This is one of the most effective usage of the Cybermen in Doctor Who, full stop.

Not only is there the body horror aspect of being converted (something which has been forgotten in lots of Cybermen stories), but also the idea of conversion as a “solution” to a “problem”.

As an LGBTQA+ story this excels. I highly recommend it.

We have the concluding story to the penultimate box set of the series, the Doctor and Valarie have infiltrated their way into a religious support group where parents send those who’ve sinned (displayed homosexuality) to confess and receive redemption, and this redemption comes in the form of mechanical suits that will adjust their minds accordingly so they will never commit these acts of heresy again.

This is the first Big Finish story to feature the Cybus Cybermen introduced in Series 2 of Modern Who, complete with the stomping sound effects, the specific voice pattern and even that corny “delete” catchphrase. It’s basically giving the Eleventh Doctor the Cyberman story he should’ve had on TV, it’s amazing to think with all the great episodes of the Eleventh Doctor era, he really drew the short straw with the three main villains of Doctor Who, obviously never getting an encounter with the Master, we’ve already talked about his history with the Daleks and the Cybermen episodes were arguably worse! The less said about James Corden defeating the Cybermen with love the better!

So Sins of the Flesh much like Victory of the Doctor gives us that excellent Cyberman story the Eleventh Doctor deserved, one where they use religion to manipulate those who fear their children’s developing same-sex feelings into giving them those children to “make them better” something that sadly a lot of younger people can recognise. It’s some very heavy-going subject matter that the story manages to carry beautifully and respectfully while still being an entertaining Cyberman story and while the Cybus versions were never my personal favourites, the nostalgic kid inside me did love hearing those familiar sound effects and voicework.

spoilers for the end of Doctor Who series 10

This story takes the subtext of Bill's Cyberman conversion in World Enough and Time/The Doctor Falls and goes "I know writers who use subtext and they're all cowards."

I think this is a good story but holy hell this was a crazy one to listen to right after the gun shot that was the previous one (both stories I listened to at work)

Conversion Therapy

Prerequisites: The previous 11DC audios and Series 7 of New Who.

Sins of the Flesh pleasingly does live up to the hype, and I can confidently say that it's one of the best Cyberman stories I've heard in a long time. On audio specifically, the only story that likely surpasses it is Blood and Steel from the BSNAs, and that boxset is fantastic. Paralleling Cyber-conversion with actual conversion therapy feels like a subject that's both brilliant and obvious, and I'm happy that it was handled so well here. The subject matter is handled with grace, and there's some truly heartbreaking and uncomfortable dialogue sequences here. Of course, it's anything but subtle, but it's not trying to be. The Cybermen are legitimately interesting here, which is something I can't say for the majority of their appearances. This is some great stuff.