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"THE WORLD TREE – A GENTLE LOOP OF MEMORY, TIME, AND SACRIFICE"

Nick Slawicz’s The World Tree, a Paul Spragg Memorial Short Trip, is a quiet, meditative tale that blossoms into something quietly profound. It finds its power not in galaxies conquered or monsters vanquished, but in a small garden, an old woman, and a Time Lord who keeps his promises. With Lisa Bowerman narrating and lending her voice to both whimsy and weight, this is a Doctor Who story that gently lingers in the heart.

ONE OLD LADY, ONE TIMELORD, ONE VERY LARGE TREE

The premise is deceptively simple. A mysterious alien tree—the titular World Tree—has rooted itself in Nora’s back garden and begun expanding at an exponential rate. If left unchecked, it could engulf the planet. The Eleventh Doctor intervenes, trapping the garden and surrounding area in a time loop while he searches for a way to contain or remove the growing threat. The problem? It takes decades.

At the centre of this narrative is Nora, a widowed elderly woman with memory problems and a kind, determined heart. She’s portrayed beautifully in Bowerman’s narration—warm, sharp in spirit even when her mind falters, and full of understated wisdom. Nora immediately clicks with the Eleventh Doctor, and their dynamic is the beating heart of the story. She is a kindred spirit, reminiscent of Evelyn Smythe in both warmth and quiet strength, making it all the more tragic that she spends forty-six years reliving the same day in the time loop.

And yet—she chooses it. That’s what makes the story so poignant. Nora is given the opportunity to leave, but opts to remain in the loop to keep the World Tree company until it can be safely removed by the Great Arboretum. She doesn't want the creature to be alone, so she chooses to stay, even as her life quietly slips away. In return, the Doctor promises her a daily holographic companion—himself.

A TIMELY GUEST AND A TIMEY-WIMEY TREE

Slawicz ties the story’s sci-fi elements into its emotional themes of memory, identity, and loneliness. The World Tree becomes a metaphor for Nora herself—growing older, increasingly unrecognisable, but still full of life and value. The use of the time loop is both literal and figurative, reflecting how people with dementia can experience time in disjointed, repetitive ways, while also enabling the Doctor’s clever solution.

There’s also a tantalising moment that gives this Short Trip historical significance: a brief scene in which a dark figure—heavily implied to be the Fifteenth Doctor—appears outside the time bubble to help the Eleventh Doctor. Due to licensing restrictions, it’s never made explicit, but the suggestion is thrilling and subtle, a tiny brushstroke of the show’s broader mythos on an otherwise intimate canvas.

TALKY, TRICKY, BUT TOUCHING

As with many Short Trips, there is a heavy emphasis on narration over action. Much of the plot is relayed through dialogue and reflection, which may slow the pacing for some. The tree itself—while a potent symbol—is never fully explained. It’s there, it threatens, it vanishes. But perhaps that ambiguity is intentional; the story is less about the alien danger than about the human connection forged around it.

The only major quibble lies in the portrayal of the Eleventh Doctor—Bowerman’s performance captures the spirit but doesn’t quite match the vocal eccentricity and bounce of Matt Smith’s incarnation. At times, he sounds more like a young Third Doctor. Still, the writing gets Eleven’s compassion and playful brilliance spot on.

📝THE BOTTOM LINE: 7/10

The World Tree is a melancholic but hopeful tale—small in scope but grand in emotion. It highlights the strength of the Paul Spragg Short Trips as a format for quiet, reflective storytelling. With Nora’s heartbreaking kindness, a tree that almost eats the world, and the Doctor keeping vigil through holograms, it blossoms into something special.

I was very impressed by The World Tree. Though it takes a little while to get going, once we get a sense of what this story is, and what it is going for, I found it a very meaningful discussion of aging, coated in a suitable amount of science fiction content.

The content of an audio like this in the context of it being part of the Paul Spragg memorial feels entirely appropriate and quite a thoughtful way of remembering the writer. Nick Slawicz does an excellent job at humanizing Nora and making her the emotional core of The World Tree. His choice to have this be the Eleventh Doctor also feels like a very good one. Given the nature of this Doctor, his youth, and his own eventual fate all feel like he was the perfect choice of any existing incarnation.

Lisa Bowerman provide excellent narration, proving to be an engaging actor as always and even doing a good job giving a bit of a voice to Eleven.

Lisa Bowerman captures the energy and emotional resonance of The Eleventh Hour, evoking the dynamic between Matt Smith’s Doctor and Amelia Pond but transposed to an elderly woman in a remote house, a character whose mind is starting to slip away.

As an allegory for memory loss, it’s devastatingly effective. The woman is caught in a loop, reliving the same day repeatedly, accompanied by an alien tree and the Doctor. The sci-fi premise works beautifully as a metaphor.

The writing is incredibly tactful and charged with genuine feeling, managing to stay true to the tone and emotional generosity of the Matt Smith era.

Such a potent storyline packed into an otherwise cozy story. I really liked how small of a story The World Tree was. Just having the dynamic between Nora and the Doctor worked really well, and I appreciated how tactfully it approached the subject of aging, memory loss, and the loneliness that can accompany it. Besides, I always enjoy a good time loop plot as well.

This is a very sweet little story. Both the concept and execution are quite simple, but it works really well. The narration is fantastic, as can be expected from Lisa Bowerman. She breathes life into Nora and really elevates her character.