Live-Action TV / Artistic License History

open/close all folders

Series with their own pages

General Examples

A number of 2012-focused "documentaries" wistfully wonder what the Maya would say about 2012 doomsday theories if they were still around. Evidently, someone forgot to inform the roughly 7 million living Maya, most of whom view the doomsday stuff as a load of bunk, of their non-existence. Perhaps they should have said "ancient Mayas" / "pre-Columbian Mayas" instead.

Specific Examples

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. introduces the re-vamped character Hive as an Inhuman created by the Kree to control their slave-army of Inhumans. They say it was created tens of thousands of years ago... and given the Latin name "Alveus" ("Hive"). Latin wasn't spoken tens of thousands of years ago.
Babylon 5: In "Comes the Inquisitor", Captain Sheridan locates the Jack the Ripper killings in London's West End instead of the East End. J. Michael Straczynski admits it was a typo and it was overdubbed in the DVD release.
Babylon Berlin:
- The Russian Trotskyists use "Long live the Fourth International!" as a rallying cry. However, this is 1929-the Fourth International was only created in 1938.
- When Wolter is making a toast to his co-conspirators, he utters "Who has betrayed us? Social Democrats!" While there certainly wasn't any love lost between the reactionary far right and the moderate left, this particular phrase originated on the far left who were disappointed that the SPD, instead of letting them have their way and install a socialist republic, decided to band together with the conservatives in order to nip a full-scale revolution in the bud. It's highly unlikely that a far-right conspiracy would have adopted their slogan.
In The Beach Boys: An American Family, the band is seen early in their career playing instruments they were not known for playing in real life nor were associated with the surf-rock genre. Carl Wilson played Stratocasters and Jaguars in the early days of the band, while Al Jardine and David Marks use Strats for most of their career. In the film, they're portrayed as playing Danelectros and other obscure brands during their rise to fame. Meanwhile Brian Wilson is depicted playing a Fender Precision Bass like in real life, but he's shown playing an earlier 50s model while he played a 60s model exclusively in real life. The film eventually gets it right and shows the band playing the instruments they were actually known for, except in the same scene David Marks is playing a Gibson ES-335, a guitar he did not play while in the band. In one scene later in the film, Carl is playing "Good Vibrations" with the band on a Stratocaster for a british variety show, except at this point he switched to playing a Rickenbacker 12-string model. In the same shot, Al is playing an ES-335 while he actually played Stratocasters during this era.
Blackadder takes a number of liberties with history, primarily for Rule of Funny. To name just one example, Blackadder the Third identifies the Earl of Sandwich as "Gerald", when his name was actually John Montagu. Presumably, this is because Edmund calling sandwiches "Geralds" sounded funnier than if he'd said "Johns" or "Montys".
Bones:
- An episode has a case where a crucial piece of evidence is the bones of a Salem witch, stolen from her grave—even though the Salem residents executed for witchcraft were just dumped outside town, and were never given proper graves. A memorial was erected many years later, far from anywhere significant when the events happened. Also in this episode, references to "The Salem Witches"...as if all the accused in Salem actually identified as witches. Apparently the writers missed the entire point of that event in history, that ordinary people were falsely accused in a mass hysteria event. There were no "Salem Witches", that's the point. Finally, the episode shows witch revivalists conducting Wiccan rituals while claiming descent from the "Salem Witches". Not only were the inhabitants of Salem all Puritan Christians, the Wicca religion didn't even exist until the 1940s.
- In another episode, Booth claimed to be a descendant of John Wilkes Booth. John Wilkes Booth, while married, did not have any known children, legitimate or illegitimate. His brothers and sister on the other hand had children, but no one can claim direct descent from the man who killed President Lincoln.
Bridgerton:
- The series used a very fringe theory that Queen Charlotte was black or at least multiracial as a jumping-off point for an Alternate History where black and brown people became accepted into Regency England's nobility (including the male lead in the first season, the Duke of Hastings), as a justified example of Adaptational Diversity. The real Charlotte is well-known to have been an ethnic German from Mecklenburg, and although she was partly descended from North African nobility, it was almost certainly ethnic Berber or Arabic rather than sub-Saharan African — and, moreover, was an ancestor she shared with a sizable number of other European royals!
