Goofs

In the House of Commons when Churchill first appears as Prime Minister, we learn that Chamberlain is to wave with his handkerchief if he wants to signal support for Churchill's policies. Just before Churchill stands to make his speech, Chamberlain can be seen placing his handkerchief on his knee. As Churchill speaks and the camera pans around, Chamberlain's handkerchief is back in his breast pocket. When the speech has concluded, Chamberlain's handkerchief has reappeared on his knee.

When Churchill is visited by The King, his waistcoat is unbuttoned before he enters. He goes to start buttoning it just as The King is entering, when he enters and the camera cuts back to Winston his waistcoat is fully buttoned but he surely did not have enough time between The King opening the door and walking in to button 5 buttons.

Blackout restrictions were imposed starting in September 1939 and strictly enforced, requiring all vehicles to be fitted with slotted covers that only allowed a tiny sliver of light to be directed downwards toward the road. However, all the vehicles in the street scenes had fully exposed headlights.

Chamberlain tells Halifax in May 1940 that he has cancer. Chamberlain was in pain at this time, but doctors didn't discover the cause until June and then withheld this from Chamberlain.

Winston Churchill's "never surrender" speech was given to Parliament on June 4, 1940, after the Dunkirk evacuation. The film has it given at the end of May 1940.

Churchill says Edward Wood, 3rd Viscount Halifax would never have turned down the offer to be prime minister as he was the fourth son of an earl. However, Halifax was the son of a viscount, not an earl, a mistake that the real Winston Churchill would not have made. Edward Wood was made 1st Earl of Halifax in 1944. Though he was indeed the youngest of four sons, all his brothers died young. From the age of 8 years old, he was his father's sole heir, and thus he would not have grown up feeling deprived of a dignity by order of birth, as is implied in the dialogue.

When Churchill flies to France trying to shore up the French to continue fighting the Germans, the plane shown is a Douglas Dakota. Though certainly a period aircraft and among the aircraft types that ferried Churchill at various times in WWII, Churchill flew to France in May 1940 in a De Havilland DH.95 Flamingo.

Four RAF fighter planes are seen flying over London in a finger four formation. While Luftwaffe had started using that tactic earlier, the RAF used a three plane "vic" formation until the end phases of Battle of Britain.

When arguing about the Gallipoli Campaign with Lord Halifax, Churchill claims it had been a good idea, and blames the Navy and the First Sea Lord for the flaws in intelligence and the failure of the operation. While debatable, this is a very odd thing to say, as Churchill *was* the First Sea Lord during the Gallipoli Campaign (in fact, he had to resign as a consequence), so in the line he is basically blaming himself.

Churchill was not First Sea Lord the professional head of of the Royal Navy but First Lord of the Admiralty the political head of the Royal Navy.

The conversation between Churchill and the public while riding the Underground continues for more than 5 minutes, but the journey from St James' Park to Westminster takes less than 2 minutes. However, during a war, there are many reasons why the train could run slower.

An overhead shot shows bombs falling nearly vertically upon the last British troops at Calais. In reality, bombs dropped from aircraft fall in an arc, nearly horizontal as they leave the bomber, well before the target is flown over.

Elizabeth does not hit the space bar when she is striking the keys, and she does not pause to hold down the "shift" key before typing a capital letter.

After Churchill's first speech to Parliament, the scene cuts to Chamberlain in a garden, about to reveal his cancer diagnosis to Lord Halifax. As Halifax approaches, he is briefly seen wearing a leather glove on his left hand while his right hand is naked, before he moves his arm behind his back. This is because Lord Halifax was born without a left hand, so the filmmakers attempted to keep the actor's real hand out of shot throughout the film.

When Churchill is summoned by the king, as his car drives onto the grounds of Buckingham Palace, the Union Flag can be seen flying above the Palace. At that time the only flag to be flown over the Palace was the Royal Standard, and only when the monarch was present. This rule was not changed until 1997, and even today, the Royal Standard is flown whenever the monarch is present. (Incidentally, the term "Union Jack" applies only to a flag flown from the jack shaft of a ship.)

The film takes place in May 1940. Elizabeth Layton did not become Winston Churchill's secretary until 1941.

Clemmie Churchill and the King are both shown listening on the wireless to Churchill's "We shall never surrender" speech in the Commons. Live broadcasting from Parliament did not begin until the 1970s so his speeches could not have been heard on the wireless as they were being made. He repeated some of them later for the BBC and these are the recordings that are now available.

Winston Churchill's first use of the 'V' finger sign did not occur until the middle of 1941, a year after this film takes place.

Early on in the film a black Riley RM drives past 10 Downing Street. This was a post war model (1945 - 55). Also, a black 1949 - 53 Ford Anglia E494A is seen later on in the film.

When on the Underground, Churchill is advised to travel to Westminster on the District Line. This is a sub-surface line that uses carriages of normal size. However, the train he gets on is of deep-level 'tube' rolling stock which are not used on the District.