Tammy (comics)

Tammy
Publication information
Publisher	IPC Magazines, Fleetway Publications
Schedule	Weekly
Format	Comics anthology
Publication date	6 February 1971 – 23 June 1984
No. of issues	689

Tammy was a weekly British comic for girls published by Fleetway in London from 1971 to 1984, at which point it merged with Girl. Other titles which had merged with Tammy before then include Sally, Sandie, June, Jinty, and Misty. The first Editor was Gerry Finley-Day, followed by Wilf Prigmore.

It consisted of a collection of many small strips, with the stories themselves normally being three or four pages long. As well as the weekly comic, Christmas annuals were also published. While there were similarities with its Fleetway stablemates Jinty and Misty, each comic had its own focus, with Tammy concentrating on sadder Cinderella-themed stories and dark tales of tortured heroines, most notoriously in Slaves of War Orphan Farm and No Tears for Molly. Tammy's respective merges with Misty brought darker, horror tones, and her merge with Jinty more science-fiction. Despite these, changes in editorship brought Tammy to a more traditional mold in storytelling during the 1980s. The dark, cruel streaks that made Tammy so revolutionary in the 1970s had disappeared, except for Bella Barlow.

Tammy had more long-running regulars than most girls' comics due to her respective merges. The Tammy and Sandie brought Wee Sue in 1973. The Tammy and June merger brought Bessie Bunter and the Storyteller with The Strangest Stories Ever Told in 1974. The Tammy and Misty merger brought Miss T and Misty herself to join the Storyteller, in 1980. The Tammy and Jinty merger brought Pam of Pond Hill in 1981.

Creators

Attribution

Artists and writers were credited in the last few years of Tammy, in a move unusual for girls comics, although 2000 AD had included credits from issue 36.

Artists

Artists featured in the pages of Tammy included John Armstrong, who drew the long-running character Bella Barlow. Others included Mario Capaldi, Jose Casanovas, Tony Coleman, Diane Gabbott, Douglas Perry, Eduardo Feito, Giorgio Giorgetti, Juliana Buch, and Miguel Quesada.

Writers

Writers featured included Jenny McDade, who wrote Star Struck Sister, the first Bella Barlow story and Come Back, Bindi; Benita Brown, who wrote the science fiction story Tomorrow Town; Gerry Finley-Day, who wrote The Camp on Candy Island; Maureen Spurgeon, who wrote the Molly Mills stories; Pat Mills, who wrote Becky Never Saw the Ball, Thursday's Child and Glenda's Glossy Pages; Malcolm Shaw, who wrote E.T. Estate; Ian Mennell, who wrote Namby Pamby and Cuckoo in the Nest; Alison Christie, who specialised in heart-tugging stories such as A Gran for the Gregorys and Cassie's Coach; Jay Over, who wrote Slave of the Clock and Pam of Pond Hill from the Jinty merger; Primrose Cumming, who wrote the later Bella Barlow stories; and Anne Digby, who wrote Olympia Jones; Terence Magee who wrote The Four Friends at Spartan School, The Witch of Widecombe Wold and Sally In A Shell

