I don't lose sleep over tv and film errors, but I notice them when they are clearly inaccurate for no reason at all. The one that bothers me most is newscasters who don't know how to pronounce place names. The writer of the news blurb should confirm the pronunciation before handing the text to the commentator. Some people get very upset when the name of their town or lake is mispronounced. That is an easily avoidable booboo. Just call someone who lives there.
I agree with Tom's assessment of "experts" inflicting unfounded deductions from scant detail. The one that I remember best is the story of the body of a man being found frozen in the Alps. It was an unusual find because everything he had with him had not deteriorated through time and weather. As the experts were trying to figure out who this guy might have been, someone said that he must have been rich because his hair had been cut with scissors. Only wealthy people owned scissors during that age. And, maybe a barber.
Since childhood, I have always been able to trust the BBC for historical accuracy. I think they have slacked off a bit, but Britain valued the integrity of documentaries and historical dramas better than anyone. Sometimes, period dramas will use vocabulary that didn't exist at the time - call it an oversight. A lot of research goes into accurate portrayals of people, fashion, technology, and language of a certain time. Even in the United States, a period drama from the 1950s can get it wrong often. If you didn't live through it, you don't really know what was typical and acceptable.
I agree with Tom's assessment of "experts" inflicting unfounded deductions from scant detail. The one that I remember best is the story of the body of a man being found frozen in the Alps. It was an unusual find because everything he had with him had not deteriorated through time and weather. As the experts were trying to figure out who this guy might have been, someone said that he must have been rich because his hair had been cut with scissors. Only wealthy people owned scissors during that age. And, maybe a barber.
Since childhood, I have always been able to trust the BBC for historical accuracy. I think they have slacked off a bit, but Britain valued the integrity of documentaries and historical dramas better than anyone. Sometimes, period dramas will use vocabulary that didn't exist at the time - call it an oversight. A lot of research goes into accurate portrayals of people, fashion, technology, and language of a certain time. Even in the United States, a period drama from the 1950s can get it wrong often. If you didn't live through it, you don't really know what was typical and acceptable.
