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McDonald & Dodds: What is correct episode number for episode The War of Rose (either 2.3 or 3.3)?
Episode "McDonald & Dodds" (2020) {The War of Rose (#3.3)} tt12900828 was made as part of Season 2. It had the episode number 2.3 in IMDB until a few days ago. For some reason, ITV did not show it alongside 2.1 and 2.2 (28 Feb / 7 March 2021) and instead showed it as episode 3.3 on 3 July 2022. However the release dates for other countries showed that it first aired on 19 July 2021 in Netherlands, one week after episode 2.2 was shown there.
So it looks as if it was shown as 2.3 in countries other than the UK, one year before it was first shown in the UK.
The makers even had to reshoot some scenes for the UK showing to avoid a continuity error because it features a senior officer who was described as having left the police station just before episode 3.1 Belvedere. What a mess!
Which numbering convention should prevail? The ordering when shown in the country of origin (UK) as part of Season 3, or the ordering when it was shown overseas a year earlier as part of Season 2? My understanding of IMDB is the latter. But someone had recently changed the order numbers. Do they know something that I don't?
dale79
228 Messages
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5K Points
1 year ago
Good question.
The are effectively two versions of the episode in question in circulation - the original one which could be seen outside of the UK, already in 2021 (or you could see it by buying the non-UK DVD - like the one which came out in Germany for example) and then there's the one with reshot scenes and thus a slightly different cast list, which was only shown later in the UK and is currently on the ITV Hub. Since I'm not in the UK, I bought the German DVD to be able to watch what I believe is the complete series 2 with its 3 episodes.
My understanding is the same as yours, that it should be listed as 2.3 and in fact I have already corrected it to 2.3 twice (!!), but although the corrections went live, it has subsequently been changed back to 3.3 again - twice (!!), so I'm also puzzled.
Just a suggestion, but - there is also a possibility it could/should be listed twice (!!), since each version has its own cast list. If it is only listed once, then the cast last will always be partially incorrect and not show the work of certain actors. The cast list is currently incorrect and has already been sent to imdb for verification like that by someone - making it harder to correct it to the original cast. Bonkers!
The title is also slightly incorrect. The ITV Hub and the German DVD both display the title as The War of the Rose. I've submitted a correction.
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1.7K Messages
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22.9K Points
1 year ago
Since there are two different versions with reshots and cast differences I think it should be listed twice. First version as 2.3 (but that one shouldn't have the UK 2022 release date) and UK reshot version as 3.3 (with the 2022 release date)
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dale79
228 Messages
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5K Points
1 year ago
At the time of writing this, the episode is listed as 2.3 and the cast has been corrected and is correct for the original, non-UK version, - the UK release date of 3rd July 2022 is obviously incorrect however.
A further issue that will arise is the episode numbering for series 3. The episode 'Clouds across the Moon' will be the fourth or 3.4 in the UK, but only the third in the series or 3.3 elsewhere...
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dale79
228 Messages
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5K Points
1 year ago
Update: The submission to change the name of the episode has been accepted and the title was changed from 'The War of Rose' to 'The War of the Rose', but since then has already been changed back again by another user. Again, here I'm not going to submit any further change, though it remains unclear which title is the correct one.
Series 3 is coming out on UK DVD as a box set with series 2 or as a box set with series 1 and 2. On one Amazon page the title is given as 'The War of Rose' on the other as 'The War of the Rose'. The mind boggles.
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