List of strips and stories

• Alison all Alone - Alison has been kept prisoner by her foster parents for reasons unknown.
• Betina at Ballet School - Betina Brooks is the working class daughter of a charwoman, and she is obsessed with ballet, even though everything she has learned has come out of books because her family is too poor for her to ever have had proper lessons. Then she wins a ballet scholarship to the upper class Vronskya Ballet School. The story then focuses on her struggles to succeed in the school.
• Betina and the Haunted Ballet- A sequel to Betina at Ballet School. Betina stars in a ballet, but strange accidents occur, leading some to think the ballet is haunted.
• Dawn and Kerry, Double for Trouble - Dawn and Kerry always land in a mystery they have to solve.
• Derry the Dowser - Derry has a dowsing power which is being exploited.
• A Dream For Yvonne - Yvonne Laroon comes from a long line of circus performers and her family takes it for granted she will follow in their footsteps. But ever since Yvonne saw Swan Lake on television, she has had other ideas – to become a ballerina. She certainly has talent for it, thanks to her acrobatic circus skills, but no formal ballet training and her parents do not approve. Yvonne comes across Alexia Company Ballet School and climbs up onto the roof to take a look at a lesson. She gets more than she bargained for and ends up crashing through the roof. She is mistaken for a new girl they were expecting. After a demonstration of what dancing she can do, she is accepted into the school. But as her parents still won't hear of her becoming a ballerina, she runs away from the circus to the school. She decides to keep her circus origins secret, fearing expulsion because of it.
• The Dream House - Jan Dale has taken a temporary job as a nanny to a wealthy family. But people are disappearing, and a small doll's house might be the cause of it.
• The Four Friends at Spartan School - Judy Jenkins likes to play jokes to liven things up a bit. Unfortunately she keeps doing it in class, which gets her into the trouble that sends her to Spartan School. Spartan School is a special school in Switzerland run by Miss Bramble, designed to instil discipline and compliance into problem pupils. Unfortunately, Miss Bramble’s ideas of discipline include beatings, feeding the pupils poor food, and locking them in dungeons, the pillory, and even iron masks. But Judy refuses to be broken and her courageous defiance singles her out for the worst treatment.
• Gina, Get Lost - Gina's cruel relatives the Randalls exploit her talent for making toys.
• Glen, A Lonely Dog on a Quest - June rescues Glen from being beaten by his cruel owner, Carter the proprietor of a junk yard. Arriving home with Glen, June's father tells her that she can't keep him, as the flat they are moving to in a week's time does not allow pets. So June gets a week of bittersweet happiness playing with Glen before she has to leave him in the care of neighbours. However, as soon as she leaves with her parents Glen escapes from the neighbours to follow, and travels around the country doing good deeds while trying to find her.
• Halves in a Horse
• Jeannie and her Uncle Meanie
• Maggie's Magnificent Seven
• Mam'selle X- Actress Avril Claire is not very popular in Occupied France, as she performs for the German Troops. But what nobody knows is that she is in fact Mam'selle X, a member of the French Resistance.
• Molly Mills- In the 1920s, In 1926, Molly Mills travels from the East of London to take up a maidservant post at the Devonshire home of Lord and Lady Stanton. On arrival, she inadvertently makes an enemy of the cruel butler Pickering and from then on endures all manner of hardship in her struggles to keep her job and send enough money home to her large family. At all times Molly maintains her honesty and integrity, although in addition to Pickering's scheming, jealous maids Betty and Kitty try to humiliate her at every turn. Help and consolation are at hand though from her friends the Cook and Charlie the boot-boy, as well as Claire, the wheelchairbound daughter of Lord and Lady Stanton.
• No Hope for Cathy - Cathy is kidnapped and forced to impersonate a missing girl.
• School for Snobs: The School for Snobs is a special school designed to cure girls of snobbery. The headmistress is Hermione Snoot, who wears a nightie and slippers with a mortar board, is seldom seen without a cigarette, and talks Cockney.
• Star Struck Sister - Lesley and Stella Ross are in Rome making their first film. Lesley is jealous of Stella because she believes she should have the starring role.
• Our Janie, Little Mum- Janie Greaves is "little mum" to her siblings after her mother's death.
• Palomo - The story of a girl and her horse.
• Katie on Thin Ice - In 1815, Katie Williams' father dies in the Napoleonic Wars, leaving her only a pair of ice skates and a bag of money. Things get worse for Katie when she unknowingly helps a thief escape and is blackmailed into crime.
• Roberta's Rebels - Roberta Russell decides she will do something about her hierarchal school system where the "Serfs" slave to the sporty "Supremos."
• Beattie Beats 'em All- Cockney orphan Beattie lives alone with many stray cats, while competing in various sporting events to make a living.
• The Secret Ballerina- a girl must practise ballet in secret.
• The Shadow in Shona's Life - Shona Gordon is evicted from her Highland home, and is travelling with a companion who is taking advantage of her.
• Skimpy must Ski - Skimpy Shaw wants to learn to ski.
• Cinderella Spiteful- Cousins Emma and Angela are having problems with their relationship. Orphan Emma resents being taken in by her affluent London relatives, and acts against what she sees as Angela's smugness with petty acts of spite.
• The Camp on Candy Island - The holiday camp of Candy Island progressively turns into a prison camp - complete with striped uniforms, numbers, watchtowers, fences and chain gangs.
• The Champion from Nowhere - an aspiring tennis star loses her memory, leaving her open to exploitation
• Cinderella Sidekick - A comic strip about a snubbed girl at a snobby school and her klutzy fairy godmother.
• Here Comes Trouble - A comic strip about a trouble-making girl named Mitzi Trouble.
• Jilly Liar- The adventures of a girl who tells lies.
• Linda Left-Out-Linda is always being left out.
• The Long and the Short - two cousins, one tall (Debbie) and one short (Vally), who are in an athletics team.
• Lori Left-Behind - Lori Danby's father leaves her in the care of the Jimsons, who proceed to make her an unpaid slave in their café. Lori is trying numerous ways to escape.
• Mad Hattie- Rivalry over animals.
• Paula on a String
• Rona Rides Again - a rider loses her nerve
• Ruthless Ruth
• The Stables Slave- a girl must slave in the stables.
• Steffi in the Swim - Steffi James is terrified of swimming after a childhood incident, but she's receiving swimming lessons from a coach who is so mysterious that she keeps in the shadows while giving Steffi swimming lessons and Steffi does not even know her name. Steffi is beginning to swim, but now bullies are getting suspicious of her secret.
