Barriers

1 9 8 1 (UK)
20 x 30 minute episodes

This exciting Sunday afternoon series from Tyne Tees followed the adventures of Billy Stanyon (Benedict Taylor) who found himself under the guardianship of Vincent Whitaker (Paul Rogers), an eccentric elderly solicitor, after his parents Alan and Marion drown in a sailing disaster.

Billy then discovers that he was, in fact, an adopted child and is given letters from his real father – a Hungarian – to his wife.

So begins Billy’s search to find his real parents – if they are still alive – and discover his own identity.

Billy eventually learns that his real parents were killed in a border skirmish on the Austrian/Hungarian border in 1963.

Devised and produced by Margaret Bottomly and written by William Corlett, Barriers won a gold medal for Children’s Drama Series at the 23rd International Film and Television Festival of New York.

The series was filmed on location in the North East of England, Scotland, Germany and Austria.

Barriers was repeated on Channel 4 in 1984.

Billy Stanyon
Benedict Taylor
Vincent Whitaker
Paul Rogers
Miss Price
Patricia Lawrence
Dr Ernest Jolland
Laurence Naismith