Best mystery TV factual errors of all time

Please vote as you browse around to help the best rise to the top.

Project Blue Book picture

Show generally

Factual error: Moving vehicles with officers inside are not saluted except when the car is an official one displaying the flag of a general officer. (00:13:55)

toroscan

More Project Blue Book factual errors
More Night Gallery factual errors
Blindspot picture

Existential Ennui - S5-E3

Factual error: The episode states that there is border control between Germany and Czechia. There is no border control within the Schengen area of the EU (which includes Germany and Czechia). You can cross borders by car or fly in a plane without showing your ID.

More Blindspot factual errors
Matlock picture

The Madam - S5-E3

Factual error: Radio talk show host David Campbell works at "WRQE 480 AM." There is no such frequency. The AM radio dial begins at 530.

More Matlock factual errors
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?

More Murder, She Wrote factual errors
The ABC Murders picture

Episode #1.1 - S1-E1

Factual error: This is set in 1933. When the killer comes back to his lodgings in episode 1, Lily on the stairs is humming "Somewhere over the rainbow", which was written for The Wizard of Oz in 1939. She also happens to wear bright red shoes, which feels like yet another Wizard of Oz reference. Interesting enough, the subtitles say that she is humming a different song, "Night and day" which she openly sings throughout the series and was already a hit in 1932. (00:44:10)

More The ABC Murders factual errors
More Agatha Christie's Poirot factual errors
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.

More New Tricks factual errors
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.

More Unforgotten factual errors
More Batman: The Animated Series factual errors
The Dead Zone picture

Cold Hard Truth - S3-E4

Factual error: When Johnny and Bruce are riding in the truck, listening to the 'shock jock', Bruce turns off the radio by turning the volume control on the left side of the radio. Johnny says he wants to hear it and turns the radio back on by turning the knob on the right, which is the tuning dial.

wizard_of_gore

More The Dead Zone factual errors
Revelations picture

Hour Six - S1-E6

Factual error: Jonah tells Richard that Saturn has a "rogue moon" in a retrograde orbit that travels "at four times the speed" of Saturn's other moons. The graphic on Jonah's computer shows that the moon in question is Phoebe, which does indeed orbit in the opposite direction from other Saturnian moons. And the graphic correctly shows Phoebe's orbit as being much further from the planet than the other moons. However, as a direct consequence of its greater orbital radius, Phoebe is actually among Saturn's *slowest* moons. It has a longer orbital period (or "month") and a slower orbital velocity than all the Saturnian moons with smaller orbital radii, of which there are twenty.

DavidK93

More Revelations factual errors
Life on Mars picture

Show generally

Factual error: In the penultimate episode of series 2, the date is given as July 1973, but in an earlier episode when the police were raiding the drug dealer's house, Cozy Powell's record "Dance with the Devil" can be heard. This was a Christmas time hit in 1973.

More Life on Mars factual errors
Diagnosis Murder picture

Murder at BBQ Bob's - S7-E20

Factual error: Early in the show, 3 Marine officers are being questioned about the death of a 4th. All 3 are wearing the Marine insignia on their jacket lapels reversed. [The anchors should point IN, not out] That mistake is corrected for some characters later in the episode, however at least two of the officers are seen later without their jackets, and their shirts do not have military creases - 2 in the front, 3 in the back - standard for a Marine blouse.

More Diagnosis Murder factual errors
The Outer Limits picture

It Crawled Out of the Woodwork - S1-E11

Factual error: When the energy monster kills his entire research staff by stopping their hearts, Dr. Block brings them all back to life (with their minds and personalities intact) by installing pacemakers. But when the heart stops functioning, brain death occurs within minutes. For this to work, he'd not only have to operate on several people simultaneously, he'd also have to be the fastest heart surgeon on Earth. (00:40:00)

Jean G

More The Outer Limits factual errors
The Six Million Dollar Man picture

Show generally

Factual error: There is no physical way that Steve Austin could perform most of his superhuman feats of strength in the ABC television series, due to the fact that they simply replaced his arm and legs, but didn't rebuild or reinforce the rest of his skeleton and muscles to handle the physical loads. Interestingly, author Martin Caidin (creator of Steve Austin in his novel, "Cyborg") actually did describe an incredibly complex whole-body rebuild that included vertebral reinforcement and ribcage and pelvis replacement, which was far more scientifically-accurate than the subsequent ABC television interpretation. ABC only accepted the series on the condition that it was less technical for their audience.

Charles Miller

More The Six Million Dollar Man factual errors
Jericho picture

Federal Response - S1-E5

Factual error: When the girls input the thing they call an IP address, it is not an IP address. The numbers are out of range (0-255). This isn't like a "movie" phone number - the address they use is fundamentally impossible. (00:06:05)

More Jericho factual errors
More Psych factual errors
Without A Trace picture

Upstairs Downstairs - S3-E4

Factual error: After the two women found out the guy was dead, there is a truck with the writing "K-9 Unit" on the front, but it is not backwards as it should be.

More Without A Trace factual errors
Kyle XY picture

Show generally

Factual error: In the episode where Kyle, Lori, and Josh first go to the pool together, Kyle jumps off the diving board, but he's only in the water for about three seconds before he sees Amanda, who is already swimming toward him. This means that he was in the water for just a second or two before she jumped in. That isn't enough time for anyone to appear to be drowning, especially to a trained lifeguard like Amanda.

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

Suggested correction: First, at least 10 seconds pass before Amanda jumps in, not 1-3 seconds. But that doesn't mean only 10 seconds passed in the show. But additionally, Amanda already knows Kyle has memory loss and could be thinking Kyle forgot how to swim or forgot that he can't swim. So she goes to get him.

Bishop73

More Kyle XY factual errors

Join the mailing list

Separate from membership, this is to get updates about mistakes in recent releases. Addresses are not passed on to any third party, and are used solely for direct communication from this site. You can unsubscribe at any time.

Check out the mistake & trivia books, on Kindle and in paperback.