Mandy Turner was a young red-haired woman who worked in packing at Baldwin's Curtains. When Terry Duckworth returned to Weatherfield in 1988, a lovelorn Mandy drank at the Rovers Return instead of her usual watering hole, The Flying Horse, in hopes of running into Terry. Luckily for Mandy, Terry entered the Rovers not long after her and joined her, Curly Watts and Shirley Armitage for a drink. Mandy wasted no time in chatting Terry up but although Terry initially showed little interest, suggesting a lads' night out with Curly to make himself unavailable for any plans she might make, he became friendlier when they were left alone and asked her if she was "game for excitement".
The night before, Terry had tricked a woman into kissing Kevin Webster on a night out, causing an argument between Kevin and Sally. To continue the joke, Terry got Mandy to phone Sally and ask to speak to Kevin, identifying herself as "just a friend". Mandy was so besotted with Terry that, when he explained that it would make Sally pull her socks up and stop taking Kevin for granted, Mandy called Terry a cuddly teddy bear. A few days later, Mandy was in the Corner Shop when Dazz Bailey warned Sally about Kevin and his missus. Realising that Terry was causing real problems for the Websters, Mandy got Terry to admit that he'd put Dazz up to it and went back to the shop and told Sally the truth about Dazz and the phone call, which she now regretted.