Wanting to please and to avoid upsetting as many people as possible, prime time usually can't resist turning its few curmudgeons into sweet old softies.

I'm an old softy.

She is in charge of Gryffindor House, and according to the author, "under that gruff exterior" is "a bit of an old softy".

'He's an old softy really,' said Nanny.

He is known in the bakery as a big old softy, but he has his reasons.

It can be predicted that Miss Smith's Mother Superior will become an old softy, too.

Don't ever say I'm not an old softy, Doc.

'I'm just an old softy, that's my trouble,' Ridcully said to himself.

"You old softy," she whispered in his ear.

And underneath it all, he's really just an old softy trying to look after the people he cares about.