- Inherited from the books, the peerage of Hastings was a barony at the time of the series (then made a marquessate in 1816). There has never been a Duchy of Hastings.
Charmed (1998): "The Witch is Back" made the mistake of assuming that people were burned at the stake during the Salem Witch Trials.
CSI: NY: Episode 5.19, "Communication Breakdown," refers to an American Indian tribe known as the Montequans having been among the first settlers of Manhattan Island; the case is that of the murder of their current chief. No such tribe ever existed. The inhabitants at the time of European arrival were the Lenape.
Das Boot:
- The real U-612 operated in the Baltic Sea, not in the Atlantic Ocean (La Rochelle is situated on the French Atlantic coast). It didn't even see combat, it sank after colliding with another U-Boot, was raised, used for training and was ultimately scuttled when the Red Army invaded East Prussia.
- The small Soviet vessel is sunk with two torpedoes. Historically this would have been done with deck gun.
Derry Girls: While the show is full of Historical In-Joke moments, some of them have been moved around or changed a bit. There really was a Lion that escaped the zoo in Belfast, but that happened in 1977. The first season ends with a Mood Whiplash with the parents watching a news report on a deadly terror attack while the girls are joyfully dancing at their school recital; the details of the attack and the footage on TV are an amalgamation of different events, and is meant more as a symbolic event than a representation of anything specific.
Disney's live-action adaptation of Doctor Syn ("The Scarecrow"), not a model of accuracy to start with, starts with Walt's dishonest claim that the story is based on an historical figure rather than a fictional character. It also uses the usual inaccurate trope about the press gang—and has the firstborn son of not only a landed gentleman but the magistrate suffer this fate.^note Also, the King gets personally involved in the Scarecrow situation (that said, the area was rife with smuggling during the 1700s, and local priests did sometimes get involved, so that part is accurate).
Fargo: Season Three:
- Yuri Gurka takes pride in his Russian heritage and likes to brag about his Cossack ancestors who murdered thousands of Jews during the Uman massacre. The actual Uman massacre was committed by Ukrainian Haidamaks with no Russian forces involved. That being said, the Russian Empire was at that time aligned with the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, and the Russian troops fought on its side against the Cossacks (which means that Russians and Jews were de facto on the same side).
- Gurka gives a very distorted description of Russian history in general:
  All of Russia, hundreds of years, millions the tsar killed, then it was Lenin, then Stalin. Ten thousand, twenty thousand, but here you have, like, what? Malls … few dead Indians. Twenty million Russian died fighting Hitler. Twenty million. I see from your face that you can’t even imagine that. The pogroms, the starvation, twenty million more. Mothers cooking and eating their babies. That’s why the snow falls white, to hide the blood.
The First Lady: The series acknowledges in a disclaimer before some episodes that artistic liberties have been taken. Probably the biggest example was having Eleanor Roosevelt have an affair with Lorena "Hick" Hickok, a lesbian reporter friend of hers. Though many historians suspect they had a relationship, it's still not known with certainty what exactly happened (whether it was sexual at least-both had clear love for each other, as expressed in their many letters).
From the Earth to the Moon episode "Galileo Was Right" shows Jack Schmitt (a geologist-turned-astronaut) meeting up with his old professor, Leo Silverman, to teach the hotshot test pilots of Apollo 15's crew why they should learn about lunar geology in addition to the subject itself. This condenses the real timeline; Silverman and fellow geologist Farouk El-Baz did train 15's crew, but this was after they had already trained an astronaut crew... for Apollo 13. NASA had to skip over adding the mission to 14 because Alan Shepherd wasn't interested, resulting in the geological studies going to 15 instead.
Glee:
- Sue Sylvester delivers this incredibly historically inaccurate tirade.
  Sue: That's what they said about a young man in Chicago in 1871 who thought he'd play a 'harmless prank' on the dairy cow of one Mrs. O'Leary. He successfully ignited its flatulence, and the city burned, William! That young terrorist went on to become the first gay president of the United States: Abraham Lincoln!
