Michael Ferguson

Career Ferguson started his career as a stage actor and director with the Theatre Centre, a touring company visiting schools, before joining the BBC as an assistant floor manager and training to be a director there. He began directing for the BBC in the 1960s on television shows such as Z-Cars (1962–67), The Newcomers, Compact (1964), 199 Park Lane (1965), Out of the Unknown (1969 & 1971) and Doctor Who, for which he directed the serials The War Machines (1966), The Seeds of Death (1969), The Ambassadors of Death (1970) and The Claws of Axos (1971). He remained at the BBC during the 1970s, directing various programmes including Quiller (1975) and Colditz (1972), before moving to rival network ITV in 1976.

At ITV he directed Dickens of London (1976), directed and produced the spy drama The Sandbaggers (1978), Flambards (1979), Airline (1982) and The Glory Boys (1984). In 1985 Ferguson began directing for ITV's police drama The Bill and rose to producer in 1988. Ferguson worked on The Bill during “its most popular period” when it switched in 1987 from a series to a “soap-style” twice-weekly half-hour format. Because of Ferguson's success with the programme, Peter Cregeen - the head of series at the BBC - “poached” him in 1989 to become the executive producer of BBC1's flagship soap opera, EastEnders. Ferguson took over from series producer Mike Gibbon in the latter part of 1989.

EastEnders had come under criticism due to falling ratings and "comic storylines" which many viewers felt were stretching its credibility. At EastEnders Ferguson was responsible for storylines such as the return of runaway Diane Butcher, Mark Fowler's HIV, Mo Butcher's Alzheimer's, Nick Cotton's attempt to poison his mother Dot Cotton, and the murder of Eddie Royle. Ferguson decided to leave EastEnders in July 1991.

Personal life Ferguson had two daughters, Tracy and Nikki, by his first wife Susan; Nikki predeceased him. Ferguson died in October 2021, aged 84.