Original artwork, not a still
Fish fingers and custard.
— Doctor Who ‧ 2005
Behind the line
What it means
Our interpretation.
It is the perfect first-meeting joke: a brand-new Doctor, wrong in every detail, announces the most revolting-sounding meal imaginable and is proved gloriously right, while a little girl takes it all in stride. It told viewers that Matt Smith's Doctor would be childlike and unpredictable. Fish fingers and custard became the show's best-loved running gag, a shorthand for the Doctor's alien taste, served up at fan gatherings and in recipes ever since.
Context reviewed
In context
Spoilers for Doctor WhoShow the scene
In "The Eleventh Hour" (series 5, episode 1, 2010), the newly regenerated Eleventh Doctor crash-lands the TARDIS in seven-year-old Amelia Pond's back garden in 1996, hungry and with no idea what his new body likes. In her kitchen he tries an apple, yoghurt, bacon, beans and bread and butter, spitting out or rejecting each one ("new mouth, new rules"). Then he stops, announces that he knows what he needs, and asks for fish fingers and custard. He dips the fish fingers into the custard and loves it. Fourteen years later, a grown-up Amy reminds him how long it has been.
Sources (3)
- Tardis Wiki: The Eleventh Hour (TV story)Plot, Amelia's kitchen scene and Amy's 'fourteen years since fish fingers and custard'Reference checked
- Tardis Wiki: Fish fingers and custardWhole pageReference checked
- Springfield! Springfield!: Doctor Who s05e01 transcriptKitchen sceneReference checked
Context reviewed
