Things you notice aren't right on TV shows

[MoonshineSally]

I'm just starting to watch the TV drama The Lady. After the police are in the flat it switched to a scene with Charles and Diana's wedding accompanied by I Just Can't Get Enough by Depeche Mode - that hadn't been released.

Any English person in pretty much all modern American productions has either full mockney, or more likely some weird slightly posh Hugh Grant style accent. But it's a grating American style version which no actual English person has ever spoken. Can't stand it. Just use English actors or train your actors better!

Eastenders in the 90s ( last time I properly watched it). There would be a couple who were desperately worried about being in debt and how they were going to manage and would then immediately go to 'the caff' for a full English each and several mugs of tea. Staying at home and having toast would have saved you 20 quid there.

Daphne Moon, in Frasier, had a (bad) Manchester accent but every single one of her numerous brothers when they visited had different accents, ranging from broad Cockney to Australian. Bearing in mind they used quality actors like Richard E Grant and Robbie Coltrane it always surprised me that no one told the directors.

Cindy Beale. She left Albert Square in a taxi with her young twins ( imagine how much shite she would really have had to take with her) Ian tracked her down to France some months later. How did she afford to get there/ very convenient that they all had passports and that she'd packed them. How did she afford to rent a house, get a job when she didn't speak a single word of French, look after her twins whilst working to pay for this house.

Biggest one for me is when an actor leaves the show and are never mentioned again so you watch maybe 5 years of 2 characters being best friends/siblings or whatever then one leaves and when the other inevitably ends up on their death bed/dies horrifically, the friend/sibling/child doesn’t come to visit, go to the funeral or get a mention.

Welsh accents - very very few people get this right.

When someone goes into their phone to call their mate or wife and their number is listed under their full name. Who really puts their husband in their phone as Adam Jones etc? 😂

If there is a doctor character like in Neighbours then if you go into the hospital he will always , always be on duty and will treat your labour / heart attack/ cancer/ broken leg because they can only afford 1 doctor. If you have a heart attack/ labour at home he will very handily be at home.

Also....in the 80s the character Daphne gave birth without removing her dark blue , woolly tights. I'd not had any babies then but I still knew that wouldn't really work.

I really don't like pointless side stories that end up going no where. A character is introduced, and then just disappears with no explanation. I know some stuff does it to have red herrings, but it always annoys me. Don't waste my time

The one I found rediculous was a recent drama, can’t remember the name, but involved a murder and suspect neighbour in an ordinary street. The husband was murdered in the house, the wife decided to sell and the estate agents brochure was on the kitchen table within 48 hours, but there were ‘blood’ splashes all over the kitchen wall!

Not a tv thing but I just read a book called The Understudy whose whole premise was about this actor who never gets on stage because the famous guy he's understudy for is never ill. He's literally never performed the show and inevitably falls apart when he has to. Also no audience turn up because the famous star is off (they all get refunds) and his family are able to buy tickets on the day.

Has the author ever been to the theatre? If it was a famous star it'd be sold out months in advance and no refunds given. And understudies have regular planned slots to perform (to fully sold out theatres) in addition to being ready in case of illness. I've seen many many understudies perform over the years and every single one has been an absolutely professional, brilliant performance.

It was a comedy but just so unrealistic it was silly.

That's my worst one. It's so obvious they're empty! If they won't put water in then actors need to learn how to carry and handle them as if they've got coffee in.
Although you'd still get the sound of an obviously empty cup being put down on a table. Unless they could add the sound in afterwards?

When a character comes in from work / generally being out and about and someone is just putting dinner on the table. They take off their coat and sit straight down to eat. I'd have to go upstairs, have a wee, wash my hands and take off my bra before I could contemplate eating.

Also dramas set around a school, where the teachers leave at home time along with the pupils. It even happens in recruitment to teaching adverts.

I’m always pointing little things out to DH. Recently in that fluffy Sunday night thing with Tim Spall as an ex-TV cop who ends up ‘helping’ a young Welsh detective with her cases, they finished most episodes sitting in the local cafe drinking lattes in see-through glass cups.
It was obvious which were the reverse shots done as one batch then edited in because the level of the coffees jumped distractingly from halfway down to right up near the top of the cup, then back again, then up again.
I’m sure once upon a time a continuity person would have kept track of things like that. Maybe just don’t use see-through cups!

