The Pursuit of Love viewers spot blunder in episode two: ‘Really struck a bum note’

Three-part period adaptation concludes on BBC One on Sunday, 23 May

Viewers of the BBC period romance The Pursuit of Love noticed a mistake in the dialogue during last night’s (16 May) episode.

The series, an adaptation of Nancy Mitford’s 1945 novel of the same name, stars Lily James and Emily Beecham as two cousins living in Europe between the two world wars.

During episode two, Linda Radlett (James) becomes stranded at the Gare du Nord train station in Paris after finding out that her ticket has expired.

She meets a French man (Call My Agent’s Assaad Bouab), who offers to take her out to lunch, only for Linda to sleep through the date in her hotel room.

After the man rings her up, he makes reference to an “affair”, prompting her to respond: “We are not going to have an affair. If that’s what you were thinking, I don’t want lunch! I shall leave this hotel room and go straight to the train station.”

However, viewers were quick to flag on social media that the term “train station” wasn’t in fact used at the time the story was set (with “railway station” instead being common parlance), and stuck out to some like a sore thumb.

“Pursuit of Love (BBC 1) is not an easy watch,” wrote one person on Twitter. “Inappropriate music and 2020 idiomatic usage (‘Train Station’ for God’s sake!)”

“Horror of horrors. In The Pursuit of Love, Linda has just said ‘train station’,” wrote someone else.

Another wrote: “Sorry but she would never say train station #ThePursuitOfLove.”

Someone else wrote: “Was thinking exactly the same thing. Really struck a bum note.”

The Pursuit of Love concludes on BBC One at 9pm on Sunday, 23 May.