- In season 2, Sue says that Will and the new football coach will be "sorrier than the Mexican Indian that sold Manhattan to George Washington for an upskirt photo of Betsy Ross!"
- Another example of Rule of Funny.
  Sam: That's my James Earl Jones impression.
  Santana: That is offensive. He shot Martin Luther King.
Good Omens (2019):
- Agnes Nutter is described as the last person burned for witchcraft in England. However, people convicted of witchcraft were hanged in England, rather than burned. Even so, as isn't shown getting tried, the event may have just been "mob justice" as led by the witchfinder.
- Noah's flood is presented as a local event that destroyed the Iraqi flood plain and not much else in 3004 BCE. While this is a real event, it occurred circa 2900 BCE. It doesn't line up with the Ussher timeline they used for the day of creation either, which puts the flood in 2349 BCE.
Grimm: In "Highway of Tears", Nick reads from a diary written by Rudyard Kipling and dated 1893, in which Kipling compares the Wesen of the episode to a Komodo dragon. In reality, Komodo dragons were not known to Europeans until 1910.
Used as a plot point in an episode of Head of the Class where the students are taking part in a historical reenactment competition, the principal Dr. Samuels insists on some popular history inaccuracies - for example their Marie Antoinette must say "Let them eat cake." The students call him out on the fact that she never said that. He maintains that the judges will not know that she didn't say it and will in fact expect her to say it, and will deduct points if she doesn't say it. So she says it, and the team loses for historical inaccuracy.
Heroes: In the episode "Four Months Later", legendary Japanese samurai Takezo Kensei turns out to really be an Englishman. It surprises Hiro but no one else seems to bat an eyelid, even though in 1671 Japan foreigners weren't just uncommon, they were forbidden in the country on penalty of death.
Highlander:
- The Series had the MacLeod clan leader living in a hut with the clan. But historically, and today, the Scottish clan leaders lived in castles—the MacLeod clan leader still lives in Dunvegan Castle today.
- Additionally, Glen Finnan, the birthplace of Duncan and Connor, is way outside MacLeod lands.
- And there's the infamous "Battle of Waterloo with snow" episode, "Band of Brothers" (not to be confused with the TV miniseries by that name)… the producers just couldn't wait for a snowless day to film, they had to work with what they had.
How I Met Your Mother: Robin describes the division-winning 2004 Vancouver Canucks as "a scrappy, little underdog team that prevailed despite very shaky goaltending and, frankly, the declining skills of Trevor Linden." All of these features are incorrect. Far from scrappy underdogs, the Canucks were favorites to win the division from the get-go; goaltender Dan Cloutier had his best season as a professional and was near the top of the league in every statistical category; and Trevor Linden's skills had not been relied upon as a core feature of the team for the better part of a decade.
A minor one in House: Wilson mentions in passing that Nixon was impeached for conducting illegal surveillance. Nixon in fact resigned to avoid impeachment because he lacked both the numbers in the House to avoid it and in the Senate to avoid being removed as a result.
A minor example, but an eye-roller nonetheless: the Human Target episode "Imbroglio" attempts to show badass Guerrero as an opera aficionado, but he identifies composers Rossini & Verdi as being from the Baroque era (neither is).
The Law According to Lidia Poët: The Volumetric Glove is shown being used in 1883 Italy. It was not invented until 1895 in reality.
Lawmen: Bass Reeves: Judge Isaac Parker is played by Donald Sutherland, who was 88 at the time. He's introduced in 1875 when the actual Parker was around 37.
The Legend of Xiao Chuo:
- Historically Emperor Shizong and his first empress were killed in a coup organised by his cousin Yelü Cha Ge. His second empress (Yelü Xian's mother) wasn't present when this happened and was killed later, also by Cha Ge. Yelü Jing wasn't part of this rebellion and became king after defeating Cha Ge. The series portrays Shizong and both of his wives being murdered at the same time by Jing, while Cha Ge is Adapted Out.
- It's unknown if the real Xiao Yan Yan and Han De Rang had a romantic relationship, but they certainly didn't get married after Yelü Xian's death. Li Si is a completely fictional character; the real Han De Rang never married anyone.
The series Life on Mars (2006) sees Sam Tyler being hit by a car on the Mancunian Way in the present and "awakens" in 1973 on wasteland, with a nearby hoarding advertising the "Highway in the Sky", which was how the Manchester Evening News referred to it upon opening. The road opened in 1967.
