Plot
Lucy Pearson is trying to find a way to get her mother to marry Mr Harding, her new headmaster and next door neighbour – despite the fact that Mr Harding is an over-strict headmaster whose conduct and rules antagonise teachers and pupils alike, and Mrs Pearson as well.
Notes
- Writer: Marion Turner (under pen-name: Fiona Turner)
- Script submitted had the title Patti and the PTA but was changed to Mum and Mr Harding for publication. The protagonist’s name also changed from Patti to Lucy.
Appeared
- Mum and Mr Harding – Mandy: #715 (27 September 1980) – #729 (3 January 1981) [no episode #721]
What happened to Mandy #721? It’s missing from my mother’s archive of this story (which she wrote). The first issue (No. 715) is also missing; presumably for a different reason.
I can’t shed a great deal of light on this matter, Philip, but while I don’t have absolutely every issue of MANDY containing ‘Mum And Mr Harding’, I do have issue 715. Not, however, 716, 719, 720, or 721.
In issue #720 at the bottom of the serial it says “Mum and Mr Harding (and Lucy) will return in two weeks” the next issue another serial “Her Name in Lights” ends and has an extra page to conclude it, so presumably there wasn’t room for all the serials in that issue and so it returned in #722.
At least it said it would return in two weeks, there have been some cases where serial says it will be back next week and then doesn’t appear!
Hm, yes, I can understand their wanting to remove PTA from the title.
This new information on Marion Turner shows how much can change between submitted script and final publication in girls’ comics.
Yes it’s very interesting how many story names were changed and the editorial direction for stories.
In some cases the editing was done to tone things down a bit. This happened with two complete stories Pat Mills submitted to Misty (rather to his chagrin).
Sometimes the editor went the other way though, as in the case of “Nothing Ever Goes Right!”. Ye Judy editor insisted the serial end with the heroine dying, which must have had the writer in tears as she wrote the episodes.
There IS an episode of ‘Mum And Mr Harding’ in MANDY 722.