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Jelly babies were a form of Earth sweet favoured by the Doctor during four of his incarnations, and by the Master in one of his. The Doctor liked these so much, he had many bags of them somewhere in the TARDIS.
Appearances and mentions
Second Doctor
- The Doctor eats jelly babies from a bag while waiting in the travel capsule. (DW: The Dominators)
- The Doctor offered a jelly baby to the Brigadier while in the TARDIS. (DW: The Three Doctors)
Fourth Doctor
- The Doctor offered Sarah Jane Smith and Harry Sullivan a jelly baby, they both accepted. (DW: Robot)
- The Doctor offered round a bag of jelly babies while aboard Space Station Nerva, shortly making an analogy to Wirrn eating up humanity, should they win. (DW: The Ark in Space)
- He offered one to Leela of the Sevateem tribe upon their first meeting, leading her to think he ate babies. He also effectively bluffed the Sevateem by threatening one of the tribe with a "deadly jelly baby". (DW: The Face of Evil)
- When emptying his pockets for Magnus Greel, one of the things the Doctor placed on the table was his bag of jelly babies. He then offered one to Greel, but was refused. (DW: The Talons of Weng-Chiang)
- The Doctor offered round a bag of jelly babies while on the sandminer; they were slapped out of his hands and he replied, saying "A simple no thank you would have been sufficient". (DW: The Robots of Death)
- The Doctor gave Ted Moss a jelly baby. (DW: Image of the Fendahl)
- While investigating the Fendahl on Earth he offered "Eustace" a jelly baby in jest. (However, the sweet in question was actually a liquorice allsort, not a jelly baby.) (DW: Image of the Fendahl)
- The Doctor used a bag of jelly babies to distract a suicidal man long enough for him to be tackled by Leela and prevent his death. (DW: The Sun Makers)
- Upon arriving on Gallifrey the Doctor declared the Chancellery Guard were not worthy to guard a jelly baby before offering one to a guard. (DW: The Invasion of Time)
- While on Gallifrey as Lord President he requested Castellan Kelner to remove a jelly baby from his pocket for him, in this (slightly power mad state) he preferred an orange one. (DW: The Invasion of Time)
- The Doctor returned to the TARDIS to get another pack of jelly babies. (DW: The Invasion of Time)
- He gave one to Andred and then also gave him the packet. (DW: The Invasion of Time)
- Romana offered a bag of jelly babies around while she and the Doctor were on Zanak. (DW: The Pirate Planet)
- The Doctor interrupted the game of rock-paper-scissors he was playing with Romana by placing a jelly baby in her hand. (DW: Destiny of the Daleks)
- The Doctor offered a jelly baby to Davros, which was slapped out of his hand and, oddly, an explosion was heard when they fell to the ground. (DW: Destiny of the Daleks)
- While in the Eden projection, the Doctor ate some jelly babies, and also gave a green one missing a leg to Bernice Summerfield (as she was tracking the Key to Time). (DW: Nightmare of Eden, DWM: Time & Time Again)
- He offered jelly babies to the Anethans while aboard the Skonnan freighter. (DW: The Horns of Nimon)
- The Iron Legion invaded a British town in which the Doctor happened to be at a shop, stocking up on jelly babies. (DWM: The Iron Legion)
Fifth Doctor
- The Doctor gave some Tibetan sherpas a bag of jelly babies in exchange for the use of their yaks and cart to move his TARDIS. (BFA: The Roof of the World)
Sixth Doctor
- In a confused condition brought on by attacks upon his second incarnation, the Doctor makes random references to his previous lives, including "the tensile strength of jelly babies". (DW: The Two Doctors)
- On Ravolox, Drathro's minions, Humker and Tandrell, discovered a bag of jelly babies in the Doctor's coat as they investigated him. He quickly snatched the bag back, before wordlessly offering them each one of the sweets. (DW: The Mysterious Planet)
Seventh Doctor
- The Doctor enjoyed a snack of jelly babies while reading The Time Machine, just before the events that led to his regeneration, technically making this his last meal. (DW: Doctor Who)
- After he appears to die in a San Francisco hospital, his belongings end up in the possession of a youth named Chang Lee. Amongst those possessions is a bag of jelly babies. (DW: Doctor Who)
Eighth Doctor
- The Eighth Doctor produces a bag of jelly babies to distract a police officer, and then disarm him (exactly how he was able to obtain the sweets under the circumstances is left a mystery). (DW: Doctor Who)
- He also then used a jelly baby to confuse a security guard named Gareth at the Institute of Technological Advancement and Research (DW: Doctor Who)
- The Eighth Doctor also searched for jelly babies in the markets of Hyspero. (EDA: The Scarlet Empress)
- Whilst living on Earth in the town on Greyfrith, he often bought jelly babies by the pound. (EDA: Father Time)
Tenth Doctor
- The Doctor gave Donna Noble a bag to breathe into when she began hyperventilating; she commented that it smelled of jelly babies. (NSA: The Forever Trap)
Other
- Bernice Summerfield went to find a segment of the Key to Time, disguised as a jelly baby, which the Doctor happened to have. To this end, she met him while fending off Mandrels in the section of Eden take by the Continuous Event Transmuter. (DWM: Time & Time Again during the events of DW: Nightmare of Eden)
- Harold Saxon enjoyed a bag of jelly babies with his wife while waiting for the Toclafane invasion. (DW: The Sound of Drums)
- Jelly babies appear as collectible cards in The Adventure Games.
Behind the scenes
- On a number of occasions, the Doctor offered "jelly babies" when in fact having another kind of sweet, such as liquorice allsorts.
- Tom Baker has claimed that the original script of The Face of Evil involved the Doctor threatening the tribesmen with a knife. Feeling that such an act was not appropriate, he insisted that the Doctor bluff his way out with a jelly baby instead.[1]
- In the United States, jelly babies had a low profile as a confectionery product. When Pinnacle Books published Doctor Who novelisations in new packaging, the editorial changes made by them included changing jelly babies to jelly beans, for fear of confusing American readers. Later, when the series had a great deal more popularity, many Americans simply associated jelly babies with Doctor Who and with the Doctor as played by Tom Baker. Under license from the BBC, one company sold jelly babies in packaging resembling the Doctor's TARDIS, advertising them as "the Cosmic Candy of the Time Lords".
- The "Inside the TARDIS" featurette on the UK DVD of Doctor Who includes a closeup view of the bowl of jelly babies enjoyed by the Seventh Doctor at the start of the film.
