Short Trips (series)

"Short Trips" was a label applied to stories and books, published by both BBC Books and Big Finish Productions. Early publications released under the "Short Trips" banner were short story anthologies. The majority of these anthologies were collections of prose issued from 1998 to 2009, but Big Finish resurrected the name as a label for audio anthologies and single audio downloads beginning in 2010.

BBC Books

"Short Trips" was a name initially given to three short story anthologies published by BBC Books, starting in 1999. The notion was very similar to Virgin Books' Decalog anthology series. These three new books were published in conjunction with the BBC Eighth Doctor Adventures and BBC Past Doctor Adventures book series. Each book contained stories featuring the first eight incarnations of the Doctor. After publishing the anthology Short Trips and Side Steps in March 2000, BBC Books abandoned short stories for full length prose.

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BBC Audio

BBC Audio also released a few collections of stories adapted from the print books, plus a few originals, in audio format.

Big Finish Productions

In 2002, Big Finish Productions obtained the rights to the Short Trips series. The Big Finish Short Trips books, like the Decalog series, are built around themes. These include an annual volume dedicated to Christmas-related tales and one volume dedicated to Dalek stories. A total of twenty-eight volumes of new material — featuring several hundred stories featuring the first eight Doctors — were published by March 2009.

On 17 April 2009, Big Finish announced it was ending the Short Trips line, since the BBC had not renewed the company's license to issue Doctor Who stories in print.^[1] A final Short Trips volume, a "best-of" collection, subsequently appeared in May 2009, coinciding with Big Finish briefly making its back stock of earlier Short Trips books available at a discounted rate.

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CD releases

In less than a year, however, Big Finish revived the Short Trips format, this time as exclusive-to-audio readings of short stories, most performed by veteran cast members. It began by soliciting stories from fans, though seasoned writers also contributed stories (along with one short story from Colin Baker). Unlike almost everything else produced by Big Finish, they feature only one actor reading a story, being audiobooks rather than audio dramas. All in the regular series are original to audio, and have not previously appeared in print.

Volume I

Main article: Short Trips - Volume I

Volume II

Main article: Short Trips - Volume II

Volume III

Main article: Short Trips - Volume III

Volume IV

Main article: Short Trips - Volume IV

Monthly series

From January 2015-December 2020, new Short Trips were released as monthly individual downloads.

Series 5

Main article: Series 5 (ST)

Series 6

Main article: Series 6 (ST)

Series 7

Main article: Series 7 (ST)

Series 8

Main article: Series 8 (ST)

Series 9

Main article: Series 9 (ST)

Series 10

Main article: Series 10 (ST)

Collection series

From February 2022-onwards, new Short Trips were released as collection downloads similar to the first four releases. From April 2025-onwards, Peter Anghelides took over the range from Alfie Shaw.

Volume 11

Main article: Short Trips: Volume 11

Volume 12

Main article: Short Trips: Volume 12

Volume 13

Main article: Tales from the Vortex (audio anthology)

Subscriber exclusives

Main article: Subscriber Short Trips

In addition to the above, several stories taken from the Short Trips books (up to Tweaker) have had readings recorded and made available for special subscriber-only downloads.^[2] In December 2014, Big Finish announced a retroactive expansion of the subscriber exclusives with stories written specially for audio (from A Room with No View onwards). The expansion resulted in having four subscriber exclusives per year from 2010 onward.^[3] All successive stories were also written specially for audio.

Rarities

Main article: Short Trips Rarities

Starting in September 2016, Big Finish began re-releasing their Subscriber Short Trips stories in the Short Trips Rarities series.^[4]

Miscellaneous

One Small Step..., originally printed in Short Trips: Past Tense in 2004, was read by Nicholas Briggs and played as part of the The Big Finish Podcast in 2009. It was played again on the podcast in 2016.

The Toy, read by Sarah Sutton, was originally released to subscribers of The Complete History in 2015. The following year, it was made available to purchase as part of the Short Trips Rarities range.

