Factual error: The constables working at Scotland Yard are wearing the divisional letter 'S'. 'S' Division covered North West London, including Hampstead, Hendon and Golders Green. Its men wouldn't have been anywhere near Scotland Yard.
Necrothesp
31st Mar 2017
SS-GB (2016)
8th Mar 2017
Roots (2016)
Factual error: At the picnic, a woman says she is going to New York by train. It is 1828. Railway passenger service in the United States did not begin until 1830 and it would not be possible to travel from North Carolina to New York until some years after that.
8th Mar 2017
The Halcyon (2017)
Factual error: Toby joins the War Office, handles statistics for the RAF (an Air Ministry job) and then is suddenly said to be working for the Admiralty, but still in the same office in which he has been working since the beginning of the war. These were three completely separate ministries with separate buildings. Civil servants joined one or the other.
8th Mar 2017
The Halcyon (2017)
Episode #1.4 - S1-E4
Factual error: In 1940, all the Americans are leaving London on transatlantic flights. Although the first commercial transatlantic flights began in 1939, they were suspended on the outbreak of war. Real commercial transatlantic service did not begin until after the war.
8th Mar 2017
The Halcyon (2017)
Episode #1.4 - S1-E4
Factual error: Toby works in the War Office, which is collating all the RAF's losses. The War Office only administered the Army. The RAF was administered by the Air Ministry.
8th Mar 2017
The Halcyon (2017)
Episode #1.3 - S1-E3
Factual error: Billy is called up into a specific unit of the Royal Artillery. This didn't happen. He would first have been sent to a Royal Artillery training depot and only after training would he have been assigned to a unit.
8th Mar 2017
Taboo (2017)
Factual error: The Prince Regent's servants address him several times as 'Your Majesty'. Since his father, the King, is still alive he is actually 'Your Royal Highness'. No royal servant would make this mistake.
8th Mar 2017
Taboo (2017)
Factual error: Several of the soldiers at the Tower wear their hair tied back in queues. These were abolished in 1808 and the series is set in 1814. Since they were loathed as well as against regulations, it's highly unlikely that any soldier would have worn them after they were abolished.
8th Mar 2017
Taboo (2017)
Episode #1.7 - S1-E7
Factual error: Lorna uses the word 'okay'. The first recorded usage of this word in America was not until 1839 and in Britain not until the 20th century. The series is set in 1814 and generally uses language contemporary to its setting.
1st Mar 2017
Unforgotten (2015)
Factual error: Both detective superintendents always wear uniform, which is only worn by detectives on very formal occasions if at all. Both also wear collar badges, which are not worn by either the Metropolitan Police or Thames Valley Police, the forces to which they belong.
26th Feb 2017
Apple Tree Yard (2016)
Factual error: The sergeant's stripes on the sleeves of the police officer appearing as a witness at the trial are in a completely incorrect style for a Metropolitan Police sergeant (or indeed by any British police sergeant). She also wears small metal stripes on her epaulettes. These are not worn with tunics, where the stripes are only worn on the sleeves; only her number should appear on her epaulettes.
26th Feb 2017
Apple Tree Yard (2016)
Factual error: The judge requires £100,000 to be paid to the court in bail and Yvonne's husband later says he had to cash in bonds to get the money. In Britain, bail is not paid in advance. It is sufficient to prove that it is available if necessary and it is only required to be paid if the defendant later absconds.
17th Feb 2017
Lucan (1977)
Factual error: David Gerring, one of the senior police officers on the case, always introduces himself as Detective Superintendent. He was actually a Detective Chief Inspector, which is listed correctly on the credits.
17th Feb 2017
Lucan (1977)
Factual error: In the first scene, the raid on the gambling party, the policemen all wear white shirts. The scene is set in 1958 and the Metropolitan Police did not switch from blue shirts to white until c.1970.
23rd Jan 2017
Tracker (2010)
Factual error: Major Carlysle's medal ribbons have been sewn on upside down. The Queen's South Africa Medal should be worn first, followed by the King's South Africa Medal, and the KSAM bars should be green-white-orange, not orange-white-green (the QSAM is symmetrical, so looks the same either way up). Sgt Major Saunders, on the other hand, is wearing his medals correctly.
23rd Jan 2017
Tracker (2010)
Factual error: Sergeant-Major Saunders is wearing sergeant's stripes. Corporals Drake and Levin are wearing no rank insignia at all.
23rd Jan 2017
The Missing (2014)
Factual error: Eve wears an imaginary cap badge. It certainly isn't Royal Military Police.
23rd Jan 2017
The Missing (2014)
Factual error: At both funerals, everyone wears combat dress. Soldiers wear service dress (formal uniform tunic and trousers with collar and tie) to funerals. In fact, combat dress is all anyone ever wears in the series. The British Army has a variety of different uniforms. Combat dress is not worn all the time, especially not by officers or senior NCOs.
23rd Jan 2017
Rillington Place (2016)
Factual error: The policeman who comes to visit Christie to tell him about the burglaries and those escorting Christie outside the police station are wearing the divisional letter 'X'; Notting Hill, where Rillington Place was located, was actually covered by F Division, which was the division responsible for investigating the crimes. X Division covered neighbouring Kilburn and Willesden.
23rd Jan 2017
Rillington Place (2016)
Factual error: With two exceptions, all the policemen shown in both 1949 and 1953 are wearing the old-fashioned tunics with high, closed collars. The Metropolitan Police adopted the more modern open-necked tunic with collar and tie in 1948, and this is shown worn by the policeman who visits Christie and by the officer who arrests him.
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