diff --git a/src/boututils/showdata.py b/src/boututils/showdata.py
index c0cfbfdcb..b83162b8b 100644
--- a/src/boututils/showdata.py
+++ b/src/boututils/showdata.py
@@ -446,7 +446,7 @@ def showdata(
                     + ", the shape of x is not compatible with the shape of the "
                     "variable. Shape of x should be (Nx), (Nx,Ny) or (Nt,Nx,Ny)."
                 )
-        except ValueError:
+        except (ValueError, IndexError):
             for j in range(0, Nlines[i]):
                 xnew[i].append(linspace(0, Nx[i][j] - 1, Nx[i][j]))
 
@@ -468,7 +468,7 @@ def showdata(
                         + ", the shape of y is not compatible with the shape of the "
                         "variable. Shape of y should be (Ny), (Nx,Ny) or (Nt,Nx,Ny)."
                     )
-            except ValueError:
+            except (ValueError, IndexError):
                 ynew.append(linspace(0, Ny[i][0] - 1, Ny[i][0]))
         else:
             ynew.append(0)