Time Lord Victorious

Main article: Time Lord Victorious (series)

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External links

• Official Short Trips page at bigfinish.com

Footnotes

v • e Short Trips short stories   BBC Books Short Trips Model Train Set • Old Flames • War Crimes • The Last Days • Stop the Pigeon • Freedom • Glass • Mondas Passing • There are Fairies at the Bottom of the Garden • Mother's Little Helper • The Parliament of Rats • Rights • Wish You Were Here • Ace of Hearts • The People's Temple More Short Trips Totem • Scientific Adviser • Missing, Part One: Business as Usual • Moon Graffiti • One Bad Apple • 64 Carlysle Street • The Eternity Contract • The Sow in Rut • Special Weapons • Honest Living • Dead Time • Romans Cutaway • Return of the Spiders • Hot Ice • uPVC • Good Companions • Missing, Part Two: Message in a Bottle • Femme Fatale Short Trips and Side Steps The Longest Story in the World • A Town Called Eternity • The Not-So-Sinister Sponge • Nothing at the End of the Lane • Countdown to TV Action • The Queen of Eros • The Android Maker of Calderon IV • Revenants • Please Shut the Gate • Turnabout is Fair Play • Do You Love Anyone Enough? • Dr Who and the House on Oldark Moor • Gone Too Soon • Reunion • Planet of the Bunnoids • Monsters • Better Watch Out, Better Take Care • Face Value • Storm in a Tikka • Playing with Toys • Vrs   Big Finish Productions Zodiac The True and Indisputable Facts in the Matter of the Ram's Skull • Growing Higher • Twin Piques • Still Lives • Constant Companion • Virgin Lands • The Switching • Jealous, Possessive • Five Card Draw • I Was a Monster!!! • The Invertebrates of Doom • The Stabber • Introduction and links Companions The Tip of the Mind • The Splintered Gate • The Man from DOCTO(R) • Apocrypha Bipedium • A Boy's Tale • Kept Safe and Sound • The Lying Old Witch in the Wardrobe • Hearts of Stone • Distance • Qualia • Curriculum Vitae • Notre Dame du Temps • The Little Drummer Boy • Hidden Talent • The Canvey Angels • Balloon Debate • A Long Night A Universe of Terrors The Exiles • Mire and Clay • Ash • Face-Painter • Losing Track of Time • The Discourse of Flies • The Fear • Mauritz • The Comet's Tail • Long Term • Soul Mate • Whiskey and Water • The Death of Me • This is My Life • Gazing Void The Muses Introduction • Teach Yourself Ballroom Dancing • The Brain of Socrates • Mordieu • An Overture Too Early • Hymn of the City • Confabula • The Astronomer's Apprentice • Katarina in the Underworld • The Glass Princess Steel Skies Corridors of Power • A Good Life • Reversal of Fortune • Monitor • Dust • Light at the End of the Tunnel • No Exit • House • Deep Stretch • Inmate 280 • Doing Time • The Ruins of Heaven • Cold War • O, Darkness • Greenaway • Eternity Past Tense The Immortals • Far from Home • All Done with Mirrors • CHAOS • Ante Bellum • The Thief of Sherwood • Come Friendly Bombs... • Graham Dilley Saves the World • Bide-a-Wee • Mortlake • White Man's Burden • Of the Mermaid and Jupiter • The Man Who Wouldn't Give Up • One Small Step... • To Kill a Nandi Bear • Fixing a Hole • That Time I Nearly Destroyed the World Whilst Looking for a Dress Life Science Syntax • Primitives • The Northern Heights • Observation • Mortal Thoughts • Lant Land • A Star is Reborn • The Southwell Park Mermaid • The Destroyers • The Reproductive Cycle • Jonah • Scribbles in Chalk • The End • The Age of Ambition • Echo • A Rose by Any Other Name Repercussions The Time Lord's Story • The Ghost's Story • The Rag & Bone Man's Story • The Seismologist's Story • The Dead Man's Story • The Inquisitor's Story • The Gangster's Story • The Bushranger's Story • The Schoolboy's Story • The Juror's Story • The Farmer's Story • The Republican's Story • The Assassin's Story • The