• Tina on a Tightrope - an aspiring model with a talent for tightrope walking
• The Witch of Widecombe Wold - when the Halifaxes move into the village of Widecombe Wold, they find they have a very witchy ancestress.
• A New Leaf for Nancy - Nancy's family have made a depressing move to a rundown house after Dad loses his job, but Nancy discovers a tree in the garden that has powers to make things better for her. The trouble is, its power does not seem to be reliable and sometimes makes things worse.
• The Clock and Cluny Jones - Bully Cluny Jones finds herself on the receiving end when she inherits a grandfather clock. When the clock strikes thirteen, Cluny is pitched into a harsh parallel world, where she's the victim, her kind-hearted aunt is a tyrant, and she is the "swot" of the school. But things don't end there. The world she has been pitched into is different in many ways, and circumstances lead to her being sent to a tough women's prison. Who can save her?
• The Cat's Eye on Kath - Kathy Kerr falls under the evil spell of a cat sent by a vengeful witchdoctor
• No Love for Liza
• Dara into Danger - Dara Grant and her ski team are kidnapped by the mysterious Madame Jensen and taken on a bizarre mission to the Antarctic.
• Brainy Brenda
• The Ballet in the Back Streets
• The Cheats of Barn End - Barn End School has never won anything, and headmistress Miss Trill decides cheating is the only answer. However, school captain Polly Hugget always manages to foil Miss Trill's schemes.
• Beth all Alone
• Shani Must Shine- Shani,the ugly duckling of her family, is determined to make something of herself, despite her interfering sisters.
• For Isabel with Love
• Mandy and the House of Models - Trainee models find themselves prisoners.
• The Girl in the Big Chair
• The Girl in the Window - Dale Rogers has an unusual friend - a window dummy that can come alive!
• Granny's Town - A fanatical eccentric sets out to turn her hometown into a place where grannies rule and young people are banned.
• The Ice Girl- A girl must keep her ice skating secret from her father, who was crippled in an ice-skating accident.
• Jaki Rides Again
• Jumble-Sale Jilly - a Cinderella story
• The Lonely Dancer
• The Making of Mary Connie's Curio Shop - A girl has problems running a curio shop.
• The Revenge of Edna Hack - Actresses playing convicts on an island film set find themselves real prisoners.
• The Sea Spirit - Sheena Barrett has a most unusual diving coach, a sea spirit.
• The Secret of the Stables
• The Sign of the Scorpion - A sports story concerning the mysterious sign of the scorpion.
• Simple Simona - Laughs with dopey Simona Pickle and her snooty cousin Jane.
• The Stranger in My Shoes - Lucy Townsend is kidnapped and switched with delinquent Sandra Sage. Unless Lucy can convince someone of her identity, she will be serving Sandra's time while Sandra commits more crimes under Lucy's identity.
• Back-Stab Ballerina - Rita Radley secretly makes trouble for her old friend June Day when they go to ballet school.
• Those Jumps ahead of Jaki - Jaki is the only rider who stands a chance of winning a top trophy for her friend, who lies in a coma. But the riding instructor, who was responsible for the accident, is determined to see Jaki doesn't win.
• Trina Drop-Out - an aspiring painter.
• The Chain Gang Champions - Rella Aston is a promising athlete like her father before he was crippled. They haven't the money for proper training or an operation to cure her father. A woman named Stein has overheard, and goes to “The Duchess”, who offers Rella the chance to join a group of British champions.
• Two-faced Teesha - Teesha is a devious, spiteful girl who has just moved to the country. She surprises her father when she opts for the country school over a snob school, the type of school she used to attend in the past, but she only wants to attend because she thinks it will be easy to stir up trouble for them.
• Wanda of the Waterways - barge girl Wanda Lang finds there is something sinister about her cousin Bill.
• Ballerina in Blue Jeans
• Becky Never Saw the Ball - aspiring tennis star Becky Bates is making a comeback after going blind.
• Mouse - Mary "Mouse" Mallone is kidnapped in a custody dispute. Her father belongs to a powerful Sicilian family who want Mouse for only one reason - an arranged marriage.
• Bella at the Bar - the beginning of the long-running Bella Barlow. Bella Barlow slaves away cleaning windows for her uncle's business and doing all the housework on poor feeding and occasional beatings. However it won't stop Bella's passion for gymnastics and she snatches every moment she can to practise. She demonstrates her skill secretly by breaking into a local sports club but, even after her talents are spotted, nothing seems to go easily. Not only does she have to cope with the criminal machinations of her Uncle Jed and Aunt Gert, but also the interference of welfare officers, as well as a succession of snooty rivals who are only too willing to take opportunities to scupper Bella's chances.
• The Clothes Make Carol - Carol finds a blazer mysteriously giving her confidence.
• Common Cathy - Cathy Sampson wants to pursue athletics, but her horrible parents keep blocking her by lies, deceit, and stealing the money for Cathy's entrance fees from her coach Mrs Mirren.
• Crystal who Came in from the Cold - Crystal, a girl found frozen in ice in the Arctic, is brought back to Britain and mysteriously brings the Arctic cold back with her.
• Dirty Trix - when Trix Harris is cheated out of a sports prize, she becomes a cheat herself.
• Eva's Evil Eye - Eva Lee is being bullied because she is a gypsy. She pretends to have the evil eye to stop the bullying, but things get out of control.
• Ella on Easy Street - Ella Rutt paints to school friends and teachers a bleak picture of her home life in Easy Street – that she is forced to do all the housework while her parents and sister just lie around idle. As a result, she is excused for her lateness, and has not bothered with homework in an age. The true picture is very different and, when her struggling parents aspire to better themselves and move house, Ella realises that her indolent, idle existence is at risk.
• Nell Nobody - Nell slaves at her uncle's hot dog stand. Can her skill with puppets turn the nobody into a somebody? Not if her cousin can help it.
• Prim and Donna - Comedy with the drama of two feuding Prima Donnas.
• Red Letter Rosie - Rosie recognises letters from her penfriend Sara by their red envelopes.
• The Swimmer Slave of Mrs Squall - Underachiever Sue Briggs is secretly training to be a swimming champion under Mrs Squall.
• Sadie in the Sticks - an exploited girl whose only refuge is her talent for making objects with matchsticks
