Episode #1.4 - S1-E4
Continuity mistake: The police crew is having beers to celebrate the alleged resolution of the case, but Richard is not convinced. During the scene, the beer bottles change position between shots - for instance when Fidel says "Maybe she was confused" he puts his hands on the bottle of Etensel, gone in the next shot with Camille piling on his objection - and in that shot even his hat on the table is facing the other way. In fact, throughout the scene his hat keeps rotating to different directions. (00:18:20)
Episode #1.4 - S1-E4
Continuity mistake: Before he leaves with the suspect the house she is a guest in, Richard asks if they own a gun. Astrid answers "Of course we don't", both hands on her belly. Wider angle, and she has both arms relaxed down her sides. (00:12:15)
Episode #1.4 - S1-E4
Continuity mistake: Megan grabs DI Richard Poole's hand sobbing "I'm scared." We're talking about her left hand, because in the right hand she's holding the handkerchief he gave her. When DS Camille Bordey butts in, she is clinging to his hand with her right, and holds the hankie in her left. It keeps happening even during the conversation. (00:03:55)
Episode #1.4 - S1-E4
Continuity mistake: Richard asks the wife if it was unusual for the husband to get violent. She starts crying. Embarrassed, he hands her a handkerchief. When she is still seen from behind, notice her right arm; she lowers it, but in the next shot she is still sobbing in the theatrical pose she had before, hand on her forehead. (00:03:40)
Episode #1.4 - S1-E4
Continuity mistake: Poole and Camille take the confessed murderer to the beach. She is fainting, and Richard tells her "It's OK, it's OK." Camille is supporting her with one hand behind her back, which becomes one hand on her forearm in the reverse shot. (00:01:30)
Episode #1.4 - S1-E4
Continuity mistake: At the beginning of the episode, Richard stirs his cup of tea with a spoon; in the close-up of the puzzle board the cup is still on the table, but in the frontal views he is reaching for it and putting the spoon in before the cut, and he has it in hand in the one after. (00:00:15)
Episode #1.4 - S1-E4
Continuity mistake: With Fidel's arrival, Richard's straw changes position in his glass from pointed to the right, to the left. (00:24:00)
Episode #1.3 - S1-E3
Continuity mistake: In the scene at Catherine's cafe, the lid on Richard's plastic bottle is off, on, off again. In the same part of the scene, the mug changes position between shots - its handle is pointing away from Richard or towards him, and when they ask him about voodoo, it even is alternatively in his hand or on the table depending on the angle, back and forth several times. (00:17:00)
Episode #1.2 - S1-E2
Continuity mistake: In the ending, Camille throws her bag in the sand; between shots said bag is in entirely different spots and with the strap first on the left, then on the right. (00:50:10)
Episode #1.2 - S1-E2
Continuity mistake: Camille and Richard are interrogating the victim's parents. The scene begins and the dad has both hands joined, fingers stretched out. Next shot and he has fingers entwined and only a second later he stretches them to assume the correct position. (00:14:15)
Episode #1.2 - S1-E2
Continuity mistake: Richard is walking through the market fending off the various street vendors. There's a POV shot ending with a woman wearing a headscarf that offers him something that "looks absolutely delicious." In the following shot Richard is still dodging the woman, who gives way to him moving aside in an entirely different way. (00:02:05)
Episode #1.1 - S1-E1
Continuity mistake: Richard just closed the shack leaving the pet lizard behind, and is talking to the Commissioner who roped him into staying. Fidel and Dwayne are looking at them; the lighting in close-up differs noticeably from the wider angle (check out of the shadow on Dwayne's arm and on the wall). (00:50:35)
Episode #1.1 - S1-E1
Continuity mistake: DI Richard Poole is in front of the panic room, explaining how the murder happened. He is holding two evidence bags; the fact that the one with the .22 gun changes position between shots several times is made more obvious by the fact that the tag is visible, and each time Richard's fingers are covering different letters. (00:44:20)
Episode #1.1 - S1-E1
Continuity mistake: The 'cleaning lady' hands Richard a used paper tissue. In the close-up of her hand he is picking it up by a messy, crumpled part, but in the next shot Ben Miller is holding it by a side pretty much straight. (00:19:25)
Episode #1.1 - S1-E1
Continuity mistake: In the opening, two men (one turning out to be future longest serving original cast member, Danny John-Jules) are playing one-to-one basketball. A couple guys are mending nets just by the hoop...but are gone right away in the faraway shot. (00:00:15)
Episode #1.2 - S1-E2
Continuity mistake: When coming out of the sea at the start, the guy's hair goes from sleek to messy and back between shots. (00:02:00)
Episode #1.2 - S1-E2
Continuity mistake: When Poole writes the S for suspects on the whiteboard, its design changes between shots.
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)
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 ★