There is absolutely no evidence that Lodge was an astronomer or was involved with gravitation, Einstein or Eddington. Possibly one of the most egregious inventions in the film is that Sir Oliver Lodge is given the leading role of criticising Einstein, supporting Newton and of apparently being the President of the Royal Astronomical Society.
The library would have had this very important journal plus many other papers by Einstein published in the decade up to 1915. The paper in question was published in Annalen der Physik in 1905 along with four other ground breaking papers by Einstein. Eddington asks for papers by Einstein in the library and is handed one paper with the comment 'it's all there is'. The eclipse was photographed from the Rosa Sundy plantation which had road access from the port of Santo Antonio. The opening scene depicts the hauling of astronomical equipment up over rocks on Principe. Some errors may be perceived as trivial and legitimate simplifications for dramatic purposes but other errors are much worse and significantly alter how this great discovery was made and how it was communicated. I will list the errors below in the order in which they appear in the film.
Given the importance of this famous discovery to science and to the centenary of the event in 2019 one hopes the BBC do not resurrect it at that time as it is a complete travesty. Unfortunately the writer invented situations that never happened, transposed individuals into roles they never had and simplified the announcement of the final discovery to the point of absurdity. The key moments in the story and the various conflicts exposed could all have been based on actual events with the real people involved without compromising the drama.
His 2007 biography of Einstein does not support the narrative structure of the film (made in 2008) and in particular does not describe the exchange of letters between Eddington and Einstein nor does it refer at all to the involvement of Sir Oliver Lodge. According to the credits Walter Isaacson, who wrote a biography of Einstein, is stated as a consultant.
One wonders if the script was ever looked at by a professional scientific historian who actually knew what had happened or if the producers and director just accepted it as written. The errors in this film are significant from both a historical and scientific perspective and it is a pity that the story of one of the greatest discoveries in scientific history, the results of which still reverberate around the world today, has been distorted and fabricated to make a drama. Although this is superficially an interesting, entertaining and well produced film with some good acting the writer, director and producer have unfortunately put drama before historical and scientific accuracy.