Diplomat's Story • The Steward's Story • The Tramp's Story • Repercussions... Monsters Best Seller • From Eternity • Last Rites • The Touch of the Nurazh • Flashpoint • These Things Take Time • Categorical Imperative • Trapped! • Not So Much a Programme, More a Way of Life • Screamager • The Colour of Monsters 2040 The Nuclear Option • Separation • Thinking Warrior • Observer Effect • Artificial Intelligence • Daisy Chain • Sustainable Energy • Culture War • The Baron Wastes • /Carpenter/Butterfly/Baronet • Outsourcing • Anteus • The Last Emperor • The Ethereal A Christmas Treasury Last Christmas • UNIT Christmas Parties: First Christmas • In the TARDIS: Christmas Day • Water's Edge • A Yuletide Tail • Spookasem • Christmas Special • Never Seen Cairo • The Man Who (Nearly) Killed Christmas • Last Minute Shopping • Every Day • The Eight Doctors of Christmas • The Little Things • UNIT Christmas Parties: Christmas Truce • The Clanging Chimes of Doom • Perfect Present • Present Tense • Goodwill Toward Men • It's a Lovely Day Tomorrow • All Our Christmases • Lily • ...Be Forgot • The Feast of Seven... Eight (and Nine) • UNIT Christmas Parties: Ships That Pass • Evergreen Seven Deadly Sins The Duke's Folly • That Which Went Away • Angel • Suitors, Inc. • The 57th • Telling Tales • Too Rich for My Blood • Seven Deadly Sins A Day in the Life After Midnight • Sold Out • Undercurrents • The Five O'Clock Shadow • The Sooner the Better • Six Impossible Things Before Breakfast • The Heroine, the Hero and the Megalomaniac • Waiting for Jeremy • A Life in the Day • Morphology • Making History • One Wednesday Afternoon • How You Get There • The Last Broadcast • The Terror of the Darkness • Visiting Hours • Before Midnight The Solar System Mercury • Venus • Earth • Mars • Jupiter • Saturn • Uranus • Neptune • Pluto • Sedna The History of Christmas The Lampblack Wars • Home Fires • The Feast • Rome • Set in Stone • The Thousand Years of Christmas • Presence • Danse Macabre • The Church of Saint Sebastian • The Prodigal Sun • Be Good for Goodness's Sake • Ode to Joy • Nobody's Gift • The Innocents • Comforts of Home • Christmas on the Moon • The Anchorite's Echo • The Revolutionaries • The Gift • Callahuanca • Not in My Back Yard • She Won't Be Home • Saint Nicholas's Bones • The Long Midwinter Farewells The Mother Road • Father Figure • The Bad Guy • Separation Day • The Very Last Picture Show • Into the Silent Land • Wake • The Velvet Dark • Life After Queth • Black and White • Curtain Call • Utopia • The Wickerwork Man • The Three Paths The Centenarian Prologue • Echoes • Direct Action • Dream Devils • Falling from Xi'an • Log 384 • The Church of Football • Incongruous Details • Ancient Whispers • First Born • Dear John • Checkpoint • Childhood Living • The Lost • Old Boys • Testament • Forgotten Time Signature An Overture Too Early • The Ruins of Time • Gone Fishing • The Avant Guardian • Second Contact • Resonance • Walkin' City Blues • The Hunting of the Slook • The Earwig Archipelago • DS Al Fine • Certificate of Destruction Dalek Empire Kalendorf • Natalie's Diary • Alby • Private Investigations • Suz • The Best Joke I Ever Told • Hide and Seek • The Eighth Wonder of the World • Mutually Assured Survival • Museum Peace Destination Prague Midnight in the Café of the Black Madonna • Room for Improvement • Life from Lifelessness • The Long Step Backward • Strange Attractor • Gold and Black Ooze • The Dogs of War • Sunday Afternoon, AD 848,988 • Nanomorphosis • Spoilsport • War in a Time of Peace • The End of Now • Suspension and Disbelief • Leap Second • Lady of the Snows • The Time Eater • Fable Fusion • Men of the Earth • Across Silent Seas • The Dragons of Prague • Omegamorphosis Snapshots Golem • Indian Summer • All of Beyond • The Eyes