Series 8 - New Companion to Join?

In the heat of the upcoming 2013 Doctor Who Christmas special and the on-going pre-production of series eight, there have been persistent rumours about a new male companion to join the Twelfth Doctor and Clara in the next series of the show.

The supposed new companion - known only as Tom as of current - has already made a brief appearance in the recent 50th anniversary special The Day of the Doctor as a fellow teacher  of  Clara at Coal Hill School played by Tristan Beint, who is aware of the rumours himself and on Twitter tweeted the following in reply to a follower:

“Are you sure Tom could ever compete with a Time Lord though..? Oho… Keep watching.”

And in other reply where the follower asked if his character would form a relationship with Clara:

“Now, now, spoilers… But #tomwald, like it. Pass that on to Mr Moffat…”

All of the above is yet to be officially confirmed by the BBC. Doctor Who returns with The Time of the Doctor Christmas Day on BBC One and BBC One HD, a time is yet to be confirmed.