Completely agree with the packing a suitcase to storm off. It makes no sense what they put in it. It's always open the wardrobe and scoop out massive armful of quite "dressy" clothes still on hangers, dump in case, zip case and leave

Whereas in reality what would you really need? Pants, socks, hoodies, jeans, wash bag, make up, work laptop, chargers, contact lenses etc. What use is a smart suit or evening dress when you're off to sleep on your mate's sofa or whatever.

No one ever doomscrolling on their phone. I do appreciate this wouldn't help the plot though.

Police speaking to a witness who mentions something surprising. Rather than take all the relevant details they immediately get up and rush off.

In soaps the wedding outfits and fancy dress are always far too perfect/expensive for people supposedly living on minimum wage.

Police dramas again (also hospitals). You see the staff arrive in the cars at the start of the shift. Then after work they go to the pub and get trollied. Do the cars teleport themselves home?

I also agree with the poster who said lack of continuity about character birthdays etc. I notice this because I am on the spectrum and birthdays stick in my head to an embarrassing degree. On Eastenders Cindy's birthday was 10th May. For the first couple of years after she left Ian he moped around the square on 10th May remembering Cindy on her birthday. The following year he got married to Laura, on 10th May!

Also in Frozen Elsa's coronation is meant to be on her coming of age birthday and it is clearly late Spring and the kids are all dancing around maypoles. But according to her wiki fandom page her birthday is listed as 30 December. (I know this seems really sad but my daughter was a massive Frozen fan and asked me to find out Elsa's birthday because she hoped it would be 1st May like hers!)

It is the mid 70s in call the midwife now

Ebvery single thing to do with guns.
Hiding behind a car door, a table, a plasterboard wall or a car door (bullets will pass straight through and straight into your body)
Silent silencers (silencers exist but they are far from silent)
People cocking a revolver (just pull the trigger)
Same with people "cocking" an automatic (why would you be pointing a gun at someone if you haven't get a round in the barrel)
People getting shot but it's only in the leg so they continue on with just a limp (you have a major artery in your leg)

I could go on. For some reason film and TV has decided to make guns and their use totally unrealistic in almost every way and it annoys the hell out of me because they downplay the danger of using a gun.

Stunning looking 25 year olds being wheeled out as "top experts in their exclusive field" -e.g. we've found a nuclear submarine lodged in an ocean trench and we need a top nuclear submarine expert to save us. Here she/he comes - straight out of nappies and not old enough to have completed a PHD but, what the heck, they look fantastic on screen.

You mean Popeye the sailor man who eats spinach to give him strength? He’s cartoon character and not meant to be taken seriously?
If you’ve ever seen a human sailor eating spinach to give them strength I’m sure it would have been done tongue in cheek in relation to Popeye?!

in christmas day, they’re always cooking the veg as they put a turkey in the oven

Don’t tell me this, I’ve been cross about these for years 😂 I think Mick is just said to be the Director at an engineering firm, but Gav definitely talks about commuting on the train at some point. I’m sure. Oh God, maybe not. Maybe I’ve been angry for 18yrs for nothing 😂😂 the black cab stuff is still annoying though.

american films in London. They drive past Houses of Parliament and over Tower Bridge and they all live in Kensington town houses

Omg yes this as well as clearly empty suitcases

Well I never..!
Does that mean The Flintstones weren't real either?

At least one can see that Top Cat is real (although I do ackowledge that the voices were dubbed on post production).

What is more irritating is when the Police detectives stomp around the crime scene in their normal work clothes whilst all the CSIs are appropriately dressed in J-Suits. Even when the drama makes sure the detectives are wearing J-suits they don’t put the hood up making it all pretty pointless. I can practically see the hairs falling from their heads contaminating the crime scene 😂😂

My response was in relation to someone who has commented on something that I’ve only ever seen on a cartoon character and doesn’t make sense in relation to this thread. Surely no one expects things that happen in cartoons to be real because they’re not?