Best TV mistakes of 1988

Please vote as you browse around to help the best rise to the top.

Red Dwarf picture

Back To Reality - S5-E6

Factual error: While it is true that lithium carbonate can be used to treat depression and other psychiatric disorders, it cannot be administered in gaseous form. It is a very stable salt and only starts to form vapour at 1,310 degress Celcius. Spraying it about as a 'mood stabliser' at that temperature, as Kryten does, is going to kill everyone on the spot.

More Red Dwarf mistakes
Count Duckula picture

Show generally

Factual error: At the beginning of the intro, the narrator says that the only way to resurrect a vampire is with a sacred rite that can only be performed once a century when the moon is in the eighth house of Aquarius. In Astrology, the eighth house is Scorpio.

More Count Duckula mistakes
Roseanne picture

Stressed to Kill - S4-E9

Revealing mistake: Shortly after the fight with Becky, Roseanne asks Jackie to go across the street to get her something to drink, so she can smoke in secret. After Roseanne lights the cigarette and walks near the register, Jackie's plaid coat can be seen in the door's window as she waits for the next scene.

More Roseanne mistakes
London's Burning picture

Episode #10.4 - S10-E4

Other mistake: The fire at the used cars dealership recycles several shots from the petrol station fire in Series 6 episode 7. These include shots of burning petrol on the ground and a Renault car with the registration mark B649 CLY exploding.

More London's Burning mistakes
The Wonder Years picture

Odd Man Out - S3-E6

Factual error: Near the end of the episode when Kevin and Paul are riding their bikes toward each other before they stop for a brief hello of sorts, Kevin rides past a couple cars parked on the street that were built in the early 1980's. A red Pontiac LeMans and a black Pontiac Grand Prix-both were parked in front of the 1969 Ford Thunderbird.

More The Wonder Years mistakes
War and Remembrance picture

Show generally

Factual error: When Pug comes home, Rhoda puts on a Christmas record. The record player has an automatic changer that drops the disc and then moves the arm into place. Though a small 45 rpm changer was designed as early as 1938, and this movie's set in 1942, the type Rhoda uses here wasn't around for another 20 years. (00:09:00)

Jean G

More War and Remembrance mistakes
Chelmsford 123 picture

Mines a Double - S2-E6

Continuity mistake: Just before his twin brother appears at the window, Aulus Paulinus puts the statue he was looking at on his desk. While he is talking to his brother, the statue is gone. Then afterwards it suddenly returns to where it was.

More Chelmsford 123 mistakes
More Chip 'n' Dale Rescue Rangers mistakes
You Rang, M'Lord? picture

The Wounds of War - S2-E5

Factual error: Teddy says that he hates the stories by Wodehouse about the stuttering Bertie Wooster. However, Wooster only had a stutter in the 1965 TV series "World of Wooster", not in the original stories or in any other adaptations such as "Jeeves and Wooster." "You Rang" is set in the 1920s, and thus 40 years too early to have seen that program on television.

Spiny Norman

More You Rang, M'Lord? mistakes
Probe picture

Show generally

Visible crew/equipment: In episode 1, "Computer Logic", there's a scene in which Austin & Michelle step into a computer convention, where a hot-shot software designer, Mr, Blaine, is delivering a sales pitch from his wheelchair. In one shot the boom microphone can be seen dipping deeply into frame.

More Probe mistakes
More Mission: Impossible mistakes
Monsters picture

Show generally

Continuity mistake: "The Feverman": Before putting the chain around his neck, the doctor removes both his detachable collar and his black string tie. A few shots later, not only is the collar back, but he's now wearing a red ascot-style tie. Both collar and tie vanish again one shot later. (00:17:05)

Jean G

More Monsters mistakes
In the Heat of the Night picture

A Matter of Justice - S8-E1

Factual error: About 45 minutes into the episode, the girls' car stalls because the alternator's wire has been removed to cause this. For a car to stall like this, the battery has to be heavily drained which it would wind up being. When the killer comes up to the car, he tells her to try and start the car. She does and it turns over but doesn't start. The battery would never have enough amperage to turn over the car if it didn't have enough to keep the motor running.

terry s

More In the Heat of the Night mistakes

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.