• Secret Ballet of the Steppes - Ballet pupils are kidnapped and taken to Siberia. They must dance for the last of the imperial rulers, who still lives in a pre-revolutionary lifestyle - but not for much longer. Continued oppression is fuelling its own revolution, and the dancers get caught right up in the conflict.
• Town without Telly - the town of Boxless has no T.V. because of reception problems. Recepta's father is out to turn the people of Boxless into telly addicts. They become so addicted that they neglect their duties and Recepta must find a way to cure them.
• All Eyes on 3E - Muriel is making a film about Form 3E. High comedy ensues as Muriel tries to expose 3E for the bunch of cheats and skivers they are.
• Carol in Camelot Street
• Ella's Ballet Boat - ballet on a barge.
• Gaby's Green Boxes - a girl finds a passion for herbology.
• The Dance Dream - In 1938, orphan Diana Watts dreams of becoming a ballerina and she idolises famous ballerina Diana Oberon. She has moved to London to get close to Oberon and whenever she sees Oberon it seems like Oberon acts like a spiritual guide and mentor to Watts, offering encouragement and help, no matter how hard things get.
• The Gypsy Gymnast - Ann Rudge is tired of being overshadowed by her sister Kim. She adopts the persona of "the gypsy gymnast" to win a trophy, but she soon discovers her teacher has a double life as well - a sinister one.
• Hetty, Horse Hater - Hetty HATES horses. She hates them more than anything in the world, so when she is sent to a riding school for riding lessons, she is determined to get kicked out. But is she actually starting to like horses?
• Lights-Out for Lucinda - Lucinda becomes trapped in a district where people still think it is World War II, due to her father drugging them so he may use them as slave labour.
• Rowena of the Doves- In medieval times, Rowena's father, King Guthlac, has dispatched her to fetch her brothers to help him face his old enemy, the Black Earl. Rowena's companions are her doves and her horse Silvermane.
• Slaves of the Hot Stove - Carol becomes a victim of the Hot Stove - a top restaurant which kidnaps top cooks.
• Rhona's Rainstones - Sacred stones will cause water-related disasters until they are returned to their rightful place.
• Tess on Tap - Tess becomes a slave in her own home when her father goes abroad and the house-sitter has Tess slaving for her and her daughters. Tess' only joy is tap-dancing.
• Wars of the Roses - Comedy with two families feuding over the same hobby.
• Waifs of the Wigmaker - Moira must escape the slavery of a Victorian wigmaking business.
• A Lead Through Twilight - Carol is going blind but won't say anything because she is afraid her uncle will send her away from her beloved home. She befriends a dog called Twilight, but there are some nasty people after him.
• Fairground of Fear - Julie Whitland discovers the new fair is not as fun as it seems. The clown is an ex-scientist who really hates her adoptive father for some reason...
• Hidebound Hayley - girl is forced to wear a strange harness-like corset.
• Lord of the Dance - ballet story.
• “Towne in the Country - Valerie Towne and her vet father have moved to a new post in the country. Valerie soon realises she is going to be deeply involved in her father’s work, but she is not all that confident around animals.
• Odds on Patsy - race-horses.
• Lill Waters Run Deep - Crafty schemer Lill Waters gets away with everything.
• Sarah in the Shadows - Sarah has used shadowplay for fun - now she must use it to survive the harshness of Victorian London.
• Secret of the Skulls - Prudence Sylvester and her pastor father reside in a small parish in London. A winter storm unearths a crypt in the graveyard filled with skulls. Israel Quist the parish gravedigger tells Prudence the story of the skulls. They are the skulls of witches executed by the parish witch-finder, and Quist is really Jacob Stave, the witch-finder's apprentice who buried the skulls in the crypt as an act of remorse. One of the two true witches burned in the witch hunt swore that the people of London would burn as she had. The Sylvesters' housekeeper Mrs. March is possessed by the spirit of the executed witch and seeks that retribution. The skulls placed all over London cause the Great Fire of London until the skull of the true witch is found and destroyed. But what happened to the skull of the second witch?
• Sheri Claire's Airs and Graces
• Sit It Out, Sheri - Timid Sheri becomes more confident when she acquires a strange chair. Soon, however, the chair is giving Sheri the shivers.
• The Sungod's Golden Curse- The town of Pueblo del Oro (Village of Gold) feels the wrath of the Sungod.
• Babe of St Woods - "Babe," daughter of a gangster, is sent to St Woods to learn social graces. Instead, Babe is turning her gangster background to fixing bullies, helping her friends out of trouble and even catching criminals.
• Daughter of the Regiment - Tessa Mason’s father has been executed for cowardice in the Charge of the Light Brigade. Tessa is out to clear his name but a Mr Cregan keeps blocking her.
• Olympia Jones - Horse rider Olympia Jones dreams of following in her father's footsteps and winning an Olympic gold medal for Britain. After her parents are killed in a crash she is reduced to animal trainer at Rotts' circus where she is exploited by Rott and his daughter Linda. Eventually the Rotts frame and dismiss Olympia for the ill-treatment Linda inflicted on her favourite horse, Prince, so they can escape prosecution from Animal Welfare. However, Olympia cannot abandon Prince to the mercy of the Rotts, so she does a midnight flit with the horse, leaving an antique caravan in exchange. Her adventures are only just beginning, as Olympia faces new challenges to keep herself and Prince surviving, and eventually finds employment as a riding instructor at an adventure centre. But, when she becomes short-listed for the Olympic team, the Rotts see the opportunity to seize the fortune Prince is now worth and they – as well as Animal Welfare and the police – close in....
• Melanie's Mob: Melanie Newton hates her new snob school and the snooty girls looking down on her former lower class origins. She turns to secretly training a gang of rough girls as an athletics team.
• Sally in a Shell - At Eastport holiday resort, the Shores run a deckchair hire business – with the younger daughter Sally doing all the work. Sally is the family drudge, mistreated and unloved by her father and her elder sister Dora. Sally has a talent to help keep her spirits up - making ornaments and jewellery out of seashells. She tries to keep it a secret from her abusive family and find ways to fit it around all the drudgery, hoping to make a living out of it in time and be able to leave her horrible home life.
• Time Trap! - Leonie Page becomes an experimental subject in a hypnotic regression to a previous existence. The experiment goes awry when the hypnotist suddenly collapses, leaving Leonie trapped in time - and it is a very dangerous time.
• Towne in the Country - The adventures of Val Towne and her country vet father.
