Trivia

Continual references are made to The Wizard of Oz. In episode 1 of season 1, Tyler leaves the station with the intention of walking back to reality. He says to Cartwright that he is going to 'follow the yellow brick road'. In episode two, after the principal drama has resolved Tyler suggests to Hunt that his 'guv' transfer him back to the division he came from. Hunt obliges by picking up his phone and saying that the Wizard of Oz will sort it out 'because of the wonderful things he does'. Throughout the series Hunt insultingly refers to Tyler as 'Dorothy'. And in the final episode, the song 'Over The Rainbow' can be heard in the soundtrack. See more...

Movie Mistakes blog

Update alerts | Exclude type?

Life on Mars (2006) - 25 mistakes in entire show

Add actor/director information

Mistakes

Trivia

Pictures

Quotes

Easter Eggs

Corrections

Questions

Submit

Show season: Whole show  1  All

Across whole show

Mistake Other: In the episode where Sam has to defuse a car bomb, a small boy stares down the camera close up during the street clearence shot.

Mistake Continuity: In Series 2 Episode 4, When Sam sits down next to Carol Twilling on the bed, asking, "Do things ever get a bit frisky?" the top button of his shirt is undone. The camera cuts away and back, only to find that there are now miraculously two buttons undone, not just one. Sam has not moved in this time.

Mistake Factual error: In series one, all the characters watch the 1973 Grand National. In episode 4 of series 2, Gene Hunt is reading a newspaper with a headline referring to Crisp entering the forthcoming Grand National and the weight handicap. Crisp was the runner up to Red Rum in the 1973 Grand National due to its weight handicap disadvantage.

Mistake Factual error: Series 2 episode 1: In the casino, the Three Degrees song "Year of Decision" is being played. This was not issued until 1974.

Mistake Other: The registration number of the Ford Zephyr police car is RVP154G but the security etching on the window reads EKM414C.

Mistake Plot hole: In the episode involving a suspected factory murder, Gene Hunt apparently can detect Mr. Litton's aftershave from a considerable distance. How was he to know who was wearing it?

Mistake Plot hole: In the second series episode involving the Asian drug dealers, they seem to be unaware of heroin. Given that it is set in the 70's and drug use was widespread in the 60's, especially heroin, you would think police officers would be aware of it. That and the classic cop movie of the early 70's, The French Connection. Surely the gene genie would have seen that.

Mistake Factual error: In series 2 episode 5, the bicycle seen being ridden across the shot in the final scenes by a young girl is a Raleigh Wisp, which was a model introduced in 1983 so would not have been available at the time the drama is set - in 1973.

Mistake Plot hole: In Series 2, Episode 4, the autopsy doctor told Hunt that he had to pry the "flower of death" from the first victim's severely rigomortised hands, yet he shows the detectives a pristine flower that looks as if it has been freshly picked. Surely the flower should have been crushed?

Mistake Continuity: In Episode 2,Season 2, during the scene between Hunt and Tyler, which takes place directly after Hunt has been "communicating" his outrage to Dickie Fingers, by hitting Dickie's hand repeatedly with a telephone, Hunt puts his hands in his pockets. However, in the next shot, which is the opposite camera angle, Hunt's hands are suddenly back out of his pockets. When the camera angle changes again, they're back in, all with no movement on Gene Hunt's part.

Mistake Factual error: The silver Ford Granada seen in the final episode is a Ghia model, which was not made until 1975.

Mistake Factual error: In series one, "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road" by Elton John is used. It wasn't released until the Autumn of 1973. Sam Tyler found himself in the Spring/Summer of that year.

Mistake Factual error: In the penultimate episode of series 2, the date is given as July 1973, but in an earlier episode when the police were raiding the drug dealer's house, Cozy Powell's record "Dance with the Devil" can be heard. This was a Christmas time hit in 1973.

All of series 1 (season 1)

Mistake Other: A policeman trips over the steps in the background during a chat between Gene and Sam.

Mistake Factual error: In a car chase, "Love Lies Bleeding" by Elton John is used. It didnt come out as an album track until November of 1973.

Episode 1 (season 1, episode 1)

Mistake Continuity: When Gene Hunt pushes Sam Tyler up against the filing cabinet, he has a cigarette in his mouth. When the shot cuts back to Gene Hunt's face, a split second later, the cigarette is gone.

Mistake Factual error: The camera starts out-of-focus looking down a crowded sidewalk full of background actors in period clothes and hairstyles (1973). As the camera racks into focus, Sam is walking toward the camera with many awnings visible in the background - a large blue one reads "24 Hr ATM". Though versions were invented prior to 1973, they didn't come into wide usage until the mid-to-late-80's and certainly weren't available in East Village bodegas at the time of this episode.

Mistake Factual error: When Sam wakes up in 1973 he is on a building site that is the Mancunian way under construction, this road was completed in 1967.

Mistake Revealing: When in the mortuary looking at the female murder victim's body, watch as Sam Tyler says "cord, no other attack marks". When the camera cuts to the corpse at this very moment, you can briefly see the "corpse" swallowing.

Mistake Factual error: The Austin Allegro panda car parked outside the police station is a series 3 model which didn't start production until 1979, and this programme is set in 1973.

1 2Next page

You may also like: Ashes to Ashes | Lost | The Dark Knight | Blackadder | Titanic

Submit this page to:

reddit Facebook What are these?