Miss Scarlet & The Duke: The show's main premise of Eliza Scarlet being the first female Private Detective in London is incorrect: Victorian England had plenty, mainly due to the 1858 Matrimonial Causes Act making investigating husbands for adultery a profitable business model. Eliza consulting with Scotland Yard on more serious cases of murder, robbery, and blackmail would be unusual, but not the basic idea of a female private eye.
This hilarious exchange from MythBusters during the Benjamin Franklin myths episode:
Tory: We just killed a dead president!
Grant: Ben Franklin was never president...
Nuremberg:
- Averted when Göring reminds Dr. Gilbert that Nazi antisemitic laws were inspired by English and American racist theories (actual defendants used American forced sterilization laws as a defense to their own-essentially a tu quoque fallacy).
- Wilhelm Keitel is referred to as an admiral, when in reality he was a field marshal.
- Jackson is shown struggling with his examination of Goering, before rallying and getting the better of ol' Hermann. In reality, observers agreed that Goering left his encounter with Jackson unscathed. Jackson, while a fine orator who wrote a great closing statement, hadn't been a trial lawyer in decades and the inexperience showed.
Played for Laughs a few times in The Office:
- There's the early episode regarding sensitivity training.
  Michael: Abraham Lincoln once said, "If you are a racist, I will attack you with the North."
- Later in an episode where Michael sends Jim on a scavenger hunt, one of the clues states "You will find me in the parking lot under the first president." Jim, seeing through the mistake, checked under a Lincoln.
- In another episode, Michael hires a Benjamin Franklin impersonator for Phyllis' bachelorette party. He refers to Franklin as having been a United States president, despite the actor's attempts to correct him.
The Outer Limits (1995): In "Ripper", Polly Nichols, Annie Chapman, Elizabeth Stride and Mary Jane Kelly are depicted as being killed over several days. In reality, their murders took place over the course of more than two months from 31 August to 9 November 1888.
Penny Dreadful: City of Angels:
- Peter is portrayed as head of the German-American Bund in LA, though opposed to key Nazi doctrines. The organization was pro-Nazi from the beginning, headed by Nazis and begun under their order. Here it's portrayed more as a kind of German-American fraternal organization with Nazi sympathizers who are members but no full commitment to Nazism.
- The race riots that are portrayed within the series didn't occur in 1938. The last one in season one is based on the Zoot Suit Riots, from 1943.
Perry Mason (2020):
- Brooks speaks of having built an MLB-caliber stadium in hopes of attracting a Major League Baseball team to LA. No such stadium was built in Los Angeles at this time. The main baseball park was Wrigley Field, which seated 21,000—too small for an MLB team even though the teams that played there sometimes outdrew MLB teams.
- Season 2 is set in 1933, with reference made to the FBI. This was before the agency existed. At the time, its predecessor was named the DOI (that is, Division of Investigation). It would only be named Federal Bureau of Investigation in 1935.
Power Rangers:
- In Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers, the city of Angel Grove was colonized by the British in the early 18th century. The city of Angel Grove is in southern California. Which coast were the original 13 colonies on, again?
- Power Rangers Samurai fudges a samurai tradition or two, particularly naming Lauren as the rightful Red Ranger instead of Jayden. She's the firstborn, but in feudal Japan gender trumped age and official titles would've been inherited by sons first. But try putting that bit of sexism forward in modern America. This is a byproduct of importing the storyline wholesale from its Japanese base, Samurai Sentai Shinkenger, wherin Shiba Kaoru is Princess and true head of Shiba House, while Takeru, another vassal, is merely holding the position in her place. She ends up adopting him in the end, making him the next head of the Shiba house.
Quantum Leap:
- Being a show all about history and time travel, the creators did their best to be accurate; however, there is one small slipup in the series finale "Mirror Image": while in a small west Pennsylvania town on August 8, 1953, Sam finds himself watching an episode of the kids' sci-fi TV series Captain Z-Ro. While Captain Z-Ro did exist in 1953, it was not nationally syndicated until 1955, appearing only on a couple of West Coast TV stations before then.
