NCIS: Naval Criminal Investigative Service

Show generally

Factual error: Throughout the show, skyscrapers are consistently shown. The height of buildings in Washington DC is restricted by the Height of Buildings Act of 1910, and there are no buildings taller than 13 stories.

Spiritfire

Yankee White - S1-E1

Factual error: Air Force One landed in Wichita, Kansas. The local coroner claimed Jurisdiction for Wichita County. The city of Wichita, Kansas is in Sedgwick County, in southern Kansas. Wichita County, Kansas is in western Kansas, about 250 miles from the city of Wichita. (00:05:40)

The Immortals - S1-E4

Factual error: The episode takes place on the Destroyer DD 964 U.S.S. Paul F. Foster, but every time the ship is shown sailing past the camera you see the number 51 on the side. This is the number of the U.S.S. Arleigh Burke, a DDG not even the same class of ship. (00:11:15)

High Seas - S1-E6

Factual error: In the yacht rescue scene the "American" crewed helicopter is actually an Australian crew. The rank on his shoulder shows an Australian Lieutenant Commander. (00:34:30)

dferrier10

Left for Dead - S1-E10

Factual error: While the NCIS crew are working a crime scene, Ducky starts yet another parable about his past experiences, referring to the dating of an Indian skeleton by the caliber of the bullet, "a 40-75". He states that since he knew the year that the US Army used that caliber, he could accurately date the remains. Unfortunately for Ducky, the US Army never used a 40-75. It did, however authorize a contract for a 45-70 cartridge in 1873. (00:09:20)

Reveille - S1-E23

Factual error: Special Agent Gibbs asks McGee how long Medical School takes in the UK, to which he answers 4 years. This is incorrect, because almost all aspiring doctors in the UK go through the Undergraduate Medicine route (MBBCh) which takes 5 years. When McGee performs a search on the computer, he enters "Medical Post Graduate" in the search criteria, which would be unlikely in real life. (00:24:27)

a7med1c

Doppelgänger - S2-E12

Factual error: Obviously written to make the story interesting, but Gibbs says that the first criminal caught by DNA was a Mafia don in Sicily. Well as anyone interested in forensics knows it was Colin Pitchfork in England.

Kill Ari: Part 2 - S3-E2

Factual error: After Gerald gets back to NCIS HQ, he notes that he wasn't able to drive Ducky's Morgan; a stick. Abby brags about knowing how to drive a stick since she was ten. When asked what she drove that had stick, she answered, "Red '47 Ford half-ton with four on the floor and Bubba riding shotgun." When asked who Bubba was, she answered that he was the best coon dog in Jefferson Parish. If in fact Abby grew up in the city of New Orleans, as stated by McGee in the episode before, the dog would not have been the best coon dog in Jefferson Parish but Orleans Parish. No part of New Orleans is inside the Parish of Jefferson. If it was truly the best coon dog in Jefferson Parish then Abby would have lived in Metarie or Kenner, Louisiana, both of which are inside the parish limits of Jefferson Parish.

Benjamin Lesley

NCIS: Naval Criminal Investigative Service mistake picture

Iced - S3-E19

Factual error: McGee is seen trying to trace the SMS/email and we see a brief glimpse of the screen when he says he's found the IP address. The address is 112.191.61.2913. Impossible as an IP never goes over 255. (00:31:00)

Ssiscool

Sandblast - S4-E7

Factual error: Lieutenant Colonel Mann explains to the NCIS team that a "99 Toyota" is the only unaccounted for vehicle from the golf course bombing. The vehicle is a Toyota but is obviously a mid-80's Corolla, with the last production year being 1987, making it over a decade older than Mann claims. Additionally, she would not have know the year of the vehicle prior to the team running the plate, nor would she have pointlessly assumed its year. (00:32:06)

Dead Man Walking - S4-E16

Factual error: The inspector is suffering from thallium poisoning. However, everyone is using various radiation detection methods to detect the thallium. Natural thallium is not radioactive. Of the artificial thallium, the only with a half-life long enough to last long enough to pose a problem is too weakly radioactive to be a significant hazard.

