In 1952, he succeeded Val Gielgud to become the Head of Drama at BBC Television, a position he was to occupy for the next decade.
He was responsible for commissioning several important productions, including the Quatermass science-fiction serials, and in 1954 an adaptation of George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four.
This latter production caused much controversy due to its supposed horrific scenes and subversive content, and Barry appeared on the current affairs programme Panorama the day after broadcast to defend the production, and three days later introduced the second performance live to camera himself.
[2] Barry retired from his position of Head of Drama in 1961, being replaced the following year by his friend Sydney Newman, who oversaw major changes in the department.
After a brief and unsuccessful spell in charge of RTÉ's new television service in Ireland, Barry returned for a time to front-line producing work, overseeing an epic series adaptations of William Shakespeare's The Wars of the Roses sequence of plays, before he retired altogether from television work.