Factual error: There's more PIR's (movement detectors used in security systems) in Hireclere than you could find in a security warehouse! Just look behind the actors in the corners of a room about 8 feet up. White plastic things about the size of a packet of smokes. I think the earliest units on the market started appearing around the early 70's. The PIR's in Downton Abby look to be around the late 80's onward - pretty advanced for 1914.
Episode #1.3 - S1-E3
Factual error: The Turkish character "Kemal Pamuk" is given the surname "Pamuk." However, surnames weren't used in Turkey till mid-thirties. Yes, Pamuk is a real Turkish surname but no Turk would be using surnames in 1912.
Episode #1.4 - S1-E4
Factual error: William plays a bit of music on the piano - the tune is called "After You've Gone", and it was written in 1918. This episode is set in 1913.
Episode #3.6 - S3-E6
Factual error: Thomas Barrow lights a cigarette with a disposable lighter which were not invented until the early 60's.
Episode #4.5 - S4-E5
Factual error: When Lady Edith visits a Harley Street doctor his nameplate is shown outside his surgery. His name is prefixed with "Dr." However, one of his post-nominal qualifications is "FRCS." As a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons, his name should be prefixed with "Mr.", as with all qualified surgeons in the British Isles.
Episode #4.7 - S4-E7
Factual error: When Edith goes to have an abortion, you can hear a Eurasian Collared Dove singing, but that species did not exist in Britain before the 1970s.
Factual error: Marigold can not possibly be as big as she is in this season. She's bigger than George, when she would only be a few months old.
Episode #6.3 - S6-E3
Factual error: During the wedding the groom and ushers are wearing boutonnieres pinned to their labels. Pinning boutonnieres to your lapel is a very new method. Traditionally the flower goes through the lapel button hole. This would still be a common use for the button hole at the time.
Answer: Yes, because at the time it was not sure if it would continue and since it was short it could be seen as a miniseries. it also depends on where the producers decide to submit it. However since it continues on it is no longer a miniseries but a full series and thus cannot be submitted in the miniseries category anymore.
luke f