• What's Wrong with Rhona? - Rhona French starts acting strangely after she picks up a mysterious doll on the Salisbury Plain.
• Witch Hazel - a witch called Hazel comes into the 20th century to learn witchcraft at a 20th-century school.
• A Bus in the Family - Mr Banks buys a bus, but criminals want it for unknown reasons. They end up pursuing it across the Continent when it goes on a school trip.
• Betta to Lose - Betta James is the school sports star but finds no joy in it. Her win-crazy headmistress has her whole life revolving around sport and Betta has no life of her own. So Betta starts throwing sports events to escape sports slavery.
• Double - or Nothing! - Kate Winter is a tennis player who can't keep a tennis partner because of her foul temper. She finally finds one in Pam Doggett, the granddaughter of the tennis club's charlady.
• Circus of the Damned - Ruthless ringmaster Yablonski is out to create "the greatest show on earth" by blackmailing his performers into dangerous stunts.
• Crawl, Carrie, Crawl - Carrie Smith is despised as a crawler at school because of the tactics she uses, including sucking up to the new strict teacher, to keep out of detention. But the reason is she can't afford detention – she has to run swimming lessons before and after school to keep her parents afloat while Dad is jobless. On top of that she has a sprained back but is not seeking treatment because she doesn't want to worry her parents.
• Dancer Entranced - Trina Carr's father is eager to see her follow in the footsteps of her mother, a famous ballerina. However, Trina believes she has the talent of a "fairy elephant" - until she meets a hypnotist (in fact, a charlatan).
• Down-to-Earth Blairs
• Selena Sitting Pretty - Selena has always been top girl in class. But when her school combines with another, she comes up against serious competition for top of the class and can't take it. Then, by fluke, they see her in a wheelchair and think she has been in a road accident. All of a sudden the big fuss is pushing out her rivals and Selena thinks she has found the way to be sitting pretty at school again.
• Goldie Alone - problems for ice-skater Goldie Gibbs when her mother is hospitalised.
• Gail at Windyridge - Gail's father was sacked for nobbling a racehorse, and she is determined to prove him innocent.
• No Love for Lindy - Lindy Allen is fostered by the Westons but begins to wonder what their motives are.
• Maggie's Menagerie - Maggie Crown has to live on her gran's houseboat, and gran does not like animals. So what is Maggie to do with her beloved pets?
• Mask of Melissa - Aspiring actress Melissa Mappin receives a facial disfigurement in a road accident. She resumes her career by hiding behind a facial mask and changing her name to Gaye Traynor. But the deceit is bringing its own problems – like not able to have people touch her face because they'll find out it's a mask – which leads to misunderstandings and unpopularity.
• Now You See Her - magician Fay Fadden goes in search of a girl who has done a disappearing act.
• One Girl and Her Dog - adventures with a girl and her big, dopey dog
• Prince of the Wild - A girl befriends a wild horse.
• Sweet and Sour Charity - whenever Charity tries to do a good turn, it goes wrong, and Charity earns the unpopular sobriquet "Sour Charity."
• TEAM in Action - Four girls, whose initials spell TEAM, form a team of newshounds for the school newspaper, Action.
• Vision of Vanity Fayre - Ann Shaw is hired to play the young Vanity Fayre, a famous novelist, in a television series. However, Ann becomes embroiled in a real-life drama that is far more exciting and dangerous than any TV series.
• A Girl Called Steve - the adventures of Stephanie "Steve" Sutton.
• Get Your Skates On, Katie - Battered ice skates turn Katie Brown into a brilliant skater.
• Guitar Girl - Jacey Jones is determined to break into the music world with her beloved guitar.
• Nanny Young- Tina Young is qualified as a nanny, but being "young" in both looks and name is proving a barrier to finding a job.
• The Happiest Days - Only Sunny Smyles is merry at Sobersides School. The grim portrait of her Great-Aunt Aggie is casting a shadow of gloom over the whole school. Sunny must get rid of the portrait before the gloom sees the school close down.
• Katrina and Kahn- Russian girl Katrina and her horse, Khan are inseparable. That is, until gestapo seize Kahn and present him to a British show-jumper as a prize. Katrina is determined to reclaim Kahn, even though it means entering Britain illegally.
• Nina's Nightmare World - Nina's world descends into nightmare after she inherits a locket from her late cousin Eva (who herself had undergone an inexplicable personality change for the worse)
• Nurse Grudge - Greta Jones causes damage at a hospital because she thinks the staff had her father wrongly dismissed.
• The Outcast at Oakbridge- About the problems of a netball player
• Sarita in Uniform - Romany Sarita attends school secretly because her guardians disapprove.
• Shadow on the Stage - A girl with outstanding acting ability finally gets her big break - but a jealous, spiteful shadow figure keeps threatening her very life.
• Temper, Temper, Tina!- Tina Summers has temper trouble.
• Thursday's Child - Thursday Brown finds a strange girl called Julie in her bed. For some reason, Julie then sets out to ruin Thursday's life with the help of a cursed Union Jack. To make matters more confusing, Julie is Thursday's future daughter!
• The Upper Crust - a super-snobby district finds its upper crust image cracking when the mysterious Carrington-Crusts move in.
• Wolf at our Door - Are wolves threatening the kennels owned by a widowed mother and her daughter?
• A Girl Called Midnight - Midnight Meredith is plagued by strange "moods" which cause her to wander off in a trance.
• Cindy of Swan Lake - Cindy Grey should be looking forward to pursuing a ballet career at ballet school. Instead she is fraught with worry over her beloved swan, Charlie, who is being poisoned by pollution. And her jealous rival, Zoe, is using this to her full advantage.
• Cut-Glass Crystal - Crystal Manners has lived the good life until her father's business crashes. She now has to adapt to a different way of life.
• Daughter of the Desert - when an Arabian princess enrols at Greenfields boarding school, the school mysteriously transforms into a desert pattern.
• Donna Ducks Out - Donna Desmond can't swim. Then a bathroom duck somehow gives her the ability.
• Dulcie Wears the Dunce's Hat - Dulcie Dobbs is obliged to wear the dunce's hat, but she is not a dunce. Her poor school work is in fact the handiwork of troublemakers in her class. Meanwhile, Dulcie develops a curious love/hate relationship with her hat. While it shames and embarrasses her, she is finding 101 uses for it in helping others.
• Hit the Headlines, Hannah! - Hannah Hilton must hit the headlines as part of a wager and prove herself equal to her more successful sisters - but not if they can help it.
• Jolly's Hockey Stick - Jolly owns a very special hockey stick.
