When the first official shot of Peter Capaldi in his Doctor Who outfit was released we didn't get a proper glimpse of his left hand, like every official image from Doctor Who it now seems as if that might have been intentional.
Soon afterwards Peter Capaldi was out filming Doctor Who in public, and eagle eyed fans noticed he seemed to be wearing a wedding ring. It's tricky to make out, but it's there...
The speculation began.
As he has kept his Scottish accent, did Steven Moffat also let him keep his wedding ring on too? Could he not get his ring off because his fingers were swollen from a bit of Christmas bloating? Or maybe River Song will be back, and it is his wedding ring from her?
I read that Peter Capaldi does like to keep his wedding ring on when filming where possible, and at the time I was willing to accept that. But this week some more on set photos were taken which give us a clearer look at the ring.
And between takes his hand was captured revealing a very special looking ring indeed.
We can straight away say that it is not his own wedding ring. Here he is wearing his own ring on the day he was announced as the new Doctor.
You can see in the inset box that is not the same as the one he is wearing on set. If anything it looks like he could be wearing two rings now.
Possibly that is his own ring lower down the finger and above it is a second one with an interesting design emblem. Could this be a compromise? Is the second ring just for the character of the Doctor? This way he gets to keep his own wedding ring on and it's adapted into something that has significant meaning to the show? Remember nothing happens on Doctor Who without a reason, certainly not under Steven Moffat anyway.
I'm going to dismiss the idea that it is his wedding ring from River Song. I don't personally believe we will see Alex Kingston again this year, and it would seem that if any Doctor would have worn her ring it would've been Matt Smith's incarnation. So I have two possible theories that I'm torn between, they are:
The first Doctor wore a signet ring. It had several abilities including supplying power to the Tardis doors and hypnotizing people. After he regenerated in to the second Doctor he did not wear the ring anymore. Could this be a new version of the signet ring?
There are a lot of similarities between Peter Capaldi's Doctor and William Hartnell's. Hartnell was the first Doctor and Capaldi is the first of a new regeneration cycle, they both travel with companions from Coal Hill School and they are both men of a similar age. It would be a nice touch to reintroduce the signet ring. Maybe the Doctor could use it instead of a sonic screwdriver. Which brings me to...
Last year the BBC ran a competition on Blue Peter where viewers were asked to design new sonic devices for Strax, Vastra and Jenny. The winning entries included a sonic gauntlet, sonic hat pin and a sonic lorgnette.
As we know, the Paternoster Gang are back in episode 1 of series 8. They are on hand to help the newly regenerated Doctor, maybe they present him with his own new sonic device. A sonic ring? It would certainly save time, he wouldn't have to fumble about in those deep pockets looking for his sonic screwdriver anymore. Plus, we haven't seen him with one yet, so maybe this is his replacement.
What are your thoughts on this?
Do you think the ring has some special significance? If so do you agree with either of my theories or maybe you have one of your own?
Or do I just have too much time on my hands?
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