Continuity mistake: As the journalist in the red coat is walking quickly down the platform to join the press conference, she is seen from behind passing a large man stepping down from the platform and onto the track. In the next shot (in front of her) in the large man has disappeared. There is no way that he could have could have been hidden out of shot because he would have been walking alongside her down the track at the same time. (00:03:20)
Continuity mistake: When the police sergeant, Quatermass and Barbara exit the station entrance to look at he derelict houses, at the moment he says "these are the houses" Barbara is facing directly forwards with her feet together, in the next shot as she replies " they really are derelict" she has turned left towards Quatermass and is standing with her feet together:. (00:16:20)
Continuity mistake: When the police sergeant, Quatermass and Barbara exit the station entrance, there is sign on the left in white letters on a black background that says London Transport No Admittance that is leaning against the wall, in next shot the position of the notice has changed position and is more forward facing. (00:16:20)
Revealing mistake: As Roney opens a drawer in a filing cabinet, a blue case and a wallet folder appear on top of the cabinet, that were not there in a previous shot. (00:21:25)
Continuity mistake: When Roney and Barbara get out of the taxi, the street is in shadow, but in the next shot the sun is up, as it lights up the buildings in the background:. (00:36:05)
Continuity mistake: Just after the discovery of the insects in the spaceship, Roney runs out to tell Barbara to call the institute. Notice in between shots Barbara is standing on her own, then in the next shot a bemused Captain Potter suddenly appears standing right next to her. (00:38:53)
Revealing mistake: When Quatermass and Breen are theorising inside the spaceship. Breen says "What do you mean by that?" His face has beads of sweat on it, in the next shot his face is dry. (00:39:15)
Revealing mistake: When Roney enters the spaceship, just before he first helps Quatermass to remove the insects from the their chamber, he is wearing gloves. Then in a shot from inside the hull of the ship, he is not wearing a glove on his left hand. When he reappears outside, he is wearing gloves. (00:39:56)
Visible crew/equipment: As Quatermass drives back to the spaceship in a cab, just before it is to be drilled, the film crew can be easily seen in the cab's windows. A woman with a white cap can be seen holding a script. Later when the police use a megaphone on their car to announce the spaceship is a hoax, you can again see the same woman with a white cap in one of the windows of the police car.
Suggested correction: How could you tell if the reflection showed the actual film crew and not just a TV and newsreel crew assembled for the scene? They were also using mounted cameras and carrying papers.
Continuity mistake: The martians that were pulled out of the spaceship had compound eyes much like a fly. However, the lifeforce of the martian over London, had cross-eyed pupils.
Revealing mistake: The flashlight that the drillman used when the lights went out around the spaceship didn't match the light from the spot used by the film crew.
Visible crew/equipment: As the drillman was removing his equipment from within the spacecraft, the gravity became nonexistent and all the tools began to float. You can easily see wires on all the tools - especially the flashlight.
Revealing mistake: A skeleton of early man is found by a workman digging through mud at an extension to the Underground railway system in London. The skeleton is suspended in a pocket of air, however, and shows no mud inside the rib cage or other body cavities.
Continuity mistake: A borazon drill was used to cut a hole into a panel. The hole was rather large, but when the special effects began showing the panel dissolving, the hole was much smaller.
Revealing mistake: After the spaceship becomes alive and causes a cave-in, Barbara easily stumbles and moves the large chunks of broken cement beams as she leaves the pit with Quatermass.
Continuity mistake: At the beginning of the film when the first skull is found, the black workman is holding a cigarette in his right hand when he tosses the skull to the foreman: The next shot cuts in and the foreman says "It may be worth money" the cigarette is now in the left hand of the black workman.
Continuity mistake: The man who was electrocuted and killed inside the hull of the spaceship is carried on a board and is laid down on the platform, just after Quatermass says "He's dead" he covers the dead man with a sheet that magically appears from nowhere between shots.
Plot hole: When Quatermass is being admonished by the senior minister for talking to the press, Breen gives his own theory to explain the presence of the spaceship: He says that it was used a propaganda weapon in 1944 and that the figures inside were made up of scraps old skin and bone, why was he unable to explain how the hull of the spaceship was heat resistant up to 3,000 degrees and harder than diamond?
Continuity mistake: Quatermass used tweezers to pull away the membrane covering the eye of a dead martian. A scene later, the membrane was intact.
Visible crew/equipment: From the first shot, the flashing yellow crossing beacons on Hobbs Lane are powered by cables that lie in full view over the set pavements.
