TV Howlers......

[whole diary]

[Mookiemoo]

Ok, I know the authors of this are American but the actress played Mol Flanders and is most definitely English (Alex Kingston)

Watching ER Series 9 - episode 1 - about 43 minutes into the episode.....This was filmed 9 years ago.

Queue Dr Corday walking down a platform past a HST^▸ (High Speed Train) with "Home of the flying scotsman" on the side.  Station not identifiable to the likes of me - but I'm sure the buffs will pick it instantly. 

She reverses into the train - queue a shot of what looks like a Eurostar - suggesting this was Waterloo - which is consistent with the back story of her being at a hospital near London Bridge however I'm sure Eurostar left from other platforms separated from the normal riff raff.

She then asks "is this the right train for heathrow" closely followed by "The 07:59 from Ealing Broadway to Reading West is now departing for HEathrow" clearly being heard over the tannoy.....

Later view sees a GNER^▸ (Great North Eastern Railways) HST clearly leaving what I assume is St Pancras so I may be wrong about the Eurostar bit......However the "Eurostar" has long left the building

So...........  How many inconsistencies are there other than the obvious - If it was Waterloo in the first shots, how can it be GNER.  If it is, how can the train be going from Ealing to Reading West.  Even if such a service existed,  how in the name of god does it go via heathrow.

Its almost as bad as Robin Hood where they go from dover to nottingham via hadrians wall!

(I DID^» (Didcot Parkway - next trains) take nice screen shots but i-tunes replaces them with checker boards - as you can see)

But you get my drift.

[John R]

You're turning into an anorak you know. 

It is laughable but then it makes you wonder what other inconsistencies there are in TV drama (and current affairs tbh) for things that you don't know so much about.

[Mookiemoo]

You're turning into an anorak you know. 

It is laughable but then it makes you wonder what other inconsistencies there are in TV drama (and current affairs tbh) for things that you don't know so much about.

I could be even more anoraky and point out that she's flying back to chicago - to my knowledge most Chicago flights leave before 11am so 0759 is cutting a bit fine!

[readytostart]

For a period GNER^▸ (Great North Eastern Railways) had a couple of eurostars on hire so it's entirely possible that you can have a HST^▸ (High Speed Train) with Route of the Flying Scotsman on the side and the eurostar train in the same station, albeit King's Cross.

I'm guessing the tannoy is dubbed and as you point out a crazy route.

Anybody looking for inconsistencies should check out Michael Portillo's Great Railway Journeys. Interior shots of Voyagers, 153s and such and then external shots of HSTs. Even an interior shot of a HST and then a glance out of a window with a hopper on the top!

[Mookiemoo]

Anybody looking for inconsistencies should check out Michael Portillo's Great Railway Journeys. Interior shots of Voyagers, 153s and such and then external shots of HSTs^▸ (High Speed Train). Even an interior shot of a HST and then a glance out of a window with a hopper on the top!

Point is - ONLY - rail buffs would notice that.  I personally would just assume it was convenient editing.

The ER thing was just SOOOOO obvious.  However in the same Epsiode, Corday was in a London hospital and the plug sockets behind were clearly American sockets as were the light switches ....... although come to think of it - only her and two other actually spoke (the accents were NOT accents) so its entirely conceivable they got English actors.

Yet the external shots of her n a roof near tower bridge were not superimposed so I guess they flew her back to England for location.

Note - I edit my original post here - I meant TOWER bridge NOT London Bridge

[Btline]

There was recently "He kills coppers" on ITV....

In one scene - set in the 80s walking across Westminster bridge - I noticed an Electrostar in the background heading for Charing Cross. Apart from that, it looked 80s!

[Mookiemoo]

Also - why in the name of god would they dub Reading West.

Assuming this is aiming for the US audience - I can see why it starts from Ealing Broadway - recognisable from the Ealing comedies of yesteryear.

They would also recognise Heathrow...........but why Reading at all and even then Reading West....

Surely - the "07:59 from Ealing Broadway to Oxford is now departing for heathrow" would have greater kudos

[Tim]

Lets throw Mission Impossible into the mix.  An orange TGV^▸ (Train a Grande Vitesse) runs from Liverpool St to France through the tunnel.   OLE^▸ (Overhead Line Equipment, more often "OHLE") disappears to allow Tom Cruise to stand on the train roof.  The tunnel is a single bore twin track affair and the baddy manages to fly a helicopter through it with the rotors hiting the tunnel walls and sparking but not causing a crash.

And then there is Thomas the tank Engine.  Thomas manages to see what is on the track behind him in several of the stories despite having forward facing eyes and no neck to turn.     

[JayMac]

And there's Gavin from Gavin and Stacey seeing Stacey off on a train at Marylebone to Barry.... or the recent remake of Reggie Perrin with Reggie using Marylebone to get to and from the south-east and apparently travelling in first class on a Chiltern 165 or 168....

[Btline]

And there's Gavin from Gavin and Stacey seeing Stacey off on a train at Marylebone to Barry.... or the recent remake of Reggie Perrin with Reggie using Marylebone to get to and from the south-east and apparently travelling in first class on a Chiltern 165 or 168....

To Surrey actually - Marylebone masqueraded as Waterloo, and Princes Risborough as Dorking or wherever he got on.

[devonian]

The news isn't much better. Spotlight (BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page) SouthWest) the other day was reporting delays on Virgin Train services. Slow to catch up?

[RichieG]

The news isn't much better. Spotlight (BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page) SouthWest) the other day was reporting delays on Virgin Train services. Slow to catch up?

|Definately a BBC thing... Radio Devon were doing the same thing...