Have It • The Misadventure of Mark Thorne • Attachments • There's Something About Mary • My Hero • Plight of the Monkrah • Remain in Light • In Case of Emergencies • Puppeteer • Osskah • Piecemeal • The Report • You Had Me at Verify User Name and Password • She Knew • The Glarn Strategy • Salva Mea • The Sorrows of Vienna • Fanboys The Ghosts of Christmas Faithful Friends: Part One • But Once a Year • For the Man Who Has Everything • Tell Me You Love Me • The Cutty Wren • Do You Dream in Colour? • The Nobility of Faith • 24 Crawford Street • The Sommerton Fetch • Faithful Friends: Part Two • Dear Great Uncle Peter • Do You Believe in the Krampus? • They Fell • The Christmas Presence • Snowman in Manhattan • The Crackers • Jigsaw • Dr Cadabra • Far Away in a Manger • All Snug in Their Beds • Decorative Purposes • The Stars Our Contamination • Keeping It Real • Christmas Every Day? • Faithful Friends: Part Three Defining Patterns Machine Time • The Time and Tide • Losing the Audience • One Card for the Curious • Séance, or Smoking is Highly Addictive, Don't Start • The Celestial Harmony Engine • Mutiny • Numb • Closing the Account • The Great Escapes • Loose Change • Lepidoptery for Beginners • One Step Forward, Two Steps Back • Homework • The Devil Like a Bear • Stanley • Twilight's End • The Book of My Life • Defining Patterns The Quality of Leadership From Little Acorns • One Fateful Knight • The Slave War • Goths and Robbers • Good Queen, Bad Queen, I Queen, You Queen • The Price of Conviction • God Send Me Well to Keep • Peaceable Kingdom • Rock Star • On a Pedestal • Clean-up on Aisle Two • The Spindle of Necessity • Epilogue Transmissions Doctor Who and the Adaptation of Death • Policy to Invade • Only Connect • Gudok • Generation Gap • Lonely • Blue Road Dance • Tweaker • Link • Driftwood • Methuselah • Nettles • Larkspur • See No Evil • iNtRUsioNs • Breadcrumbs • Transmission Ends How the Doctor Changed My Life Homework • Change Management • Curiosity • Potential • Second Chances • Child's Play • Relativity • Outstanding Balance • The Last Thing You Ever See • The Shopping Trolleys of Doom • The Final Star • The Man on the Phone • The Monster in the Wardrobe • Suns and Mothers • Taking the Cure • Those Left Behind • Evitability • £436 • Time Shear • Running on Empty • Swamp of Horrors (1957) - Viewing Notes • Insider Dealing • The Andrew Invasion • Stolen Days • Lares Domestici Christmas Around the World Planet of the Elves • Exclave • A Visit from Saint Nicholas • Instead of You • Christmas Every Day • Mirth, or Walking Spirits • Do You Smell Carrots? • The Doctor's Cross Word • Dateline to Deadline • Autaia Pipipi Pia • No Room • Interesting Times • Revellers of Doom • Lost and Founded • The Best of Days • Conscription • Christmas in Toronto • Companion • Illumination • White on White Indefinable Magic Phoenix • The Power Supply • Favourite Star • Hiccup in Time • Shamans • The Fall of the Druids • Priceless Junk • Have You Tried Turning It Off and Then Back On Again? • The Reign Makers • Pass It On • The Science of Magic • Hello Goodbye • Trial by Fire • Death Sentences • Once upon a Time Machine • Mardi Gras Massacre • Blessed Are the Peacemakers Re:Collections I Was a Monster!!! • Apocrypha Bipedium • Face-Painter • The Glass Princess • The Ruins of Heaven • The Thief of Sherwood • The Age of Ambition • The Dead Man's Story • Flashpoint • Thinking Warrior • All Our Christmases • Suitors, Inc. • How You Get There • Venus • The Lampblack Wars • Life After Queth • Checkpoint • The Avant Guardian • Museum Peace • Midnight in the Café of the Black Madonna • The Glarn Strategy • Dear Great Uncle Peter • Losing the Audience • The Spindle of Necessity • Lonely • Lares Domestici • Lost and Founded • The Fall of the Druids

