10 Genius Ways TV Shows Fixed Their Own Mistakes

2. A Clumsy Extra Was Kept In For Dramatic Reasons - M*A*S*H

The season three finale of M*A*S*H concluded with the death of Lt. Cpl. Henry Blake (McLean Stevenson), as announced by a traumatised Radar O'Reilly (Gary Burghoff) to the assembled O.R. surgeons.

As Radar leaves the room, the camera pans across the surgeons in an unbroken take, as they're either frozen in shock and fighting back tears or simply trying to focus on the patients they're operating on.

But at the end of the shot, the noise of someone dropping a surgical item - rumoured to be a scalpel or a tray - can be heard.

This was a genuine accident (presumably by an extra) and not written in the script, but it was kept in the episode due to its authenticity.

After all, an off-screen surgeon dropping a tray in shock at learning of Blake's death just adds even more weight to one of the series' most unforgettable scenes.

The cast and crew were only told about Stevenson's departure from the show mere moments before shooting the scene, so it's quite possible the tray was dropped by a nervous extra basically winging it.