Best mystery TV factual errors of all time

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

Scream picture

Pilot - S1-E1

Factual error: There is no way cops would just walk up and open fire on a suspect unannounced, not knowing if he is armed or not, and with an innocent bystander so close.

brianjr0412

More Scream factual errors
Dark Shadows picture

Show generally

Factual error: 1968: The basement's brick wall crumbles to reveal Trask's skeleton hanging in the alcove. Only it shouldn't be. Bodies do not remain assembled once the flesh and sinew are gone. Trask's remains ought to be a large pile of bones on the floor.

Jean G

More Dark Shadows factual errors
24: Live Another Day picture

4:00 p.m.-5:00 p.m. - S1-E6

Factual error: Simone is hit by a bus running after her niece. The bus is service number 106, however service 106 is Finsbury Park - Whitechapel and runs nowhere near Horseguards Parade, which is where the scene was filmed. Also the bus is operated by Sullivans Buses, when route 106 is actually operated by Arrivia. The depot code SM (seen on side of bus) is Potters Bar and not AE (Ash Grove) which is the actual depot that operates route 106.

Steve Everett

More 24: Live Another Day factual errors
Midsomer Murders picture

Show generally

Factual error: Whenever the killer (always dressed in black with a balaclava disguising his/her identity) uses a knife, the blow invariably is an overhand strike. However, a knife in a downward thrust quite frequently simply skids off the overlapping ribcage of the victim.

goofyfoot

More Midsomer Murders factual errors
Hemlock Grove picture

Tintypes - S2-E9

Factual error: The show is supposed to be set in Pennsylvania. But when Roman is getting treatment in a doctor's office, and his phone vibrates on a table next to him, a close up shot of his phone is shown and the cell service is ROGERS. This cell service is only in Canada. (00:22:00)

Vettey

More Hemlock Grove factual errors
Roswell picture

Max to the Max - S1-E20

Factual error: When Nasedo kidnaps Liz, he stops in a gas station to leave the FBI another clue. As he is pulling into the station, the sign above the gas pumps misspells the word "brakes" as "breaks."

zanijoey

More Roswell factual errors
More Kolchak: The Night Stalker factual errors
13 Reasons Why picture

Bye - S2-E13

Factual error: In the disturbing assault scene, after having his head smashed into a mirror and banged against the sink multiple times, there is no way Tyler would be conscious for the rest of the scene.

TyPage

More 13 Reasons Why factual errors
More Perry Mason factual errors
Endeavour picture

Pylon - S6-E1

Factual error: A plastic bag of items is found under the footboard. Plastic bags weren't invented in 1969. They first appeared in public in 1979.

More Endeavour factual errors
Magnum, P.I. picture

Don't Eat the Snow in Hawaii - S1-E1

Factual error: Magnum manages to lure the dogs outside making them wail in pain as he plays a sound that greatly bothers them. As great and sensitive as dog hearing is, Magnum put in the sand past the perimeter wall of the mansion a little Sony Micro cassette recorder M-202 and played the sound off its in-built speaker. That would hardly produce, especially at that distance, an output worth the kind of reaction displayed here.

Sammo

More Magnum, P.I. factual errors
Nowhere Man picture

Absolute Zero (Pilot) - S1-E1

Factual error: When Tom is locked up in an institution for the mentally ill, he is given a bed on a mixed gender ward/wing (both men and women). Wings and wards in mental institutions have not been mixed gender for more than 100 years - it is inconceivable that this practice would be existing in the 1990s in a large city in the USA.

swordfish

More Nowhere Man factual errors
Sherwood picture

Show generally

Factual error: The Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police has red fabric within the crowns on his rank insignia. This would be correct for most British police forces, but the Metropolitan Police uses blue fabric instead.

Necrothesp

More Sherwood factual errors
Pretty Little Liars picture

A Person of Interest - S1-E19

Factual error: Emily is supposed to meet Paige at a karaoke bar at the intersection of 202 and W. Chester Pike, however this intersection is actually an overpass. 202 crosses over top of West Chester Pike, but never actually intersects it.

Sporty786

More Pretty Little Liars factual errors
Surface picture

Episode #1.13 - S1-E13

Factual error: When Rich and Laura are searching for drug information from the 1960s, they visit the US Patent Office website; under the heading "SSRIs", is displayed "Selecttive Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors" - with the double-t spelling error. (00:15:25)

David R Turner

More Surface factual errors
The Good Wife picture

Landing - S7-E19

Factual error: The U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers are wearing ties with tie clips. Real officers wear a badge tie tack. (00:01:35)

Snag.1

More The Good Wife factual errors
More The Adventures of Tintin factual errors
Quantico picture

Kudove - S2-E1

Factual error: The shoulder patch on the U.S. customs and Border Protection officer's uniform is wrong. The real patch doesn't state Dept of Customs and Border Protection and United States Homeland Security in a smaller circle on the patch. The real patch just states U.S. Customs and Border Protection - U.S. Customs and Border Protection is not a department. Also, the officer doesn't have a name tag on over the right pocket. (00:04:00)

Snag.1

More Quantico factual errors
30 Coins picture

TelaraƱas - S1-E1

Factual error: A man enters a bank and begins firing his Glock 9mm pistol. A few of the men he shoots, jump up in the air after the rounds impact their bodies. Bullets hitting a body will never make it jump, or fly in the air. (00:00:01 - 00:01:46)

More 30 Coins factual errors
More Elementary 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.