v • e Big Finish audio Short Trips   Multi-Doctor Seven to One • The Jago & Litefoot Revival • Deleted Scenes • Regeneration Impossible   First Doctor Susan, Ian, Barbara Rise and Fall • A Star is Born • A Small Semblance of Home • Home Again, Home Again Ian, Barbara, Vicki 1963 Vicki, Steven Etheria Steven, Sara The Little Drummer Boy Steven O Tannenbaum • Helmstone • Peace in Our Time • Out of the Deep Steven, Dodo This Sporting Life Dodo The Horror at Bletchington Station Ben, Polly Falling Solo Flywheel Revolution   Second Doctor Ben, Polly Lost and Found Jamie The Last Day at Work Victoria The Way Forwards Jamie, Victoria Year of the Drex Olympics Zoe A Stain of Red in the Sand Jamie, Zoe One Small Step... • Lepidoptery for Beginners • The Five Dimensional Man • Penny Wise, Pound Foolish • Little Doctors • The Way of the Empty Hand • The Horror of Hy-Brasil • The British Invasion Solo The Piltdown Men   Third Doctor Liz Walls of Confinement • A Home From Home • The Blame Game • The Christmas Dimension • Blue Boxes Jo The Switching • Pop-Up • Lost in the Wakefield Triangle • Time Tunnel • Sphinx Lightning • The Other Woman • Damascus • Gardeners' Worlds • Taken For Granted • Still Life • The Same Face Sarah Neptune • Decline of the Ancient Mariner • Crime at the Cinema Solo A True Gentleman • Landbound • The Threshold • AWOL   Fourth Doctor Sarah, Harry How to Win Planets and Influence People • #HarrySullivan Sarah Chain Reaction • The Wondrous Box • Collector's Item Leela Death-Dealer • Sound the Siren and I'll Come To You Comrade • String Theory • The Ghost Trap • Black Dog • The Revisionists • The Smallest Battle • The Beast of Muir Romana I The Doctor's First XI • The Warren Legacy Romana II The Old Rogue • Breadcrumbs Romana II, Adric A Full Life Adric Erasure • Messages from the Dead Solo Only Connect • Waiting for Gadot • I Am The Master   Fifth Doctor Adric, Nyssa, Tegan The Toy • The Ingenious Gentleman Adric of Alzarius Nyssa The Deep • Tweaker • The Second Oldest Question • Downward Spiral Nyssa, Tegan The Lions of Trafalgar • The King of the Dead • The Mistpuddle Murders Nyssa, Tegan, Turlough Gardens of the Dead • The Monkey House Tegan, Turlough Lant Land Turlough Trap For Fools Peri Wet Walls • Methuselah • A Room With No View • Rulebook • The Meaning of Red Solo Sock Pig   Sixth Doctor Peri Murmurs of Earth • To Cut a Blade of Grass • The Shadows of Serenity • Prime Winner • The Authentic Experience • Under ODIN's Eye • Not Forgotten Evelyn Mission Improbable Charley These Stolen Hours Constance The Darkened Earth Mel Intuition • Mel-evolent • Loud and Proud Solo The Wings of a Butterfly • The Doctor's Coat • The Hoxteth Time Capsule   Seventh Doctor Mel The Devil's Footprints Ace Police and Shreeves • Critical Mass • The Riparian Ripper • The Shadow Trader • Crystal Ball • Dark Convoy • Washington Burns • The Shrine of Sorrows • Forever Fallen • Doctors and Dragons • Dead Woman Walking Benny The Hesitation Deviation Solo Twilight's End • The Night Before Christmas • Inside Story   Eighth Doctor Charley Letting Go • Foreshadowing • The Man Who Wasn't There • Hall of the Ten Thousand Lucie All the Fun of the Fair • Late Night Shopping • The Young Lions • The Caves of Erith • The Curse of the Fugue • Flashpoint Molly, Liv The World Beyond the Trees Bliss Salvage Solo / One-off companions Museum Peace • Running Out of Time • Quantum Heresy • A Heart on Both Sides • All Hands on Deck • The Turn of the Screw • Tuesday • An Ocean of Sawdust • Death Will Not Part Us   Ninth Doctor Solo Battle Scars • Her Own Bootstraps • The Lichyrwick Abomination Rose Identity Check   Tenth Doctor Solo The Shattered Hourglass • Free Speech • Fear of Flying • Table for Two, Dinner for One   Meta-Crisis Tenth Doctor The Siege of Big Ben • Flight Into Hull!   Eleventh Doctor Solo The Infinite Today • Rearguard • The World Tree Valarie The Galois Group   Twelfth Doctor Solo The Astrea Conspiracy • Dead Media • The Best-Laid Plans • A Song For Running • The Three Flames Bill War Stories