- An example occurs during the episode "Disco Inferno": part of the plot revolves around Sam doing stunt work during the filming of Earthquake. The problem? The movie came out in 1974. This episode takes place in 1976.
Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story:
- Charlotte and George really did have a dearth of legitimate grandchildren despite their large brood, but the implications this has on the succession become clear a few years earlier than they did in real life, giving Charlotte's Regency-era storyline emotional heft without moving it beyond the second season of Bridgerton (1814). Her granddaughter Princess Charlotte dies in childbirth around 1814 instead of 1817 as in reality. Likewise, the future Queen Victoria is conceived in the same timeframe, much earlier than her actual birth of 1819. In real life, Queen Charlotte died the year before Victoria was born.
- Whatever mental illness George was plagued with — suggestions have ranged from porphyria to bipolar disorder — the symptoms only became evident several years after he and Charlotte were married, and he didn't start receiving the hellish treatment depicted in the show until the 1780s.
The Serpent Queen: Francis, the dauphin, is given a major Historical Villain Upgrade, being portrayed as a Jerk Jock when he had actually become bookish and solitary during his years as a hostage in Spain.
Taken: In "Beyond the Sky", strange lights are seen in the sky over Lubbock, Texas on July 11, 1947 as a result of John's departure from Earth. In reality, the Lubbock Lights were not seen over the city until August 1951.
That Mitchell and Webb Look: One skit shows Admiral Karl Dönitz learning he's been named Führer after Hitler's suicide, and obliviously wants to make policy decisions when he's told that they just need him to tell the Allies that they surrender. In reality, Hitler abolished the office of Führer upon his death, and split it back to the offices of President and Chancellor, with Dönitz being named President and thus head-of-state. In addition, Dönitz was well-aware that Germany was at the point of collapse.
Time After Time: Stevenson expresses astonishment over how anyone can buy guns in 2017 New York City without questions asked. However, it was actually easier to do this in 1893 London. Licenses to buy guns weren't even needed until 1903.
Timecop: Dr. Easter tells the others Sir William Gull was Jack the Ripper, saying the evidence fits him best, and the show later confirms this. Gull is in fact disclaimed by most scholars for a number of reasons (perhaps foremost his being over 70 at the time, and weakened due to a stroke).
Trotsky:
- The German Revolution gets portrayed as occurring in December 1917, with Trotsky's instigation. In reality, it wasn't until November 1918, and they had nothing to do with him. Some of its leaders even had denounced the Bolshevik regime.
- The Kronstadt Rebellion was in March 1921. In the show, it's said to be March 1918. Yet they retained a reference to the Bolsheviks being in power for three and a half years. That would have been right by the real date, but not in what is given.
The Tudors: The show has Thomas More being drawn on a hurdle to his execution. In real life, this only happened if you were being hanged, drawn and quartered; More's sentence had been reduced to simple beheading. Wolsley died of a fever, not suicide (although this one is portrayed as being covered up). These are just two of many changes from history.
The Twilight Zone (1985):
- In "A Message from Charity", Squire Jonas Hacker tells Charity Payne that he will have her burned at the stake for witchcraft. In reality, the most common method of execution for convicted witches in The Thirteen American Colonies was hanging.
- In "The Once and Future King", the front page of The Commercial Appeal gives the date as Monday July 3, 1954. In reality, July 3, 1954 was a Saturday.
The Twilight Zone (2002): "Cradle of Darkness" portrays Alois Hitler as a German nationalist who wanted Austria and Germany united, along with being antisemitic and bigoted toward Romani. It's implied he was the source of Adolf Hitler's views. The real Alois is not known to have had these opinions however. Adolf Hitler first got into far-right politics after Alois died as a student in Vienna. Furthermore, his elder half-siblings Angela and Alois, Jr. are neither seen nor mentioned in the episode even though he was raised along with them.
The Vampire Diaries presents an interesting case. At the 50s Decade Dance, one of the songs played is "My Boyfriend's Back" from 1963. However, it very well could have been to show that 2009 teenagers don't know much when it comes to 50s music.
Voyagers!: In "Agents of Satan", Bogg is convicted of witchcraft at the Salem witch trials on November 13, 1692 and is sentenced to burn at the stake. In reality, none of the 19 people convicted of witchcraft in Salem received this sentence; they were all hanged. Giles Corey was crushed to death for refusing to enter a plea.