• The Loneliest Girl in the World - is Karen going mad or is the world around her?
• Lucky by Name - about Lucky Starr and her horse Fortune.
• My 'Brother' George -Giggles galore with Gemma and George the Gorilla. George has been humanised and thinks he is Gemma's kid brother.
• My Shining Sister - The constellation of the Pleiades has suddenly vanished, and a mysterious glowing girl appears on Earth.
• My Terrible Twin - Moira and Lindy are fraternal twins. Moira is plain, Lindy is beautiful, but Moira is the pleasant twin while Lindy is the problem one. So problematic, that she has been sent to a remand home for shoplifting. Now out on parole, Moira is faced with helping Lindy to rehabilitate, but her efforts to keep her sister out of trouble often end up with Moira getting into trouble herself.
• Peggy in the Middle - Peggy Morrow is caught in a custody battle.
• Plain as Pearl - Pearl Kent has considered herself plain until she discovers that she has what it takes to be a model. She takes a modelling job to raise enough money to send her sick mother on holiday. However she must keep her job a secret from the people she is staying with, because their daughter will be jealous.
• Push-along Patti - Patti Collins wants to be accepted into the biker club at her school, but they just tell her to "push along".
• Rita, My Robot Friend - Lonely Jenny James finds herself a complete outcast at her new school because of her grandfather-scientist. Jenny's only friend is "Rita," a girl-like robot created by her grandfather. The whole story revolves around Jenny keeping the truth about Rita from her arch-enemy, Angelina.
• Rosie of Ragged Row - Rosie Fields, daughter of a rag-and-bone man, longs to get out of Ragged Row someday. Her chance comes when supernatural ballet teachers come into her life. In a sequel "Rosie at the Royalty," Rosie is admitted to a prestigious ballet school, but is constantly battling snobbish prejudice from both the headmistress and the pupils.
• Sandy and Steve - Sandy Rawlings meets her first boyfriend. Unfortunately her snobby father disapproves and keeps trying to pair her off with an incompatible boy.
• The Sea Witches - Kate discovers that a flock of geese called "the Sea Witches" are exactly that. The Sea Witches are angry with a military aircraft base because their noisy aircraft are disturbing their grounds. They are going to drown the base in a flood - can Kate stop them?
• Sister in the Shadows - Wendy Weekes joins the school where her sister Stella was once the star pupil and now enjoys success as an actress. Her over-expectant parents and teachers expect Wendy to be living up to Stella's reputation. But Wendy is not an all-round winner like her sister and bullies start calling her "Weak sister Wendy."
• Dottie the Double- Orphan Dottie is accused of arson and runs away. She is kidnapped by a couple of crooks, as she is the exact double of aristocratic Lady Jayne Smythe. They use the resemblance to commit crimes, but Dottie always finds a way to foil them.
• Sour Grapes for Sophie - new girl Sophie Drew snubs every offer of friendship. What is her problem?
• Tina's Telly Mum - Tina Mason regrets persuading her mother to apply for a job as a television announcer because now she is being neglected as Mum is putting her new job first. And the nasty, jealous housekeeper is not helping matters.
• Daffy and the Giddy Gang- Adventures with Giddy and her friends.
• Two Leads for Luther - two best friends inherit a dog and fall out because they have completely different views on how to look after him.
• Belinda Bookworm - Belinda Binder is tired of being a bookworm and wants to become a sports champion.
• The Black-and-White-World of Shirley Grey - Shirley blames herself for her friend Trisha's accident because she lied about Trisha's whereabouts - although she did this at Trisha's request. Shirley vows never to lie again, but takes it to the extremes of refusing to tell even a white lie, and this getting her into terrible trouble.
• The Breaking of Faith - Faith Adams values her new friend Claire Ellerman as she doesn't make friends easily. However, her classmates keep telling her Claire is no good. Is Faith's new friend what she appears to be?
• Goodbye, Jo... - Jo Dalby has been Dad's best pal, but now she is finding new interests.
• High-Rise Hazel - Hazel is keeping secret pets in her apartment, which forbids pets.
• Jump, Jump, Julia - horse-jumping story.
• Lara the Loner - Lara Wolfe has ochlophobia, the fear of crowds. Her phobia causes a string of misunderstandings which makes her very unpopular and earns her the nickname "Lara the Loner."
• Linda's Fox - Linda Barnes' policeman father is imprisoned on the perjured testimony of a crooked policeman. Linda befriends a family of foxes who become embroiled in a train of events that lead to Mr Barnes' release.
• No Haven for Hayley - Mrs Moore's home is known as "the Haven" because she works so tirelessly for charity. Unfortunately Mrs Moore is so busy and over-zealous with charity projects that she is neglecting her own daughter, Hayley.
• Sandy, A Girl Like You- sequel to Sandy and Steve.
• Sheena so Shy - Sheena Willcox is a shy, bullied girl who longs to prove herself and have a few friends. But her spiteful cousin Sabrina keeps sabotaging her every attempt.
• Stella Stirrer - Stella takes a job as a kitchenmaid at a top boarding school. She finds the kitchen an ideal place to stir up revenge for a snobby girl who keeps pestering her.
• Tag-Along Tania - Tania is so put-upon that she has earned the nickname "tag-along." Finally, Tania decides enough is enough, but shedding the "tag-along" tag is proving far from easy.
• A Gran for the Gregorys - Ruth Gregory seeks a gran to adopt.
• A Horse Called September - adaptation of the Anne Digby book.
• Come back, Bindi - Jane Forrest is in a coma and doctors believe only her dog Bindi can wake her. But Bindi blames herself for Jane's condition and has disappeared.
• Dogs of the Duchess - the Duchess is a crusader for dog welfare, but she weren't so uptight and rude to her helper, Doris Totting and far less nice to people than she is to dogs.
• Danger Dog - Beth Anderson rescues her dog, Sammy, when he is mistakenly taken to a research station for experimentation. Her parents insist on returning Sammy, fearing he is somehow contaminated and a danger to people. Beth runs away with Sammy, determined to prove them wrong. But then, weird things start happening to her sight, hearing and muscles. Beth finally realises her parents are right - Sammy IS dangerous. What is she to do?
• The Destiny Dolls - Miss Armitage uses voodoo dolls to get revenge on Friendly Lane, which had not been friendly to her when she lived there. As might be expected, her revenge goes too far.
• Dumbells Academy - a school is run by the most incompetent staff in the world.
• Di and the Dolphins - Why are Di Martin's parents keeping her away from water? How is it connected to a strange telepathy Di has with a pod of ill-treated dolphins at the dolphinarium?
• Father's Footsteps - two families vie over dancing.
