, they couldn't safely put a squib that close to her. (00:21:15)

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Sharp Objects picture

Ripe - S1-E4

Deliberate mistake: As Chief Vickery, in present time, patrols Wind Gap in his car he passes by the barbershop. From his POV, through the car window, we see four men sitting outside. The same men were also seen in Episode 01, but from young Camille's POV as she and her sister pass by the barbershop in 1992. The show hid a load of easter eggs and signs throughout all episodes. They would hardly make such a mistake. More likely, the repeat was to underline Vickery's backward, stepfordian attitude.

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The Outer Limits picture

The Probe - S2-E17

Deliberate mistake: Amanda survives a plane crash into the ocean, hurricane winds in a life raft, then experimentation and attacks by giant microbes inside the alien probe. Yet when she and the others are rescued at the end, not one strand of hair is loose in her 1960s "beehive" hairdo. (00:49:05)

Jean G

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The Rockford Files picture

Tall Woman in Red Wagon - S1-E6

Deliberate mistake: When the workers hit the coffin lid with the shovel, it is (obviously) fully buried and they moved just a little bit of soil off it. Rockford moves closer, and instantly the inside of the coffin is covered by the thinnest layer of dust, uniformly. (00:02:30)

Sammo

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And Then There Were None picture

Episode #1.3 - S1-E3

Deliberate mistake: When the judge shoots himself, the revolver slides across the table, to fake his murder by someone else. But there is no mechanism in place that explains how he does this, making it appear as if he is able to accurately throw/slide the gun after shooting himself. In the original novel, he used a rubber band to achieve the effect, but he is not shown setting it up here.

Twotall

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Hustle picture

Cops and Robbers - S1-E4

Deliberate mistake: When Sam first meets Mickey (who is posing as a bank robber), Mickey says he needs Sam to state that he needs Mickey's help in robbing a bank, so if Sam turns out to be an undercover cop, Mickey can plead entrapment. This is a classic error. Entrapment only exists where a cop actively persuades a criminal to do something he otherwise wouldn't have done - which is not the case here. If Mickey as a con artist knows this (which is likely), it's a deliberate mistake, otherwise it's a factual error. (00:30:09)

swordfish

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Death in Paradise picture

Episode #3.6 - S3-E6

Deliberate mistake: When Fidel pops behind Humphrey with the walking cane, in nonsensical fashion his cane switches hands in the brief moment when the camera moves from behind him to the front of Humph. It has to be deliberate since there is no cut, but Fidel is standing still both times, and Gary Carr must have done a sudden swap that has no reason. (00:28:20)

Sammo

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