Since 2005 it has been rumoured that the daleks must appear every year as part of an agreement with the Nation estate.

The only two years that there has not been a dalek story are 2009 and 2011 and both years saw brief cameos. The series 6 cameo was fairly well done, but the Waters of Mars cameo with a young Adelaide felt very much shoe horned in.

With that in mind will we have to see at least a dalek cameo, or is the rumour just that?

Also will we see the introduction of a new companion, or will that be left until Spring 2017 for the start of a full series (The Bells of Saint John didn't have that buzz about it because we'd already seen jenna twice before)

Well as you say, the Dalek thing is only rumour at best, and there is no concrete evidence that any such agreement is in place. I'd think the people who own the rights to the daleks probably need the money the bbc gives them for using them more than the bbc actually needs to keep the daleks in the show (even though obviously it would be a shame to lose them)

Also, regarding your last line, With Clara in The Bells of Saint John, i'd say there was actually more of a buzz because we'd seen her on screen twice before, and seen her die, so their was an intrigue to the character before we'd even seen the real Clara, meaning it seemed more special than usual, after seeing other versions, to see the real thing, that it usually is just seeing a brand new companion (just a shame the mystery had a terrible explanation and the character was in no way worth the hype at any point during her time).

My only real question about Christmas 2016 is will we see the new companion?. It's Christmas 2017 that has the far more interesting questions hanging over it (will it be chibnall made? will the doctor regenerate? will the series 10 companion leave/new one start? etc)

Snow...

I'm a scrooge when it comes to Christmas specials, and I think the show should do away with them, but it's very possible it might be something a little more special with it being the first episode in a year.

I always feel very let down by the Christmas episodes. Something about them feels very boring to me. Can't remember the last time I actually FULLY enjoyed one

Just realised that for the first time in a few years, they'll be in a position to give us an upcoming series trailer at the end of the Christmas special this year.

Whether they actually will or not is another matter, but possible.

Bah Humbug to both of you (just kidding) .

As someone who can tend to complain about Moffats era, I can honestly say I have immensely enjoyed the last 2 christmas specials and A christmas carol. (not to mention the wonderful The Christmas Invasion from RTD's time)

I accept your point of view, if you have enjoyed them then good

However, for me:

A Christmas Carol - was okish (despite other opinions I felt Kathrine Jenkins ruined the episode and her singing wasn't needed)

The Doctor, The Widow and the Wardrobe - awful, only seen it a few times but each time it's just gotten worse

The Snowmen - Was another that was okish..The Great Intelligence was a great baddy in the episode, the fact it featured Madame Vashtra, Jenny and Strax makes the episode for me

The Time Of The Doctor - last one that I actually enjoyed...I actually forgot this was a Christmas one so forgive me. This was a brilliant episode

Last Christmas - found it so boring..I can't describe how bored I was with this one

It's not quite as cut and dried as that. The BBC does not own the Daleks. If they lost the rights the Nation estate would be free to license the Daleks for use in other properties and that would be very weakening for the Doctor Who franchise. Imagine the Daleks suddenly turning up in Star Trek! Imagine a standalone Daleks film (and i'm pretty sure someone would look to produce one). It would hurt the brand to lose exclusivity on such a distinctive part of the show.

Imagine the revenue lost on merchandising the Daleks too. All of those toys, all of that material with their likeness on.

I guess this Christmas could be the acid test as to whether this mythical stipulation really does exist. If they don't appear I guess it's debunked. If they do then the (circumstantial) evidence grows.

What I'm expecting:

Cybermen and snow.

They have to surely? It would be a nice treat.

Despite the fact it is the only new Who we are getting this year I really can't get too enthused about the Xmas special. They are usually watchable and fun but the over reliance on a Xmas theme being central has more often hampered the story telling than enhanced it and unless they introduce the new companion I expect an enjoyable but rather easily forgotten bit of fun. Happy to be proved wrong of course.

Well apart from it being a nice little extra at the end of the episode for us loyal fans, I think it would also make sense after a who-less year, to trumpet the fact of 'look, it's coming back soon in all it's glory' to the more casual fans.

Would be interesting to see the companion introduced in the Christmas special. Apart from the fact that it isn't usually done (and I don't really count Donna as she was only a guest star at the time and when she was made full companion they still had to do the whole companion introduction type episode), it would also be good for the fact that series 10 could be start straight into an adventure with doctor and companion already in place.

Still wondering if this will be Moffat's last Christmas special.

And happy to be proved right, I hope. Even enjoyable but rather easily forgotten bits of fun are sufficiently rare to be worth treasuring.

Oh, and what doctor blue box said.

A character called Mr J Snow who has forgotten everything he knew....

I found it a little wearing that it was Christmas every 13 episodes as it was. Now that it rolls around more frequently than that there is a quite stupid amount of adventures that took place on Christmas day.

I'd prefer they either ignore it now or pay it the smallest lip service possible, which increasingly they have. They can have a suitably 'festive' tone without it actually having to be Christmas...

Then again, when they mostly ignored Christmas in 'Time of the Doctor' people complained that it wasn't 'Christmassy' enough...