[3] Barry was the son of Sir Gerald Barry, editor of the News Chronicle and director general of the Festival of Britain in 1951, and his first wife Gladys,[4][5] He attended Blundell's School in Devon and the University of Cambridge, before service in the Royal Air Force.
[2] Barry became a trainee at Ealing Studios and worked on the film The Ship That Died of Shame (1955) as an assistant director to Basil Dearden.
[2] In 1963, Barry was asked by producer Verity Lambert to be one of the initial directors of the BBC's new science fiction television series Doctor Who.
[2] Barry's work on Doctor Who went on to cover the longest span of any director during the original run of the series, overseeing episodes until 1979.
[6] Among Barry's other television credits were episodes of Compact (1962), Ann Veronica (1964), Paul Temple (1970–71), Z-Cars (1971–78), Poldark (1975), The Onedin Line (1977), All Creatures Great and Small (1978–80), Juliet Bravo (1980) and Dramarama (1989).