Barriers (Season 1)

Part 1 (Episode 1)

Writer: William Corlett

Air date: 1981-01-04

Runtime: 25 min

Overview: Six months before his 18th birthday, Billy Stanyon's mother and father die in a sailing accident. They leave him a flute, some letters, and the knowledge that they were not his biological parents.

Part 2 (Episode 2)

Writer: William Corlett

Air date: 1981-01-11

Runtime: 25 min

Overview: Billy visits his birth mother's old house in London, where he encounters fugitives from an anti-apartheid demonstration.

Part 3 (Episode 3)

Writer: William Corlett

Air date: 1981-01-18

Runtime: 25 min

Overview: Billy meets the mysterious Vincent Whitaker, who accompanies him to Munich where an ex-client of Whitaker's takes them to Lake Chiemsee. Frau Gruber tells Billy his mother was killed whilst crossing the Hungarian border, along with her own son. But is she telling the truth?

Part 4 (Episode 4)

Writer: William Corlett

Air date: 1981-01-25

Runtime: 25 min

Overview: Now in his final term, Billy learns his birth father, Jerry Toff, defected to Britain in 1955 and married, then later divorced, a glass heiress. Along with his best mate Spike and other classmates, he has a run-in with a local motorcycle gang.

Part 5 (Episode 5)

Writer: William Corlett

Air date: 1981-02-04

Runtime: 25 min

Overview: An unannounced visit to his father's ex-wife Charlotte in Scotland reveals that Billy has an older half-sister named Pamela. He learns little other than that his father and Charlotte met when he worked as a stable lad on her father's estate.

Part 6 (Episode 6)

Writer: William Corlett

Air date: 1981-02-08

Runtime: 25 min

Overview: Billy seeks help to pursue his goal of becoming a professional flautist. Meanwhile, a runaway family take refuge in his seaside cottage.

Part 7 (Episode 7)

Writer: William Corlett

Air date: 1981-02-11

Runtime: 25 min

Overview: Billy visits France where he learns more about his parents and helps his hosts' son fulfill a family tradition.

Part 8 (Episode 8)

Writer: William Corlett

Air date: 1981-02-15

Runtime: 25 min

Overview: Spike arrives unexpectedly. Billy offers to put him up for the night, causing friction between him and Mr Whitaker.

Part 9 (Episode 9)

Writer: William Corlett

Air date: 1981-02-18

Runtime: 25 min

Overview: Frau Gruber sends Billy his father's ring, prompting him to return to Lake Chemsee for answers. However, she will only tell him that the search for his natural father only spells peril.

Part 10 (Episode 10)

Writer: William Corlett

Air date: 1981-02-22

Runtime: 25 min

Overview: Billy befriends a teenage runaway who stays the night with him at his seaside cottage. Meanwhile, Mr Whitaker receives an unexpected home visit from Miss Price.

Part 11 (Episode 11)

Writer: William Corlett

Air date: 1981-02-25

Runtime: 25 min

Overview: An unannounced visit by Mrs Dalgleish, originally from Hungary but now the colourful and wealthy widow of a financial tycoon, affords a few more details about Billy's birth parents.

Part 12 (Episode 12)

Writer: William Corlett

Air date: 1981-03-01

Runtime: 25 min

Part 13 (Episode 13)

Writer: William Corlett

Air date: 1981-03-04

Runtime: 25 min

Overview: In Salzburg to audition for a music scholarship, Billy finds himself followed by Hilda Gruber. Instructed to kill him, she chooses instead to tell him that it was his father who died fleeing Hungary, not Karl Gruber.