Doctor Who: Short Trips: The Wednesday That Wasn’t

Paul Spragg Memorial Short Trips Opportunity #2025

by Luke Hollands, Clare Corbett (Narrator )

The Galactic Lost Property Office is where the universe stores what it has misplaced. But instead of a scarf from Trenzalore or an umbrella from Peladon, someone has handed in a Wednesday. A whole missing day. The Doctor says she was keeping it safe before someone wished it away. Now it's loose and dangerous - with a treacherous crowd who claim ownership ahead of her in the queue.

Winner of the Paul Spragg Memorial Short Trip Opportunity 2025

Genres: Doctor Who, Audiobook, Science Fiction, Short Stories, Media Tie In, Time Travel

Audiobook

First published December 29, 2025

About the author

LUKE HOLLANDS is a former lion tamer, motorcycle stunt-rider and ruler of a small South American country. He is also a compulsive liar. He learnt how to tell tall tales while interviewing famous politicians, celebrities and criminals as a newspaper journalist. Thinking he should get a proper job he joined the BBC. Since then he has produced and presented quirky radio documentaries, appeared in the odd drama and danced on television dressed as a giant bear. He now makes wildlife films, some of which he briefly appears in, and has travelled the world, swimming in shark-infested waters, tramping through crocodile-stuffed lagoons and being eaten alive by various species of nibbling insect. Surprisingly for Luke, everything apart from the first sentence of this biography is actually true.

Reviews

[Rick · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a fun one!
It’s always a little exciting wondering what this year’s winner of this new writer’s contest will delivery. I’ve never been disappointed, but some have certainly been better than others. This is definitely better than the average, at least for me. A strange concept and a twisty solution, always a good combination.
And best of all, it’s a free promotional download.
Thanks for another great year to everyone at Big Finish.

[Emilija · Rating 5 out of 5]

The 150 Prompt Doctor Who Reading Challenge - The TARDIS - 1) Time Travel - Read A Book That Involves Time Travel Or Shifting Timelines.

I loved this story. The Thirteenth Doctor was well written, and it was like I could hear Jodie's voice in my head as I listened to this story. The story itself was entertaining and just a tad bit kooky. Like, how exactly does somebody hand in an entire day to lost property? It was a really decent and entertaining story.

[Danny Welch · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Doctor Who Short Trips range is very hit and miss, but the one thing that stays consistently good is The Paul Spragg Memorial stories. Free-Speech and War Stories have been my two favorite stories from these so far.

The Galactic Lost Property has gotten ahold of an entire day, a Wednesday that if it falls into the wrong hands, could mean the death of countless people. The Doctor must obtain it no matter what, but first she has to convince the person in charge to give it to her.

Luke Hollands has written a very fun, hilarious and timey-wimey story that's heartfelt and about finding one's self. I really enjoyed this story, and Clare Corbett did a beautiful job narrating it, her 13th Doctor impression is incredible.

Overall: A really solid story. 8/10

[kw204741 · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is why I love Big Finish. 💙

[Steven Shinder · Rating 4 out of 5]

Clare Corbett does such a great job reading as the Thirteenth Doctor. You might’ve believed it was Jodie Whittaker herself.

[Seb Hasi · Rating 4 out of 5]

The most memorable quality of the Wednesday That Wasn’t, is that it was just very charming. A modestly interesting main character, Jodie’s Doctor being fun and quirky, and an interesting enough villain. Granted none of the individual aspects of the story shine out as distinctly memorable, but it was a very enjoyable listen and I think that’s a great thing. Our setting is this strange conceptual place, and the Doctor is zipping in and out time; hardly the first story to do that, yet it did have the fun fun gimmick of the 13th Doctor trying to get our character to do something with a day itself. The villains fit well given they are fairly high concept themselves, it was just nice to have a properly malevolent villain who actual was distinct and didn’t have the most generic plan possible. So many of these short trips just focus on trying to establish some bland protagonist, which leads to the villains being an afterthought, yet here they have a major role and are actually a threat. The 13th Doctor plays a key role and frankly having her written well was more than enough to make me appreciate the skill in the writing of the story. The humour and drama is balanced well and allows for events to unfold without the distraction or some long monologue to desperately create the depth that the writer forgot to add earlier. I think it was just a relief to have the first of these short trips competition winners actually be good for the first time in 2-3 years.

[Cameron Turnbull · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very engaging and funny timey-wimey story. An intergalactic lost property office that has an entire day missing and needs to be collected is so bizarre in the best possible way. Very Douglas Adams-esque.

The Thirteenth Doctor is pretty much nailed down and Edna Tarron is a character I can find a lot of people relating to.

So much went on in this short trip but it was all quite contained. Nothing lasted longer than it needed to and everything was explained beautifully.

Clare Corbett is also a fantastic narrator. Just as the script nailed the Thirteenth Doctor, she gave incredible inflexions to the character.

I hope that Luke Hollands is taken on for more Big Finish short trips. This has been an absolute joy to listen to.

[MrColdStream · Rating 3 out of 5]

A wildly original Thirteenth Doctor short trip about a missing Wednesday stored in the Galactic Lost Property Office; brilliantly performed by Clare Corbett, sharply written, and rich in atmosphere. The concept is inspired, the Doctor feels spot-on, Edna Tarron emerges as an effective companion figure, and while the timelines and villains can be tricky to pin down, the tension, sound design, and sheer imagination more than make up for it.

[Luke · Rating 4 out of 5]

A brilliant idea and concept for a short story in any science fiction setting but when you add the doctor it just gets that more intriguing! this is the 13th doctor done right, I've always been a defender of hers and said if she had people who knew how to write for her she would be incredible and she is here completely! brilliant work Luke Hollands I loved it and im excited to see more work for you in the future.

[Toby Sutton-Long · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'll admit to being slightly underwhelmed by this one, possibly because of how strong the recent 13DAs have been. However, it was a very good concept that easily could have been an hour long and with a full cast, and it was nice to get cameos from Yaz, Graham and Ryan. Clare Corbett does a good Thirteenth Doctor, and I hope Luke Hollands writes more for Big Finish.

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well written with a great performance by Clare Corbett. She really sounds like the 13th Doctor. This really feels like it could have been a TV episode. I hope they get Luke Hollands back to write more for Doctor Who at Big Finish and maybe even for TV.

[Marcel Driel · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was amazing! Chock full great ideas and concepts with some fun characters. Narration was fantastic too. What a pleasant surprise.

[Vanna Book-Mage · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was good and I love 13!

[A Penny · Rating 4 out of 5]

big finish will consistently utilise the fun ideas surrounding time travel 10× better than most writers for new who

[Finlay O'Riordan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not a bad short trip, but just not very interesting. The cover art was more interesting actually.