Sins of the Flesh was the third and final story in the audio anthology Everywhere and Anywhere, produced by Big Finish Productions. It was written by Alfie Shaw and featured Jacob Dudman as the Eleventh Doctor and Safiyya Ingar as Valarie Lockwood.
Publisher's summary[]
Is your child exhibiting sinful behaviour? Have they set themselves on the road of eternal damnation? Has everything you tried failed? Feel like you’re out of options?
Don't worry. We can help. Bring them to the Rebirth Organisation today. Bring them to be converted.
Plot[]
Posing as an agent of the Central Investigations Bureau on Alma, the Doctor meets with Robert McIntosh of the Rebirth Organisation, a religious group who are converting people into Cybermen to cure them of their sexuality and claim that the "redemption suits" will fall off over time. Robert introduces him to Alexander Kurz, a Cyberleader who claims to be unfamiliar with the term "Cyberman" and professes his devotion to the divine being Unica, and the two of them explain that the group do not use conversion units nor do the converted lose their individuality.
Valarie joins as a patient and takes part in a group led by McIntosh's converted daughter, Carmen, and speaks up against her homophobia. During the meeting, Harry is inexplicably converted in what Alexander, who takes the Doctor to witness the event, describes as a miracle showing that Unica has forgiven him. The Doctor's sonic screwdriver, however, indicates that the supposed miracle was a show likely disguising a teleport and he tells Valarie that Harry and the other Cybermen are only pretending to have retained their personality.
After breaking into his flat in the TARDIS, the Doctor is caught by Alexander, who claims to have been told of the Doctor's Time Lord identity by Unica and begs for the opportunity to go on with his penitence for violent crimes in his redemption suit. The Doctor points out that his emotional inhibitor is active, however, and flees into the TARDIS when Alexander, whom he hits with a car, attacks him. In the TARDIS, he receives another phone call from the stranger telling him that he is running out of time and begins the process of tracing the call with the Arkheion device.
Carmen and Harry round up Valarie and the others to be converted and Valarie tries to expose the process's inability to change sexuality and by ripping Harry's head off, but Lilly Hartley and the others want to become Cybermen regardless and are teleported away. The Cybermen attempt to assimilate Valarie and find that her cybernetic upgrades are incompatible, so Alexander demands information on her upgrades and forces her to listen to the others' screams. She gives in on the condition that the conversions stop, but once she has done so the conversions continue and she is locked up with Lilly to await the chamber herself. However, she manages to get out and equip Cyber-arms.
The Doctor interrupts a television programme on which the McIntoshes are being interviewed and deactivates Carmen's emotional inhibitor, allowing her to confront her father about his bigotry on live television and give the Doctor the coordinates of the Cybermen's ship before the inhibitor resets. McIntosh is incapable of facing the truth of what he has done and surrenders himself to be upgraded rather than accept the Doctor's help, so the Doctor sabotages the ship's engines and goes back in time several minutes to rescue Valarie, whose Cyber-arms have been taken over. The new Cybermen have been upgraded with elements adapted from Valarie's own, so she is able to "knacker" all of the Cyber-technology and escape into the TARDIS with the Doctor and those yet to be upgraded.
Supporting Lilly, the Doctor and Valarie go with her to confront her father, Jason, and warn him to be a better person if he does not want to lose his daughter. They then return to the TARDIS, where the Doctor tells Valarie about Amy and Rory and how he feels responsible for their separation from their family and friends after they were sent back in time. He does not want to lose Valarie as well. When the Arkheion device gets a lock on the stranger's whereabouts, the Doctor and Valarie head off to confront them and get some answers.
Cast[]
- The Doctor / Harry - Jacob Dudman
- Valarie Lockwood - Safiyya Ingar
- Cyberleader / The Cybermen - Nicholas Briggs
- Carmen - Maddison Bulleyment
- McIntosh - Sean Connolly
- Lilly - Alexandra D'Sa
- Jason - Brad Shaw
Crew[]
- Music - Borna Matosic
- Script Editors - Matt Fitton and Alfie Shaw
- Senior Producer - John Ainsworth
- Director - Helen Goldwyn
- Executive Producers - Nicholas Briggs and Jason Haigh-Ellery
- Writer & Producer - Alfie Shaw
- Sound Design - Lee Adams
- Cybermen created by Kit Pedler and Gerry Davis
Worldbuilding[]
- The people of Alma worship an entity known as Unica.
- Alexander Kurz was made to join the Rebirth Organisation. In time, he was converted into a Cyberman, specifically a Cyber-Leader.
- Lilly wants to study at Atherton University. She and Irene have both applied to Kingsmarch Uni.
- Lilly and Irene once kissed. Irene bit Lilly's tongue, which Lilly is both amused and appalled by.
- Harry is a patient.
- Valarie took many modules on the Cybermen at university. She boils down her education to that effect to, "See this? Don't do this."
- The Doctor jokingly compares regeneration to "vindictive puberty."
- Chester is a television presenter on Wake-Up Call.
- Valarie's implants are fatal to Cybermen unless their cyber tech account measures are disabled.
- As the former Cyber-Leader dies, the Doctor paraphrases Hamlet, saying, "Good night, sweet Cyber-Prince."
- Carmen held Jane's hand, prompting her father to seek help in changing her sexual orientation.
- After the Cybermen's invasion is stopped, Leopold Timmins, Superintendent of the CIB, is arrested for suppressing an investigation into Rebirth.
Notes[]
- Alfie Shaw was inspired by a documentary about a conversion therapy clinic featuring synchronised stomping from its participants which reminded him of marching Cybermen. (BFX: Sins of the Flesh)
Continuity[]
- The Doctor mentions having met Mondasian Cybermen, who are less emotionally inhibited. (TV: The Tenth Planet [+]Kit Pedler and Gerry Davis, Doctor Who season 4 (BBC1, 1966)., AUDIO: Spare Parts [+]Marc Platt, Main Range (Big Finish Productions, 2002). The Silver Turk [+]Error: Code 2 - no data stored in variables, cache or SMW.)
- After witnessing the death of her future self, Valarie is clinging to the hope of an afterlife. (TV: All's Fair [+]Max Kashevsky, Everywhere and Anywhere (The Eleventh Doctor Chronicles, Big Finish Productions, 2023).
- Once again, the Doctor commandeers a vehicle and speeds it up using his sonic screwdriver. (AUDIO: All's Fair [+]Max Kashevsky, Everywhere and Anywhere (The Eleventh Doctor Chronicles, Big Finish Productions, 2023).)
- The Doctor tells Valarie what happened to the Ponds (TV: The Angels Take Manhattan [+]Steven Moffat, Doctor Who series 7 (BBC One, 2012).) and Clara Oswald. (TV: The Snowmen [+]Steven Moffat, Doctor Who Christmas Special 2012 (BBC One, 2012).)
External links[]
- Official Sins of the Flesh page at bigfinish.com
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