Short Trips ( series ) " Short Trips " is a label that has been applied to stories and books , published by both BBC Books and Big Finish Productions . Except for a few special cases , everything released under the " Short Trips " banner has been a short story anthology . The majority of these anthologies have been 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 . 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 . 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 . 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 every thing 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 . Monthly series . Starting in January 2015 , new " Short Trips " have been released as monthly individual downloads . Subscriber exclusives . 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 . 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 . All successive stories were also written specially for audio . " Rarities " . Starting in September 2016 , Big Finish began re - releasing their " Subscriber Short Trips " stories in the " Short Trips Rarities " series .