Barriers — Season 1

Aired 4 January 1981 • 25 min

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.

Aired 11 January 1981 • 25 min

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

Aired 18 January 1981 • 25 min

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?

Aired 25 January 1981 • 25 min

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.

Aired 4 February 1981 • 25 min

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.

Aired 8 February 1981 • 25 min

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

Aired 11 February 1981 • 25 min

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

Aired 15 February 1981 • 25 min

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

Aired 18 February 1981 • 25 min

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.

Aired 22 February 1981 • 25 min

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.

Aired 25 February 1981 • 25 min

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.

Aired 1 March 1981 • 25 min

Aired 4 March 1981 • 25 min

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.