I think he can play resolve when it's called for. As I said, I think he could be a Troughtonesque Doctor, seemingly gentle and timid, but made of steel when he had to be.
Fucking Hell... I've spent all my life thinking Michael Palin and Michael Portillo are one and the same.
Portillo, the former Tory member of Parliamentl, historian, and broadcaster? Wha?!? Looking at photographs, I can see a vague resemblance between Palin and Portillo.
Why is that even a consideration? We're not talking about him exactly replacing one of the existing Doctors; the very thing that defines the Doctor as a role is that each actor makes it their own, based on their own unique personality rather than a copy of someone else's.
But we're talking about a hypothetical scenario in which he did get cast as the Doctor, and that would be a version of the Doctor written to fit his personality.
And I don't think he'd have the gravitas. Not saying he wouldn't act well, but kinda like Jodie, I don't seem him as the Doctor.
Okay, that's another thing we hugely disagree on. There are Doctors it took me time to warm to (Matt Smith among them), but I was totally on board with Whittaker as the Doctor within her first episode.
She's not really the Doctor yet for me. She's closer now, but the series doesn't actively help her to BE the Doctor. And I couldn't disagree more about Matt Smith especially. He was the Doctor in The Eleventh Hour and then some. Its no wonder its the best post-regeneration episode for any NuWho Doctor (McGann included).
Jodie was the Doc for me right away too. It's the writing that has spoiled things for me a lot of the time. The stories are "meh". Getting better this year, more Doctor Who-like, which is kinda why I've watched for 40+ years.
I have to say that I got a slight thrill at work last week when I typed the words "Starring Sir Michael Palin as The Voice" for our marketing copy.