Lost in the news that Chris Chibnall will be the new “showrunner” for Doctor Who in 2018 (following one last Moffat season in Spring 2017) is the peculiar significance of the 2016 Christmas special. Yes, the special will very likely feature the debut of a brand new companion so it will be notable for that; and it will definitely be the first new story in a year (meaning that people who do Doctor Who marathons of the new series or even the whole show will be watching Christmas specials back-to-back) so it will also be notable for that.

But here’s the tradition that gets continued - since Doctor Who was created, it has always broadcast a bona fide new story on television in the “6” year of the decade. There has been new Doctor Who stories on television in 1966, 1976, 1986, 1996 and 2006 - five straight decades. It has been the only year of each decade you can say that because 1996 was the only year of the 1990’s that featured a proper, bona fide new Doctor Who story broadcast on television (no, I’m not counting the charity episodes broadcast in 1993 and 1999, respectively, as fun as they were). So had they skipped 2016 entirely, that would have ended the “6” tradition. Instead, for the sixth decade in a row, there will be a new Doctor Who story broadcast in the “6” year of the decade.

In the meantime, let the debates about Chibnall’s appointment as the new showrunner begin…...