Dealing with (one of) the origins of the Cybermen, the play starts slow with the Doctor hinting that he recognizes this Earth-like planet, but then playing it off as if he landed them in England. His concern gives the story some dread going in, so that when the inhuman parts of the story start to emerge they have some proper emotional punch.
The reason Neil Gaiman was asked to write A Nightmare in Silver was because Steven Moffat felt the Doctor's silvery nemesis had lost their scaryness, and I'd say something similar was at risk with the radio plays. Without the visual side of things, the Cybermen could easily appear as Dalek ripoffs; just another weird computer-voiced collective of space Nazis. But seeing the moral dilemmas that lead the people of the planet to turn themeselves into the Cybermen makes them unique and scary again.
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