Factual error: When the stolen freight train is braking, the air pipe becomes disconnected. This should trigger the brakes on the train, but the train keeps going with no brakes. When the train is being slowed with no brakes working, why are there sparks coming from all wheels on the train? (00:32:00 - 00:38:00)
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)
Factual error: The FBI agent introduces himself and says "Mike Weston - I did my thesis on Joe Carol at the academy." FBI agents are required to have a university degree, but they don't write thesis' at the academy. A person is either in a university or at Quantico getting trained. They are not writing papers at Quantico. They need the degree beforehand to get in. (00:10:30 - 00:11:30)
Closely Watched Planes - S4-E3
Factual error: If there really was a hatch leading into mid-air in the airplane bathroom, instead of being soundless like shown, it would be incredibly loud and Max would have noticed. Also, the sudden pressure change would have sucked him out no matter what he did to stop it.
Episode #3.2 - S3-E2
Factual error: When Camille shows the emails to Humphrey, the last one in the list is dated Tue 15/01/2014, which was a Wednesday. It should also be noted that the list does not appear to be sorted by any criteria that would work on Outlook Express. (00:22:00)
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.
Los Moscos - S2-E1
Factual error: Outside the church headquarters where Norman has his stroke is a board saying 'United Methodist Church'. The UMC didn't come into existence until 1968. It was the Methodist Episcopal Church in the 1930s.
Factual error: ACC Pat Gallan wears the ribbon of the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal. The medal was issued in 2012. Her medals would be correct for 2017 when the series was made, but not 2007 when it is set.
One Watson, One Holmes - S3-E19
Factual error: In the scene in the hospital, the guy who drove his motorbike into a van has an IV canula in his right hand, but the IV pole and the IV bag are on the left side of the bed, which means the IV line has to be long enough to go up to the bedhead, then behind the bedhead and then up to the bag, leaving no way to check for air bubbles.
The Countess - S1-E4
Factual error: Two cops (the bowtie guy that cuffs Rockford and the one that watches him being taken away from his trailer) report to HQ saying that the protagonist is a suspect for a 157, to which Rockford reacts saying he did not murder anyone (and it is in fact what he is accused of). But homicide is in CA police code 187, not 157. A 157 is an entirely different felony. (00:21:00)
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.
Factual error: Throughout the series and credits, the ranks of Detective Superintendent and Detective Chief Superintendent are abbreviated as DSU and DCSU instead of the correct DSI and DCS.
The Murder's in the Mail - S1-E6
Factual error: Dead blonde guy is sitting upright in the chair, as Dave/Maddie close in, and Maddie realises he isn't moving. David goes to him and smacks him across the shoulder, to "wake him up" and blonde dead guy, right on cue, instantly slumps over a table at his right side, when the direction that David hit his shoulder, should have sent the dead guy slumping more forward, then at the front edge of the table. Obviously staged for the actor's comfort.
Song of the Younger World - S2-E20
Factual error: The 19th Century reformatory has modern electric light bulbs hanging from the corridor ceilings. (00:21:10)
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)
Episode One - S2-E1
Factual error: During this episode, Vincent is remanded to prison for suspected murder. At one scene he is seen working on the wing. Remand prisoners are not expected or allowed to carry out work duties in British Prisons.
Factual error: The only person ever addressed as "Sir" is the brigadier, and then only occasionally. No other officers ever seem to be addressed in this way.
Factual error: The British Army soldiers are not wearing British Army uniforms or carrying British Army weapons and some of them have beards, which are not permitted to British Army soldiers.
Factual error: The chopper's main rotors are at a speed enough to cause rotor wash, but the men's coats or hair don't move at all, when they should have been buffeted around.
Episode #1.5 - S1-E5
Factual error: The senior police officer's name tag reads "Assistant Commissioner" but he wears the rank insignia of a Deputy Assistant Commissioner.