v • e Big Finish Doctor Who series and spin-offs Classic Series Original Main Range (Bonus Releases • Subscriber Short Trips • Short Trips Rarities) • The Companion Chronicles • The Early Adventures • The Lost Stories • Short Trips Classic Adventures First Doctor • Second Doctor • Third Doctor • Fourth Doctor • Fifth Doctor • Sixth Doctor • Seventh Doctor Bonuses Interludes Continuing Adventures Eighth Doctor (Further Adventures) Dark Eyes • Doom Coalition • Ravenous • Stranded The Stageplays • Novel Adaptations • Philip Hinchcliffe Presents • The New Adventures of Bernice Summerfield • The Comic Strip Adaptations • Doctor Who Unbound Special Releases Excelis Saga • Bonus Releases • The Light at the End • The Legacy of Time New Series Series that have never starred the Doctor are excluded from this list. Time War Gallifrey (Time War • War Room) • Eighth Doctor: Time War • War Doctor (War Doctor Begins) "New Series" Adventures First Doctor • Ninth Doctor • Tenth Doctor Destiny of the Doctor • Classic Doctors, New Monsters • The Doctor Chronicles • The Diary of River Song • The Lives of Captain Jack • The War Master The Worlds of Doctor Who Dalek Empire • Sarah Jane Smith • Gallifrey • UNIT • Cyberman • I, Davros • Jago & Litefoot • Counter-Measures (The New Counter-Measures) • The New Adventures of Bernice Summerfield • UNIT: The New Series • The Diary of River Song • The Lives of Captain Jack • The War Master • Rose Tyler • Class: The Audio Adventures • Missy • The Paternoster Gang • The Robots • Brave New World • Zygon Century • Call Me Master • Planet Krynoid Special Releases Ranges The Churchill Years • Tales from New Earth • Jenny: The Doctor's Daughter • Lady Christina • Donna Noble: Kidnapped! • Susan's War • Master! • The Lone Centurion • The Year of Martha Jones • The Eighth of March • Rani Takes on the World Anthologies The Worlds of Doctor Who • Masterful These anthologies were released to celebrate anniversaries. These stories feature Doctor Who characters, but do not primarily star the Doctor. Torchwood Monthly Range • Torchwood One • The Story Continues • Torchwood Soho Special Releases The Sins of Captain John The Worlds of Big Finish Bernice Summerfield (The Story So Far) • Iris Wildthyme • Vienna • Graceless • Charlotte Pollard Special Releases The Worlds of Big Finish Other New Worlds These DWU characters have never been owned by the BBC.