diff --git a/src/calibre/ebooks/metadata/__init__.py b/src/calibre/ebooks/metadata/__init__.py
index 01e5190640..25127ee591 100644
--- a/src/calibre/ebooks/metadata/__init__.py
+++ b/src/calibre/ebooks/metadata/__init__.py
@@ -57,6 +57,8 @@ _ignore_starts = u'\'"'+u''.join(unichr(x) for x in range(0x2018, 0x201e)+[0x203
 
 def title_sort(title):
     title = title.strip()
+    if tweaks['title_series_sorting'] == 'strictly_alphabetic':
+        return title
     if title and title[0] in _ignore_starts:
         title = title[1:]
     match = _title_pat.search(title)
diff --git a/src/calibre/library/database2.py b/src/calibre/library/database2.py
index 2848e8ebb3..cba49ae6ae 100644
--- a/src/calibre/library/database2.py
+++ b/src/calibre/library/database2.py
@@ -1128,6 +1128,10 @@ class LibraryDatabase2(LibraryDatabase, SchemaUpgrade, CustomColumns):
                 for l in list:
                     (id, val, sort_val) = (l[0], l[1], l[2])
                     tids[category][val] = (id, sort_val)
+            elif cat['datatype'] == 'series':
+                for l in list:
+                    (id, val) = (l[0], l[1])
+                    tids[category][val] = (id, title_sort(val))
             elif cat['datatype'] == 'rating':
                 for l in list:
                     (id, val) = (l[0], l[1])
diff --git a/src/calibre/library/sqlite.py b/src/calibre/library/sqlite.py
index ca6b0fc178..521c275efe 100644
--- a/src/calibre/library/sqlite.py
+++ b/src/calibre/library/sqlite.py
@@ -161,10 +161,7 @@ class DBThread(Thread):
             self.conn.create_aggregate('sort_concat', 2, SafeSortedConcatenate)
         self.conn.create_collation('PYNOCASE', partial(pynocase,
             encoding=encoding))
-        if tweaks['title_series_sorting'] == 'strictly_alphabetic':
-            self.conn.create_function('title_sort', 1, lambda x:x)
-        else:
-            self.conn.create_function('title_sort', 1, title_sort)
+        self.conn.create_function('title_sort', 1, title_sort)
         self.conn.create_function('author_to_author_sort', 1,
                 _author_to_author_sort)
         self.conn.create_function('uuid4', 0, lambda : str(uuid.uuid4()))