Noman

Angel of Death - S4-E24

Factual error: When McGee is tracing the who sent the request for the polygraphs, the map bounces around the world. When he says Kurdistan, the map shows Armenia, and when it hits the Dominican Republic, McGee says Puerto Rico. (00:26:50)

Nicholaus Cummins

Family - S5-E2

Factual error: The airbag deploys after several seconds. Airbags go off instantaneously to protect people. Not wait 4 or 5 seconds then go off. (00:03:40)

Ssiscool

Judgment Day: Part 1 - S5-E18

Factual error: There is a big deal made about Gibbs giving Shepard one of his magazines in the study with La Granoille. It is implied that that magazine was used in the gun to kill La Granoille on his yacht. The magazine he gave her was for his department issued Sig Sauer P228, however, he was killed with a Glock 19. The magazines are not compatible.

Dagger - S6-E9

Factual error: During the sequence where Bankston and Lee are supposed to make the dead drop of Domino, Adams Tavern, the location of the drop, is shown to be at 2177 Pimmit Drive in Woodbridge Va. The map that is showing the location is geographically correct, but "Pimmit Drive" is actually Horner Road. Also once the action leaves the bar, Lee and Bankston hijack a bus that reads "District Transit Authority". Since they are in Woodbridge, the bus service would be OmniLink. (00:30:20 - 00:38:15)

Spiritfire

Road Kill - S6-E10

Factual error: When looking at the phone records, there are 2 calls that go to Burke, Virginia. However the 2 calls have different area codes (203 and 303). The area code is also actually 703. (00:34:15)

Ssiscool

Deliverance - S6-E15

Factual error: It is constantly mentioned that the number found at the crime scene is Gibbs' military service number. The Marine Corps stopped using service numbers on Jan. 1, 1972 and since has only used Social Security numbers for identification.

Cubs Fan

Ignition - S7-E11

Factual error: Abby's Mas-Spec determines that Kerosene is present with the molecular formula C25H52. That's the formula for Pentacosane. Kerosene doesn't have a specific formula. (00:09:07)

Ssiscool

NCIS: Naval Criminal Investigative Service mistake picture

Shalom - S4-E1

Visible crew/equipment: When Gibbs and Ziva are in the "safehouse" Ziva set up for Ari, a crew member and his boom microphone are seen on the left of the screen, right before Gibbs climbs the ladder to remove the hidden camera spying on them. (00:30:10)

JackAndtheBox

More mistakes in NCIS: Naval Criminal Investigative Service

Yankee White - S1-E1

Gibbs: I heard you quit, Agent Todd.
Kate Todd: Happy news travels fast. Yes, I resigned. It was the right thing to do.
Gibbs: Yep. Pull that crap at NCIS, I won't give you a chance to resign.
Kate Todd: Is that a job offer?

More quotes from NCIS: Naval Criminal Investigative Service
More trivia for NCIS: Naval Criminal Investigative Service

Show generally

Question: I finally saw the 2-part episode from the show JAG. Does anyone know what happened to Viv Blackadder? I don't recall hearing anyone ever mention the name on NCIS.

Answer: I hadn't seen the backdoor pilots yet but while it wasn't explicitly stated, at least onscreen, I heard somewhere Vivian got either fired from NCIS due to jeopardizing a case, got resigned from the agency, or transferred to the FBI.

Raykvega423

Answer: I dont believe it is ever mentioned, but like most pilot episodes the characters are often changed, replaced or even removed in this case.

More questions & answers from NCIS: Naval Criminal Investigative Service

Join the mailing list

Separate from membership, this is to get updates about mistakes in recent releases. Addresses are not passed on to any third party, and are used solely for direct communication from this site. You can unsubscribe at any time.

Check out the mistake & trivia books, on Kindle and in paperback.