• Little Sisters - The exploits of Carol and her kid sister, "Sam" (Samantha).
• Jaws - Joyce Daws can't stop "jawing," to the annoyance of her classmates.
• Monster Tales - tales of assorted monsters.
• Rae Rules OK - Rae has been a shy girl until she finds a mysterious ruler.
• Saving Grace - Sue Blackstone returns from abroad to find her former best friend, Grace Clarke, has become the school bully. Why has Grace changed so much and can Sue save Grace from herself?
• The Shadow of Sherry Brown- Katy Bishop is adopted by the Browns - but the shadow of their late daughter, Sherry, is very jealous.
• Slave of the Clock - Allison Thorne is a talented ballerina but isn't dedicated. She falls foul of an over-zealous ballet teacher whose idea of instilling dedication is to hypnotise pupils into dancing whenever they hear the ticking of a clock.
• Tomorrow Town - a Japanese electronics company sets up a town with the very latest in computers, gadgets and state-of-the-art technology. Tomorrow Town is a little too technical and the human touch is disappearing.
• Backhand Play - Teri Knightly joins a tennis club and finds a special talent for backhand. But her roguish uncle keeps interfering, with his own brand of "backhand."
• Cross on Court - a tennis player with temper trouble.
• Cuckoo in the Nest - A unique story in the history of girls' comics in that the main character is a boy who must pretend to be a girl. Leslie Dodds is the happiest boy around because his Uncle Fred showers him with treats, but the money comes from Great-Aunt Hermione who expects the money to be paid on Leslie‟s school fees at Nesterfield, "the Nest". When Fred learns Hermione is going to visit Leslie at Nesterfield at the end of term, he must now enrol Leslie at Nesterfield or go to prison when his misappropriation is discovered. Unfortunately, Hermione thinks her nephew is a niece called "Lesley", and Nesterfield is a girls' school! So Uncle Fred disguises Leslie as a girl, and for a whole term Leslie must pass himself off as such at Nesterfield; a "cuckoo in the Nest". Can he pull off the deception, in spite of his boyish ways?
• Day and Knight - Sharon Day is being bullied at school by Carrie Knight, and her life takes a turn for the worse when her father marries Carrie's mother, making the two girls stepsisters.
• Wee Sue- Originally published in Sandie. Sue Strong is the midget of Milltown, but what she lacks in height she more than makes up for in brains and generosity. Sue's brains are regularly called upon when it comes to dodging her grumpy, vain, bullying, slave-driving teacher Miss Bigger and the tons of homework she always dishes out.
• Diff'rent Strokes - The only thing twins Jackie and Samantha share is their deep, even bitter, rivalry. However, Tracey is determined to bring the twins together.
• E.T Estate - Keats Estate is renamed E.T. Estate after it is badly hit by a meteorite shower. However worse is to come - the shower was the launch of an alien invasion. Jenny Holmes is the only one who knows about it, but nobody believes her. Can she foil the aliens single-handed?
• First Term at Trebizon - adaptation of the Anne Digby book.
• Foul Play - Katie is badly injured at hockey. Her friends and family are convinced one of her own team fouled her, because they resented her as an usurper. Someone launches a vendetta against the team and Katie turns detective to find out who.
• Glenda's Glossy Pages - Glenda Slade is given a mysterious mail order catalogue. To her astonishment and delight, everything she marks in the catalogue turns up for real on her doorstep. And Glenda never has to pay - or does she? The glossy pages start causing trouble for Glenda.
• It's a Dog's Life - Rowan is shoved around in the children's home. Her only friend is Riley, a mistreated mongrel from next door.
• Amanda Must Not Be Expelled: Amanda Blay has deliberately got herself expelled from every boarding school she has attended. When her parents send her to Haybury Boarding School, Jane and Marty immediately spot her talent. They realise they won't win the inter-school gymnastics trophy without her. It isn't long before Amanda is up to her tricks to get herself expelled from Haybury. But Jane and Marty don't want her expelled because they need her for the trophy. So they do everything they can to foil all her tricks to get herself expelled.
• Julie's Jinx - Romany Julie gives her friend a corn dolly. Her friend's horse starts acting strangely. Is the doll jinxed?
• Lonely Ballerina - What's happened to the ballet teacher at Tall Trees Ballet School, a school now in shambles?
• Lucky by Name- A foal has mysterious powers.
• Make Your Mind Up, Maggie - Maggie has to choose between giving up riding or ballet. If she gives up riding, her pony will be sold to a cruel owner, but riding is bad for her ballet.
• Namby Pamby - Pamela Beeton has lived a very sheltered existence with her over-protective parents. This comes to an abrupt end when her reluctant parents are obliged to send her to school for the very first time. The overgrown baby must now learn to fend for herself.
• Portrait of Doreen Grey - Shy Doreen Grey has a portrait painted. Similar to the story The Portrait of Dorian Gray, the portrait makes her more confident, but it is making her more unpleasant as well.
• Queen Rider - adaptation of the book with the same name.
• Romy's Return - Linda has always been happy being second fiddle to her best friend, Romy. Then Romy moves and Linda becomes Number 1. She is determined to stay that way when Romy suddenly returns - even though it means playing tricks on Romy.
• Room for Rosie - Pauline Wheeler is trying to find a home for her late gran's beloved pram, Rosie.
• The Secret of Angel Smith: Abby Fox longs to join the family trapeze act, but her father doesn't want to lose her like he lost her mother. Abby is furious when another girl, Angel Smith, is hired instead. But there is something strange about Angel.
• Spell of Fog - A film crew want to make a film about Alice Compton, a victim of the witch hunts. Sally Groves, who has been deeply affected by the Compton case, protests when the director announces he is making a sensationalized version that depicts Alice as an actual agent of the Devil, not a hapless victim of superstition and hysteria. Then a strange fog appears, cuts the village off from the outside world and has the village progressively reverting to a 17th-century pattern in technology, dress and people's thinking. Hysteria erupts in the village as the fog takes hold and people think it's Alice's revenge.
• Cassie's Coach - Cassie Lord and her siblings are thrown out of their home when their mother is wrongly imprisoned in Victorian times. They find a new home - an old coach.
• Dear Diary - I hate you! - Susie Judd wins a scholarship to a boarding school which is very strict about honesty. This leads to complications when Susie finds she has mistakenly packed her twin sister's diary, in which she confesses to cheating in the scholarship exam. Matters are further complicated when a sly girl reads the diary and starts blackmailing Susie.
