The Wednesday That Wasn't

"We demand the missing day."

Writer: Luke Hollands

Format: Audio

Released: December 2025

Series: Short Trips 14.X

Featuring: Thirteenth Doctor, Yaz, Ryan, Graham 

Synopsis

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. 

Verdict

The Wednesday That Wasn't was a very good audio adventure! I'm a big fan of the Paul Spragg Memorial entry into the Short Trips range as whilst not a writer myself, I'm very much in favour of those trying to make a break into the scriptwriting business getting an open go at a Doctor Who adventure. I think it's the right move to have a theme and this year the focus was rightly on the Thirteenth Doctor after Jodie Whittaker's stunning debut at Big Finish with the Thirteenth Doctor Adventures, as otherwise there would be so much scale for the judging panel to go to and I imagine it would actually make it difficult to judge. At least all of these entries would have a certain feel with them limited to one incarnation of the Doctor. That Doctor was presented here fantastically well and I was so impressed with the narration of Clare Corbett. She was really engaging but also her impression of Jodie Whittaker when taking on the role of the Thirteenth Doctor was magnificent! It's obviously wonderful that we have the real article in her own series, but this is no bad substitute if this Doctor was to show up in any more minor series like the Short Trips. I'm all for that! She nailed it and that instantly helps the story in my opinion. I thought it was good to have a kind of time jump thing with the Doctor arriving at the Galactic Lost Property Office alone to make a claim on the missing Wednesday, but then the contents within that day seeing the Doctor alongside the original fam of Yaz, Ryan and Graham. They feel authentic for this Doctor even though they didn't see out her entire run all together. Whilst featuring the three companions, it was actually Edna as the worker at the Property Office that felt like the companion for the story which was pretty fun. She was a really strong character and I liked how she was trying her best to follow protocol but the prospect of getting to actually see what was within the Wednesday was too much for her not to leave her desk. I thought the Skitrax was a decent villain and I loved the idea of sentient currency. I feel there's a lot of untapped potential there and we've barely scratched the surface on what could be presented. There's so much that could happen if money could literally talk as the saying goes, so for the Doctor to shut things down and impact the very nature of money itself from shares to stock exchanges really did have a ripple effect! Those then who had a downward turn financially were trying to claim the day for themselves which I thought was logical and made perfect sense. It was a really solid plot and I'd have actually just liked more time experiencing the danger of sentient currency. I know that wasn't possible in a Short Trip which is fine, but it's definitely something that could be taken further in the future. I thought it was also cheeky to mention a number of lost items and the cover art as well is a thing of beauty. The Doctor convincing Edna of ownership of the day and the threats that would happen if the day wasn't reinserted into the timeline was great stuff and rounded out a really good little story. For free as well! I look forward to next year's entry already. A terrific little listen.

Rating: 8/10