British readers, please avert your eyes, because I'm about to ask a very serious, very American question: why is the Prime Minister in Anatomy of a Scandal eating a Percy Pig? And follow-up, what exactly is a Percy Pig? While I realize David E. Kelley's new Netflix series tackles extremely serious subject matter, this one moment in the first episode left me so baffled I had to pause the show.
I fancy myself something of an Anglophile. I've seen an inordinate amount of British television, routinely order Minstrels online, and force my family to pop crackers at Christmas. However, I had never once heard of a Percy Pig. What's more, I was alarmed that the PM thought this pink, flat gummy was a suitable substitution for chocolate.
However, after falling down quite the internet rabbit hole, I can confirm Percy Pig is huge — and despite what I initially thought, he is not related to Peppa. The pink gummies, which sport little piggy faces, have been sold in M&S since 1992, and in the beginning, the British public was just as skeptical about these weird little candies as I was. In 2021, former M&S Senior Buyer Bill Davies revealed to The Independent that shoppers found the gummies off-putting at first.
"As you can imagine, you go into M&S and you see pigs being sold in bags – and people have no idea what they are," he said. "There were people saying, 'What are they, pork flavoured or what?'"
Fast-forward 30 years and Percy is a British cultural icon. Since his debut, the little pig has gotten a wife named Penny (she's lemon-flavored, while he's usually strawberry or raspberry), become a TikTok star, and made his live action debut in a 2021 Christmas ad, where he was voiced by Tom Holland. Add in the licensed toys, seasonal variations, and his legion of fans, and it's no wonder the fictional Prime Minister was so eager to get his hands on a an entire jar full of Percy Pigs.
Since I've never had the pleasure of eating this beloved gummy pig myself, I can't entirely say I understand the appeal. But at least I'm no longer concerned that Anatomy of a Scandal made up the most random sounding candy imaginable for copyright reasons. Rest assured, my fellow Americans, Percy Pigs are real, and we can try them for ourselves at an exorbitant price via Amazon.
Images: Netflix