Watchmen (2019): Veidt claims to Trieu he's remained abstinent because Alexander the Great was, as sex is a distraction. In reality, Alexander the Great married multiple times and fathered at least one son and possibly two (opinion on whether Heracles of Macedon was actually his is split, but it was at least seen as a plausible enough that Heracles's mother though claiming it worth a try). He was also quite likely in a relationship with his childhood friend and second-in-command Hephaestion (Diogenes of Sinope famously quipped that Alexander was "ruled by Hephaestion's thighs", they compared themselves to Achilles and Patroclus, and Alexander's mourning for him is legendary). This may be an error of the character and not the writers. While it's true Alexander was noted for self-control in sexual matters, where Veidt got this idea that Alexander stayed celibate is anyone's guess.
When They See Us:
- The crimes of the "wilding" group are downplayed. In the series, we only see the homeless man get punched, but in reality he was beaten up and then a bottle was broken over his head. In the series, the group only jostles and intimidates the couple riding the tandem bicycle. In reality, the group tried to pull them off their bike, but the couple managed to escape.
- When the Central Park 5 are placed in a cell together in the show, they each admit to and apologize for falsely implicating each other. In reality, the boys were all too ashamed to admit anything, and each claimed to have not given any testimony to the police.
- While waiting in their shared cell, the boys share grim predictions for their future. In reality, they still didn't have a very clear grasp of the ramifications of their statements. One later said that he thought the whole issue was over once he made bail.
- In the show, Antron loses all hope and thanks his attorney for doing the best he could after watching his father blow it on the stand. In reality, Antron didn't thank his attorney until after being pronounced guilty.
Why Women Kill: Beth Ann claims her husband's murderer was put to death in 1973. In truth from 1967 to 1977 no executions took place in the US, due to legal cases staying and then commuting them. His death sentence would have been commuted along with the rest.
The Wonder Years: Many anachronisms with plot-relevant music being released later than the date the episode takes place. The pilot takes place in 1968; Tommy James and the Shondells' "Crystal Blue Persuasion" was released in 1969, and the book "Our Bodies Ourselves" was published in 1973. "Alice in Autoland" is set in 1973; Johnny Rivers' "Swayin' to the Music (Slow Dancing)" wasn't released until 1977, and the plumbing fixtures are from the '80s-'90s. "Scenes from a Wedding" takes place in 1972, and Jim Croce's "Bad, Bad, Leroy Brown" was released in 1973. "Heart of Darkness" takes place in 1968-1969; The Doors' "Riders on the Storm" was released in 1971.
World on Fire: A rather jaw-dropping instance of this in episode 1-4, when Grzegorz runs into a British tank unit. In Poland, in 1940. Or it may be that Grzegorz runs into the tanks in Belgium. Because in the next episode he has somehow teleported or Apparated hundreds of miles, across Germany, to wind up on the beaches of Dunkirk.
Yellowjackets: The lists of Jackie's favorite films and characters found in her diary includes Bring It On, which was released in 1999 even though Jackie died in 1996.
Young Blades:
- "The Exile" features Charles II attempting to assassinate Oliver Cromwell while the latter is attempting to sign a peace treaty with Louis XIV. The episode ends with the main character convincing Louis to recognize Charles as the rightful King of England and reject Cromwell's treaty. In reality, Charles II and Louis XIV were cousins, and Charles spent most of his life in French courts due to the political problems in England, so there's no way they wouldn't have known each other. In fact, Charles' sister Henriette was married to Louis' brother Phillipe!
- In the very next episode, "Da Vinci's Notebook", Siroc states, "As everybody knows, da Vinci died in Paris." Actually, he died in Amboise, over 100 miles away.
Young Sheldon: "A Solar Calcuator, a Game Ball, and a Cheerleader's Bosom" takes place in 1989. Connie goes to Louisiana to gamble in what looks like a legally allowed casino (as opposed to the illicit casinos where Connie also gambles). Trouble is, casino gambling wasn't legal in Louisiana until 1991.

Artistic License History / Live-Action TV

General Examples

Specific Examples

Previous

Index

Next

Artistic License History / Live-Action TV

Edit Locked

General Examples

Specific Examples

Previous

Index

Next