For some reason I always seem to remember this being shown on Channel 4 when it first started back in 1982.
It never came across to me as a children's drama (even though it was) and I always felt that I was watching something that the adults wouldn't want me to. The opening credits always fascinated me, which I suppose me being an 11 year old at the time was not hard to do.
It's a dark night on the Austrian/Hungarian border in 1963 as a car drives through some woods. This is inter-cut with the present day (well as present a day as 1980 England could be) and Billy Stanyon (the character played by Benedict Taylor).
Back at the woods, and after some more cutting back and forth, the car crashes first of all through some nasty looking soldiers with machine guns and then through some BARRIERS (get it!). Naturally the car is fired upon, crashes and bursts into flames but not before a solitary figure rolls out into the woods before making their escape.
This whole sequence had me glued to the episode week-in, week-out, when our adopted hero Billy Stanyon would try and discover the truth behind his real parents' death.
I just remember that not only were the opening credits and music haunting but the show was too. Billy Stanyon was always one step behind the truth and because of this permanently had a look of complete dejection etched onto his face.
Unfortunately I never got to find out what the whole damn thing was about. Maybe I missed the last couple of episodes or maybe it is lost in the mists of my mind. Or maybe there never was any ending.
Looking back on it, the closest I could describe it was as a The-Fugitive-meets-a-Cold-War-Film-Noir-Children's-Television-Series.
