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Hidden Agenda - S1-E18

Factual error: Enlisted soldiers are shown saluting each other, as well as addressing a sergeant as "sir." Enlisted personnel in real life never salute each other, nor are NCOs (like sergeants) ever addressed as "sir."

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Paradise on Your Doorstep - S1-E5

Factual error: The plane Tom hijacks is a Grumman Goose. This has a maximum altitude of around 20,000 ft. When the pilot flips the pressurisation switch, the instrument panel shows the plane is only at 2500 feet! The cabin wouldn't have depressurised at such a low altitude - and even had it done so if the plane had been flying much higher, it wouldn't have had such a severe and debilitating effect so quickly on Tom as suggested in the episode - he passes out in about 3 seconds.

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The Incredible Derek - S1-E3

Factual error: A number of the soldiers on the US Army base have haircuts/hairstyles completely against army rules and regulations. This is particularly noticeable given the show is set in the late 90s, when the US Army was much stricter about haircut rules for serving military members. In real life, they wouldn't be allowed to have those hairstyles.

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Factual error: Radium Chloride (stated by the doctor to be the ingested poison) does have a slightly luminous glow to it, but absolutely doesn't have the intense shining bright green luminous glow that is shown at the end of the film in Professor Cornell's mug.

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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.

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Whittaker Our Way Out - S3-E3

Factual error: In the flashback scene to Whittaker senior's trial at the Old Bailey (which takes place in the late 19th or early 20th century), the judge in the trial is wearing a long, full-bottomed wig. This is completely incorrect - since the late 18th century, full-bottomed wigs have only been worn by judges on ceremonial occasions, not in court. At trials, judges wear short wigs instead. (00:05:17)

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Factual error: Jodie Foster states that as a propulsion engineer, she knows the internal structure of the plane by heart and has worked extensively on it. The problem with that is that propulsion engineers work on the jet engines - which are all on the outside of the plane, on the wings. Sure, a propulsion engineer might have some basic knowledge of the plane's interior design and engineering, but the in-depth knowledge she claims comes from her job simply isn't right - that's the job of avionics engineers.

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Factual error: The Saint picks up a newspaper, and reads an article that is, according to the headline, about the murder of the Englishman he met the previous night. However, if you actually translate the Italian in the body of the article, it is talking about an industrial fire on a ship.

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Factual error: Carver successfully frames the Chinese airforce for sinking the HMS Devonshire, making everyone believe that they torpedoed the ship. The problem with this is that the Nanchang Q-5 can't carry torpedos.

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Factual error: The scene at the start of the film shows XXXX and his assistant making drugs. In the voice-over, XXXX mentions that his assistant has a double first in industrial chemistry from Cambridge, and is doing this job to pay off his student debt. This is wrong on a number of levels. First of all, there is no such subject as industrial chemistry to study at Cambridge, nor has there ever been such a subject. Only Chemistry is taught. Secondly, Chemistry is a single honours subject: you would only get at best a first in it, not a double first. "Double first" means you scored top marks in two separate subjects you study - for example if you read French and Spanish together, that would be double honours. This is not the case however for chemistry. Lastly, the statement about paying off student debt makes no sense given the film was set in Britain. At the time, student fees were no more than £3000 a year ($3800) so in a four year course you would end up paying only £12000 ($15200), plus living expenses. But loans are only repaid once you're earning above a certain limit, and then proportionally to your income - they're not "due" like a standard loan. It therefore makes no sense for the assistant to be working such a dangerous and illegal job if all he wishes to do is pay off his student debt - he has evidently worked with XXXX for a long time given how much XXXX trusts him.

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Factual error: In the Oxford scene, Bond is in bed with the Danish professor in the New Buildings wing of New College. The problem is that all the rooms in the New Buildings are student rooms and have always been so since they were built - no professors live or teach in this building. The professors are on the other side of college.

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Factual error: In the scene with Bond in Oxford, the audience sees an aerial shot of the college he is supposedly studying Danish in. The college shown is Brasenose. However, in the next shot showing the college courtyard, the college has magically switched to New College - 10 minutes' walk from Brasenose.

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Factual error: At the end of the film when Solomon is in London we see a bendy bus behind him. The problem with this is that the film is set in the late 90s, but bendy buses were only introduced in London in 2001.

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Factual error: Throughout the film Danny Archer wears a Breitling Chrono Avenger. The problem with this is that the film is set in the late 90s but the Chrono Avenger was only released in 2001.

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Factual error: Jurgen takes the cyanide out of a coffee tin. He mentions he has had it for years since his time in the Stasi. However, in fact potassium reacts with carbon dioxide to form a harmless compound over time: to prevent this it must be sealed in an airtight container, which a coffee tin most certainly is not.

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Factual error: At the end of the film, the police just let anyone walk around the crime scene: in addition to the caller you also see various tourists gathered around the phone booth. The police would never ever do this: as Leon the pimp was murdered right by the phone booth it is a crime scene and as such must be cordoned off for the forensics team to arrive, instead of letting people contaminate the crime scene. Even though the police "know" the pizza guy did it, they still need to look for forensic evidence.

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Factual error: The apple from which Amy was cutting a slice in the car in the beginning of the movie is later discovered "planted" by the bathroom sink after the first blackout. At least 2 or 3 hours have passed between when Amy cut the apple and when she finds it by the sink in the room, but the apple hasn't browned at all during this time, when it reality it would have browned within minutes of being cut.

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Factual error: The scene during Carver's big speech in Hamburg. Bond is being beaten up by 3 German guys in a small room away from Carver. One of the guys throws bond through the glass window separating it from the next room alone. This glass is extra tough given that it is, according to one of the security guards, completely soundproofed. As Bond is thrown through the window, the glass shatters smoothly. If you watch, in a smooth rippling affect from top to bottom the glass falls away - it is evidently not glass here. Glass would not shatter in a neat line, and would leave shards in the window frame. (00:36:15)

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Factual error: Petrol cans sold in shops are always empty. They would never contain petrol when bought. There would be nowhere in a shopping center to get petrol exactly for health and safety reasons.

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The Empty Hearse - S3-E2

Factual error: The entire reason Sherlock takes up the case is because he is intrigued how a man managed to disappear from a tube carriage in between stations - it appears to be impossible to do. However, any Londoner will tell you that it is perfectly simple to do: all tube carriages have doors between them linking them. So if the man wanted to leave the carriage between stations, he'd just use the door at the end of the carriage. The train employee would not be puzzled by this, nor would Sherlock consider the case worthy of his time.

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