A father-son birdwatching outing becomes a widespread mystery when teenage John Corby—after coming to the aid of neighbour Susan Fraser—finds that his father Tom has vanished.
DirectorPhilip Dudley
WriterN.J. Crisp
Episode 1
Sep 25, 1972
John Corby is birdwatching with his father Tom. Susan Fraser has found herself cut off from land so John helps her. Reaching land, she gives him a note to explain his absence to his father. However, nobody seems to know where Tom has gone.
Episode 2
Oct 2, 1972
John and Susan seek police help to look for Tom. The police won't intervene, as Tom Corby is suspended from Scotland Yard. Tom and his two contacts meet up with Kessler. Police surveillance believe Corby is on the take.
Episode 3
Oct 9, 1972
John and Susan catch sight of Tom but are unaware that a hitman is assigned to stop them. Tom wants the hitman stopped but the police are closing in. A motorcycle driver has been hired to cause an accident involving John.
Episode 4
Oct 16, 1972
John and Susan realise they're being tailed and outsmart their pursuer. When John gets too close to seeing his father, the pair are trapped underground.
Episode 5
Oct 23, 1972
Tom refuses to leave the Falcon pub unless he knows John is safe, but Bowers has conned him. With his father long gone, John and Susan reach an exit to the surface.
Episode 6
Oct 30, 1972
Susan finds a rope to help John but the motorcyclist is still in the area. A friendly garage attendant learns that the group holding John's father bought a map of Ullswater. John and Susan rent a canoe and attempt to outflank the abductors.
Episode 7
Nov 6, 1972
John and Susan are rescued from the lake. With Susan in hospital care, John learns his father is using an alias.
Episode 8
Nov 13, 1972
The motorcyclist forces John and Susan to ascend the mountain but he takes a bad fall. John leaves Susan to get help. The delirious biker gives a cryptic message to Susan.
Episode 9
Nov 20, 1972
Tom warns John about Bowers close by. Bowers takes Kessler to the airport to show him the target. John and Susan overhear Selby revealing information to his father.
Episode 10
Nov 27, 1972
Tom finds the man, who fit him up, is in charge so he asks for a deal. He knows Bartas is their target and wants in on the hit in Edinburgh.
Episode 11
Dec 4, 1972
John sees Kessler preparing his sniper's rifle, which puts the youngsters in grave danger. Tom is warned about asking questions. With the Tattoo drowning out the noise, John and Susan search the castle in search of Kessler's sniper nest.
Episode 12
Dec 11, 1972
Bartas is struck by a sniper's dart. Bowers pretends to be a doctor, pronounces cardiac arrest, and whisks him off in an ambulance. John goes in pursuit while Susan tells the police about the kidnapping. Tom realises Bowers wants him dead.
Episode 13
Dec 18, 1972
The police discover the stolen ambulance and close in. Bartas is moved but Tom makes a run for it before he's killed. He is thwarted by John's capture but by the time the gang reach the boat, the Coast Guard are on alert.
Babooshka1959
@Babooshka1959
John and his father are on a bird watching holiday in Devon when John's father mysteriously vanishes. Searching along the cliffs, John spots a young woman (Susan) stranded by the tide and helps her back to land. Together, John and Susan set out to find John's father, a disgraced police officer suspected of involvement with an international criminal gang. Their adventures lead them across the British Isles, taking in some beautiful and sometimes bleak scenery and small isolated villages along the way, until they end up Edinburgh. When this went out on BBC1 in 1972 I was hooked from the start. The story has everything that drew in a 12 year old school child in those days: a summer holiday, a kidnapping, the long search to unravel the mystery, and plenty of spills and thrills along the way. The two young leads are terrific, and the adult cast (which includes Glyn Houston as John's father Tom) is also suitably impressive. Hilary Mantle especially is most memorable in his role as a sinister, leather clad, motorcycle riding and almost silent baddie. Aired on BBC 1 between September and December 1972, in 13 episodes, this series has never been repeated and never released on video or DVD. Made in the days when children's and young adult drama was neither patronising nor trivial.