• Cora Can't Lose- Cora Street goes on an obsessive binge to win as many sports trophies as she can, in order to win her parents' respect. Danger looms when Cora suffers a head injury which will kill her unless she has an operation, but she is so obsessed with winning trophies that she ignores the warning signs. (The story was never completed, due to the penultimate episode appearing in the last ever issue of Tammy).
• I'm Her - She's Me! - Nice Paula Holmes and delinquent Natalie Peters swap bodies.
• No Use to Anyone- When Kirsty goes to live with farming relatives she doesn't seem to fit in or be useful for anything, and farm demands that everyone and everything be useful.
• Rosie-Lee Rosie- Rosie is obsessed with tea (Rosie-Lee is slang for tea).
• Backhanded Billie- Billie is an expert at backhanded compliments.
• Slaves of War Orphan Farm - At a lonely farm in 1942, Kate Dennison and a group of war orphans find themselves prisoners of the evil owner, Ma Thatcher, and her cronies, and forced to work all day in a dangerous quarry while spending every night locked in a barn. Dangers threaten at every turn, with attempts at defiance or escape punished by periods of starvation and confinement in cages; treacherous swamps surround the area, and a couple of vicious Doberman guard dogs are at hand to be sent after any fugitive. Despite this, however, nothing can break Kate's spirit, and her minor victories against the villains – helped by a mysterious masked figure Mad Emma – help raise the morale of the other children. It's not long however before Ma Thatcher decides that something needs to be done about Kate once and for all....
• The Button Box- The button box is a Jackson family heirloom, and every single button in the box has a tale to tell. When Beverley "Bev" Jackson becomes confined to a wheelchair after a road accident, Gran gives her the box so Bev can use the stories to occupy her mind and cheer herself up whenever she is feeling down. Bev knows all the stories by heart and every week she dips into the box for a story to tell.
• Drawn to Destiny - Jealous of her twin sister Sylvia's success, Diana Hudson's drawings take a sinister turn.
• Little Miss Nothing- Annabel Hayes longs to be a dressmaker, but is forced by her family to toil all day at her father's market stall, while spoilt sister Dora gets all the encouragement (and money) she needs for her modelling ambitions. When Annabel takes a risk by selling on the stall some handbags she has made, she receives the opportunity to work at a grand fashion house. However, the Hayes family do everything they can to sabotage things, while scheming to advance Dora's ambitions at Annabel's expense.
• Castaways on Voodoo Island - A group of twelve schoolgirls from Oak Street secondary school win a TV quiz show, and their prize is a holiday in the Caribbean. When the teacher who was to accompany them falls ill, they are allowed to take the trip with no adult supervision. When a violent storm blows up, the plane then crashes near a desert island. Now the girls must try to survive, and avoid the strange voodoo tribe which haunts the island.
• The Cat Girl - World hopping spy adventures with a girl who gains feline abilities from her cat costume. Cathy Carter's father is a slightly scatterbrained private detective. While he is guarding a building where a break-in is expected, Cathy goes up to the attic to get a telescope to keep an eye on him. While looking for it, she trips over a casket which had been given to her father as a present from a grateful witch doctor in Africa. Inside is a strange costume, which gives her cat-like abilities.
• Courier Carol - Carol Jones' Uncle Ebenezer runs a one-man coach tour business. In order to save the business, Carol persuades him to do a tour of Europe in his old fashioned coach.
• The Girls of Liberty Lodge - Hardington Hall is a very strict school, where pupils who infringe the rules are put through a show trial in front of the entire school, with Miss Steele the headmistress playing judge and prosecution. Sally Valentine, a new, young teacher defies Miss Steele by visiting a girl in the punishment room, and when she is caught, speaks out against their cruel measures. She resigns before she can be fired, and takes the opportunity to start a different type of school that she's had in mind for years, bringing in her friend Miss Timmy as the other teacher. Miss Steele takes against Miss Valentine and Liberty Lodge, and the story then focuses on the rivalry between the two schools.
• Maisie's Magic Eye - Gag strip about a schoolgirl who wears a brooch with magic properties.
• My Father, My Enemy - Julie Jeffries fights for the rights of workers in her father's mine.
• The School on Neville's Island - A former pupil seeks revenge on her old school by burning down the old school, then bringing them to her personal island.
• Sara's Kingdom - In the Himalayan state of Hunzir, the dying Emir names the daughter of his sister Uzura as his successor. The Emir's friend Omar Khan heads off to Britain to search for the heiress, along with Mari who would be the princess' lady in waiting and advisor, while the Mir's evil cousin plots to waylay her so that he will gain the throne. The princess turns out to be Sara Nairn, who is at school in the Scottish highlands. After arriving in Hunzir, Sara is taught to be a ruler by the dowager Queen Shasti, who serves as regent until Sara is sixteen. A few days later a girl arrives at the palace claiming to be the daughter of the dead Emir. The Lord Treasurer has provided evidence of a secret marriage, and Mira is the child of that marriage, having only recently found out about her true heritage. There is enough evidence for Queen Shasti to take the claim seriously, and after some deliberation she comes up with a way to decide who is the true heir. It seems that ancient records refer to a fabulous ruby in a great black rock, in the Tombs of the Mighty Ones in the Holy Mountain of Kish. Only the true heir will be able to take the ruby from its setting, so the two girls are sent off to collect it.
• The Secret of Trebaran - Trudy Smith is staying with her aunt in a desolate part of Cornwall. An encounter with a strange girl results in Trudy acquiring a magical medallion which enables her to travel back in time to 1671. She then gets involved in a fight against an evil sorcerer.
• C.L.A.R.A. - Professor Crichenor offers the services of his computer C.L.A.R.A. (Crichenor’s Learning And Reasoning Aid) to raise the falling academic and sporting performance of Glumthorpe Comprehensive. Although the PTA’s response is to throw Crichenor out – literally – he intends to prove himself by making Frances Cummins more organised.

External links

• List of Tammy stories and characters Preceded by an article on Tammy's exploration of Snobbery
• Creating Tammy: A True Story by Jenny McDade, Down The Tubes, 12 October 2008
• The Tammy Project documents and discusses individual serials