10 TV Shows That Accidentally Filmed Things You Weren't Supposed To See
Hey Doctor Who, that green screen? You're not supposed to leave it in.
TV shows are produced under extremely tight deadlines. After all, when you have to shoot 10, 15, or even 20 episodes per year - sometimes with a festive special on top - there's barely any time to waste, and there's little room for error. It's full steam ahead, constantly, until the job has been completed.
While this does demand that everyone involved has an incredibly high level of focus, it's impossible to plan for the unexpected, and not everything that ends up on the screen was intended to be there when the episodes were being mapped out.
Over the years, many TV shows have found that out for themselves, with funny mistakes, bizarre incidents, and unusual anachronisms - many of them difficult to spot - being accidentally aired for the world to see. And laugh at.
From strange moments happening in the backgrounds of shots, to historical inaccuracies being captured in the frame, to shocking special effects gaffes being unintentionally included in the finished episode, there are plenty of shows that contain examples of these odd, accidental moments - and even some of the most expensive productions around aren't immune to them.
10. A Mouse Runs Across The Floor In The Middle Of A Scene (The Crown)
Let's kick things off with a slightly controversial one. There's actually some debate as to whether this moment was accidental or intentional, but either way, it certainly caused a lot of buzz when The Crown's latest season hit Netflix in late 2020.
Right at the start of the fourth season's third episode, there's a montage that cuts between The Queen, Princess Margaret, The Queen Mother, and Princess Anne, who are all sat around waiting for the phone to ring.
When we first see The Queen Mother sat at her couch, everything looks perfectly normal... until a frickin' mouse runs across the floor at the bottom of the shot (pictured above - just to the left of the rug).
When this moment started doing the rounds on social media, people had all kinds of takes - some thought it was a bizarre accident, others thought it was a CG construct, and some even thought that the crew had actually trained it to perform this specific action. There were even jokey calls for the creature to be awarded with an Emmy.
Soon after, The Crown's official Twitter account offered up a gag rather than a concrete answer, and then, the episode's director (Benjamin Caron) took to Instagram and posted an image of the mice from Disney's Cinderella, though again, he failed to offer a definitive explanation.
Outstanding Guest Actor In A Drama Series? https://t.co/4AFLwCMCSi
— The Crown (@TheCrownNetflix) November 15, 2020
Some took Caron's post as proof that the mouse was intentional, while others claimed he was attempting to make a strange accident look like a directorial flourish. Whatever the case, this royal rodent caused quite the stir!