Continuity mistake: At the beginning of the episode, Edwina Bousquet scoffs at the apology and gets up. Close-up of Judith Dawson, and you can see for a second in the background the bike with Danny John-Jules entering the premises. But there is no sound effect for it and in the next cuts he's nowhere to be seen; he arrives only later. (00:00:25)
Episode #2.5 - S2-E5
Continuity mistake: Fidel and Dwayne are enlisting the help of the stoner guy (who just happens to be there where they need him in a gigantic coincidence!). When he asks them if then he can be a policeman, Dwayne sends him off; his arm is above/at level with his shoulder but at the cut it is not in frame. (00:33:25)
Episode #1.3 - S1-E3
Continuity mistake: In the small scene with Fidel and Dwayne deciding who gets to do the fun stuff around the island, Gary Carr's right arm is bent or straight depending on the angle. (00:12:40)
Episode #1.3 - S1-E3
Continuity mistake: Both before and after the credits, there are differences between the wider shot and the close-ups of the dead woman in the way she is lit. The hat and her nose cast shadows of different length and angle. (00:02:05 - 00:02:35)
Episode #1.2 - S1-E2
Continuity mistake: The two investigators meet with Adam Fairs poolside. In the establishing shots there's a hotel staffer closing by, carrying a pile of towels. When Camille poses her question, the man is nowhere to be seen. (00:28:05)
Episode #1.2 - S1-E2
Continuity mistake: Richard calls it a day on the investigation, but he's still chatting about it with Camille during a walk. When he says "One thing's always puzzled me about weddings", two women are crossing the street in front of him. Few seconds and a cut later, when he mentions the bouquet, here they are again, the same girls crossing the same street coming from the same direction as before. (00:23:20)
Episode #1.2 - S1-E2
Continuity mistake: Richard and Camille are questioning the maid, Margaret. She turns around after answering about the "Cleaning in progress" label, and her braid is down her back. In the rest of the scene, it is in front of her shoulder. (00:18:45)
Episode #1.1 - S1-E1
Continuity mistake: Following James Lavender to the beach, Richard calls him "a little proprietorial", DS Lily Thomson between cuts has alternately her right hand on her hip or not. (00:14:00)
Episode #1.1 - S1-E1
Continuity mistake: Sgt. Lily Thomson drives detective inspector Poole to the beach shack. In the opening wide shot she has her left hand on the steering wheel, but in the closer angles the hand at 12 o'clock is the right hand instead. (00:09:10)
Continuity mistake: When Jack updates the Commissioner on how slowly both cases are going, his left arm is in a different position on the desk between shots. (00:32:30)
Continuity mistake: Backstage, Commissioner Selwyn Patterson reveals to the band members about the message from the victim. The band member in purple has his hand clasped on the beret in noticeably different ways as the shot changes. (00:07:50)
Continuity mistake: When Jack picks up the fork from the floor, it keeps turning around in the first couple of shots and in the last couple of shots (when Florence goes to talk to the others). (00:04:45)
Continuity mistake: Getting to celebrate at the end of the episode, Dwayne is chewing on some ribs, but in the reverse shot Darlene is reacting to him eating from a fork in the foreground. He puts down the same rib later when she has to get up to answer the door. (00:50:55)
Continuity mistake: When JP and Cordell Thomas toast at the end of the episode, the obligatory bottle of Etensel in JP's hand is facing the opposite way between shots. (00:50:45)
Continuity mistake: When Jack says "I am so sorry, Dwayne" telling him to go to the birthday dinner, he repeats in the two separate shots the same gesture, hand starting from a different spot at each cut. (00:31:55)
Continuity mistake: Florence at the beginning of the episode dismounts from the police Defender putting her right hand on the inside handle of the door, but she has her fingers at the top of the open window in the next shot. (00:03:40)
Murder on the Day of the Dead - S7-E5
Continuity mistake: Uncharacteristically, Commissioner Selwyn Patterson joins the police investigation, at least at the very beginning. He takes his jacket off, and his tie reaches slightly below the belt of his pants. When he finds the body, the tie is a couple inches above the belt. Technically he is off-screen for what amounts of few minutes of plot, but it'd be ridiculous to picture him undoing his tie and making a tighter knot while he's in the middle of a search in the woods - he'd have just removed the tie and pocketed it entirely if it was being a nuisance. (00:07:05)
Murder on the Day of the Dead - S7-E5
Continuity mistake: Jack puts the CCTV CDs on the counter, and the owner of the club peeks at them folding the newspaper. In the next shot, the newspaper is straight as it was before. (00:32:55)
Murder on the Day of the Dead - S7-E5
Continuity mistake: During her interrogation, Charlotte Hamilton walks back to the table with a stronger drink. Before she sits down, the lemonade jug has more liquid in it than in the shots before and after. (00:26:45)
Murder on the Day of the Dead - S7-E5
Continuity mistake: When the police visit the club treasurer Charlotte Hamilton, in the opening wide shot Jack's tie curves sharply because of the wind, but before the cut the wind breaks and the tie gets down. However in the next shot his tie is all the way windblown. Likewise, Charlotte's bang in that same shot is messy and upturned, but is back to normal in the next one. (00:25:35)
Answer: There's probably no particular reason. Sets and props on long-running TV shows often change as needed and for various reasons throughout a series run.
raywest ★