Best mystery TV mistakes of all time

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Covert Affairs picture Covert Affairs mistake picture

Pilot - S1-E1

Continuity mistake: In the morning, Annie comes into the kitchen and says hi to her niece and nephew. Her jacket is alternately buttoned or unbuttoned. (00:39:30)

ployp

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Waking the Dead picture

End Game (1) - S8-E7

Revealing mistake: Boyd has a video-conversation with Linda on the phone she sent him. On top of the screen you can see how long the video will last (1 minute and 3 seconds), showing it's a pre-recorded video, not an actual live conversation.

littlestar

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The Sixth Sense picture

With This Ring, I Thee Kill! - S1-E7

Factual error: Rhodes views the silent movie and the film breaks, leaving the last frame frozen on the screen. Wouldn't happen. When 16mm film broke in 1970s projectors, any portion that jammed in the mechanism was exposed to intense heat from the projection lamp, and would burn. (00:35:30)

Jean G

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Knight Rider picture

A Knight In Shining Armor - S1-E1

Continuity mistake: When Kitt's on fire, before getting back to the HQ, we see a shot of the main HQ screen, and towards the bottom left is a screen with a picture of Kitt and green writing reading "Fire extinguished".

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Scream Queens picture

Blood Drive - S2-E6

Character mistake: Zayday makes incorrect statements about blood types. She mentions that, since Chanel #5 is type O-, her parents must also be O-; in actuality, they could each be type A or B (genotypes AO or BO, respectively) and could also have Rh+ blood as long as they also carry the recessive Rh- allele. Zayday also says that the child of two O+ parents must be O+, but actually the child could also be O- (again, if the parents carry the Rh- allele).

DavidK93

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Broadchurch picture

Episode #1.4 - S1-E4

Revealing mistake: The tabloid story with the plight of the Latimers just came out, and various characters are looking at it. In the bit when David Tennant tosses on the desk his copy of the Herald, the second paragraph of the second column goes "Sitting in the family home, surrounded by pictures and mementos of Danny" etc. It is the same text that was at the very beginning of the article when the store owner was looking at it. The newspaper is a prop with the same text in a loop. (00:35:00 - 00:36:30)

Sammo

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Warehouse 13 picture

Magnetism - S1-E3

Factual error: In the banner for the exibition in France at the start, the French isn't right. It says "Opéra nationale" and "La morte de Marie Antoinette Des objets fabriqués de le temps de Marie Antoinette". It should be "Opera national" and "La mort de Marie Antoinette Des objets fabriqués à l'époque de Marie Antoinette" or "des objets fabriqués du temps de Marie Antoinette".

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Magic City picture

Show generally

Factual error: Noticed this watching season 2, and I assume it was also the case in season 1. The entrance of the Miramar Playa has flags from various countries flying. One of them is the Canadian flag with the maple leaf. Wrong flag. In that period the Canadian flag was the "Red Ensign", or "Dominion Flag." The maple leaf flag wasn't introduced until 1965.

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Silent Witness picture

Show generally

Plot hole: When Nicky goes into prison in Mexico to give a criminal a shot of insulin, two errors are seen. 1) The needle and syringe are far too big for an insulin shot, which takes a one ml syringe and a small sub-cutaneous needle. 2) When we first see the syringe, there is a small amount of insulin in it, but it grows the more times we see it, until a large syringe is two-thirds full - insulin is enough in a one ml syringe.

kh1616

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MythBusters picture

Coffin Punch - S6-E19

Continuity mistake: Jamie and Adam are shooting at Police badges to see which one would potentially stop a bullet. When they get to the third badge, it is held up to the camera. It says 'Jamie Hyneman' on the badge. The badge is then shot, and shown again to the camera. This time the engraved writing on the badge has changed to 'Adam Savage'.

Mr Manchester

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Major Crimes picture

By Any Means: Part 4 - S6-E13

Continuity mistake: When Buzz and Provenza race out of the squad room to follow Rusty in the frantic search for Stroh, Buzz is in shirt sleeves with no tie. However when they arrive at their destination Buzz is wearing a coat and tie.

bnemirow

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In the Heat of the Night picture

A Matter of Justice - S8-E1

Factual error: About 45 minutes into the episode, the girls' car stalls because the alternator's wire has been removed to cause this. For a car to stall like this, the battery has to be heavily drained which it would wind up being. When the killer comes up to the car, he tells her to try and start the car. She does and it turns over but doesn't start. The battery would never have enough amperage to turn over the car if it didn't have enough to keep the motor running.

terry s

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FBI: Most Wanted picture

Varsity Blues - S6-E2

Factual error: The FBI agents are searching a house with their weapons drawn. Each agent is going through the house with their fingers on the trigger. At one point, one agent has her finger on the trigger while her partner is in front of her as they go down some stairs. The correct officer safety practice is to have your trigger finger off the trigger and along the slide of the weapon until you are engaging a suspect and need to fire your weapon. (00:30:39 - 00:31:09)

Snag.1

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