The Fourth Doctor (Tom Baker) made his first appearance – following his regeneration – in Robot (1974) and soon became famous for his love of jelly babies. Offering them to Sarah Jane Smith, Harry Sullivan and other companions on his travels, as way of diffusing tense situations.
But Jelly Babies were not just a favourite of the fourth Doctor. The second (Patrick Troughton) was the first seen to enjoy the very British favourite. Even John Simms Master was seen offering them to his wife while trying to take over the earth.
The Daily Banana is a quick Doctor Who fun fact from Blogtor Who.
I still have not had them over here across the pond. They had them at s confectionary store near me but it went it of business. Maybe I’ll order online?
They are delicious and have been around in the UK for as long as I can remember. I like the way Doctor Who has kept referencing them right through to 12. Keeps them special.
In response to joe, there’s a website called WhoNA that carries jelly babies in the US. You might want check them out.
in the key to time series with tom bakers doctor, wasnt there a different type of jelly baby used. in an episode where he tossed a bag of jelly babies on a air car one popped out of the bag and rolled. what were they? and the do sell jally babies here in the states in pennsylvania.
had my first jelly baby at tardiscon 1986 in st. louis, mo.
Those were a different kind of sweet called liquorice allsorts. The Doctor, though refers to them as jelly babies even though they weren’t. It seems to have been Tom Baker using a similar gag to how he used to hold up the wrong number of fingers while saying a number – the Doctor doing one thing while saying another. Whether they didn’t have any jelly babies on set so he decided to take the opportunity for the joke, or if he deliberately got the wrong sweets for the purpose of the joke we don’t know.