In 2010, Big Finish Productions relaunched the Doctor Who - Short Trips book series as an audio range. Now, Volume 11 has arrived as an audiobook download, containing a selection of emotive first-person narratives and explosive short-form dramas. 

The box set features different incarnations of the Doctor and beloved companions from various eras, along with some new faces as they confront challenges never heard before.

Doctor Who – Short Trips: Volume 11 is now available to own as a digital download for just £14.99, exclusively here. 

The six stand-alone stories in this box set are:  

Rearguard by Alfie Shaw (an Eleventh Doctor adventure) 
Performed by Dan Starkey and Jacob Dudman 

Trooper Stron has been given a great honour by Sontar. He’s been chosen as the rearguard on Ubreus, protecting that world against anyone who would try to pry it from Sontaran control. The problem is, no one’s coming to claim Ubreus, and that means there’s no one for Stron to fight… 

Messages From the Dead by Rochana Patel (a Fourth Doctor adventure) 
Performed by Matthew Waterhouse

Adric wants to help the Doctor. The Doctor doesn’t want Adric’s help. Banished to updating the TARDIS logbook, Adric has to record the tale of the Hermes, a doomed freighter they found in E-Space. With Romana gone, and only the past as a guide, Adric needs to work out how to make this new dynamic work before it’s too late for both him and the Doctor. 

The Threshold by Felicia Barker (a Third Doctor adventure)
Performed by Jon Culshaw 

After a collision in the vortex, the Master is trapped in his TARDIS. Luckily, the Doctor has come to save him. Unluckily, the Doctor’s TARDIS has vanished. With the ship collapsing around them, can these arch-enemies put their rivalry aside long enough to survive? 

Death Will Not Part Us by Alfie Shaw (an Eighth Doctor adventure)
Performed by Adéle Anderson 

On the 14th of August 3097, everything is fine on the world of Gernica. Except, on the same day, the planet is being destroyed. Also, on the 14th of August 3097, no one in the universe has heard of Gernica. The planet’s only chance to survive the horrors of the Time War lies with Viola Wintersmith. For Viola has a weapon that can destroy anything that stands in her way. A weapon that requires a unique form of ammunition. Her past. 

Fear of Flying by Paul F Verhoeven (a Tenth Doctor adventure) 
Performed by Ayesha Antoine 

Hawa Hassan is terrified of flying. However, to make the most important audition in her life, Hawa’s braving boarding an aeroplane. After all, it’s just one flight. What could possibly go wrong? 

Inside Story by Ben Tedds (a Seventh Doctor adventure) 
Performed by Sophie Aldred

Helen Howard wishes to make it known the plot, all names, characters, and incidents portrayed in this story are fictitious. No identification with actual persons or time travellers should be inferred. 

Writer and producer Alfie Shaw said: “Despite often being played as a comedic enemy, there’s a tragic side to the Sontarans that I wanted to examine [in Rearguard]. They’ve got no choice about their lives. They are literally bred to fight, with this inbuilt doctrine that they are honourable. So, I wanted to strip that away from them and explore what happens. 

“Since [Death Will Not Part Us] is a Time War story, I wanted to have an out-there concept that I could explore with a single character to see how much a person would sacrifice to save the people they loved, and what the unintended consequences of that could be.” 

Making her debut at Big Finish, writer of Messages From the Dead Rochana Patel, said: “I've always felt that Adric is the most misunderstood and poorly served character in all of Doctor Who. I knew I could do something quite special here. Matthew Waterhouse is an incredibly talented narrator, so there was a clear opportunity to do something with an emotional depth that we've just never seen before with this character.” 

Felicia Barker, another first-time writer at Big Finish, said of her story The Threshold: “The Master will do anything to survive. We know it, the Doctor knows it, but when did the Master know it? Before Deathworms and Cheetah Viruses, before the Eye of Harmony and Tersurus, the Master was a man in control. Commanding, unflappable, playing games with the universe. On the brink of death, he learns the high cost of living may be more than he can pay. The Doctor might be his saviour, but can he save the Master from himself?” 

Writer Paul F Verhoeven, also debuting at Big Finish with Fear of Flying, said: “I honestly couldn’t be prouder to make my Big Finish debut as part of this collection! Nothing comes close to the buzz and sense of deep gratification of having brought this to life. 

“Fear of Flying is a Tenth Doctor story, and revolves around something I believe very strongly: the Doctor always has to be the smartest one in the room.” 

Ben Tedds, returning to Big Finish after winning the Paul Spragg Memorial Competition in 2019, said of his new script Inside Story: “Using the lens of Ace and the Doctor's complex relationship, we examine how deeply our own stories cut as they encounter an author whose body is playing host to a being from another world — one that will inadvertently expose their innermost truths and fears.  

“I'm really excited to see the reaction to this Short Trip, I hope I can get people thinking about what their own stories represent, and what they truly mean to them.” 

Doctor Who – Short Trips: Volume 11 is now available to buy for just £14.99 on download exclusively from the Big Finish website. 

Big Finish is currently operating a digital-first release schedule. The mail-out of collector’s edition CDs may be delayed due to factors beyond our control, but all purchases of this release unlock a digital copy that can be immediately downloaded or played on the Big Finish app from the release date.