Michael Ferguson (director)
Encyclopedia
Michael Ferguson is a British
script writer
, television director
and television producer
. Ferguson has been described as a “long term champion of realistic popular drama”. Ferguson was executive producer of the BBC
soap opera
, EastEnders
between 1989 and 1991. He was responsible for the introduction of two of the soap's most popular and long-running characters, Phil
and Grant Mitchell
, in 1990. He has also contributed significantly to ITV
's popular police drama, The Bill
, as well as BBC's science fiction
show, Doctor Who
, for which he directed four serials.
(1962-1967), The Newcomers
, Compact
(1964), 199 Park Lane
(1965), Out of the Unknown
(1969), 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 wartime 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. According to EastEnders scriptwriter, Colin Brake
, Ferguson was responsible for bringing in a "new sense of vitality", and creating a programme that was “more in touch” with the “real world” than it had been over the last year. Ferguson altered the way the episodes were produced, changed the way the storylines were conceptualised and introduced a far greater amount of location work than had previously been seen. As a consequence of these changes, a large number of characters were axed in early 1990 as the new production machine cleared way for a new direction and new characters. Among the characters he introduced were the Tavernier
family, pub landlord Eddie Royle
and most notably the Mitchell brothers and their sister Sam
— the Mitchells went on to become major long-term characters, among the most popular featured in the programme. At EastEnders Ferguson was responsible for storylines such as the return of runaway Diane Butcher
, giving Mark Fowler
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.
He remained with the BBC, producing for the popular hospital drama Casualty (1993-1994), before returning to ITV in 1996 to once again direct for The Bill. His last directorial credit for the programme was in 2002.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
script writer
Screenwriter
Screenwriters or scriptwriters or scenario writers are people who write/create the short or feature-length screenplays from which mass media such as films, television programs, Comics or video games are based.-Profession:...
, television director
Television director
A television director directs the activities involved in making a television program and is part of a television crew.-Duties:The duties of a television director vary depending on whether the production is live or recorded to video tape or video server .In both types of productions, the...
and television producer
Television producer
The primary role of a television Producer is to allow all aspects of video production, ranging from show idea development and cast hiring to shoot supervision and fact-checking...
. Ferguson has been described as a “long term champion of realistic popular drama”. Ferguson was executive producer of the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
soap opera
Soap opera
A soap opera, sometimes called "soap" for short, is an ongoing, episodic work of dramatic fiction presented in serial format on radio or as television programming. The name soap opera stems from the original dramatic serials broadcast on radio that had soap manufacturers, such as Procter & Gamble,...
, EastEnders
EastEnders
EastEnders is a British television soap opera, first broadcast in the United Kingdom on BBC One on 19 February 1985 and continuing to today. EastEnders storylines examine the domestic and professional lives of the people who live and work in the fictional London Borough of Walford in the East End...
between 1989 and 1991. He was responsible for the introduction of two of the soap's most popular and long-running characters, Phil
Phil Mitchell
Philip James "Phil" Mitchell is a long-running fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Steve McFadden.Phil first arrived in Albert Square on 20 February 1990, and was soon joined by his brother, Grant, sister Sam and mother Peggy...
and Grant Mitchell
Grant Mitchell (EastEnders)
Grant Anthony Mitchell is a fictional character from the British soap opera EastEnders, played by Ross Kemp. Grant first appeared in 1990, introduced by producer Michael Ferguson to revamp the show. Kemp remained until 1999 when he opted to leave...
, in 1990. He has also contributed significantly to ITV
ITV
ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...
's popular police drama, The Bill
The Bill
The Bill is a police procedural television series that ran from October 1984 to August 2010. It focused on the lives and work of one shift of police officers, rather than on any particular aspect of police work...
, as well as BBC's science fiction
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
show, Doctor Who
Doctor Who
Doctor Who is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. The programme depicts the adventures of a time-travelling humanoid alien known as the Doctor who explores the universe in a sentient time machine called the TARDIS that flies through time and space, whose exterior...
, for which he directed four serials.
Career
Ferguson started his career as an actor, before moving into directing. He began directing for the BBC in the 1960s, contributing to television shows such as Z-CarsZ-Cars
Z-Cars is a British television drama series centred on the work of mobile uniformed police in the fictional town of Newtown, based on Kirkby in the outskirts of Liverpool in Merseyside. Produced by the BBC, it debuted in January 1962 and ran until September 1978.-Origins:The series was developed by...
(1962-1967), The Newcomers
The Newcomers (TV series)
The Newcomers was a late 1960s BBC soap opera which dealt with the subject of a London family, the Coopers, who moved to a housing estate in the fictional country town of Angleton. It was broadcast in bi-weekly half hour episodes from 5 October 1965 until 28 November 1969...
, Compact
Compact (TV series)
Compact is a British television soap opera shown by the BBC between 1962 and 1965. The series was created by Hazel Adair and Peter Ling, who together went on to devise Crossroads....
(1964), 199 Park Lane
199 Park Lane
199 Park Lane is a British television soap opera produced by the BBC in 1965.The series was a consciously upper-class affair, based around the residents of an exclusive block of apartments in London, and dealt with the intrigues of the Chelsea/Kensington set.All of this short-lived soap opera's 18...
(1965), Out of the Unknown
Out of the Unknown
Out of the Unknown is a British television science fiction anthology drama series, produced by the BBC and broadcast on BBC2 in four series between 1965 and 1971. Each episode was an independent dramatisation of a separate science fiction short story...
(1969), and Doctor Who
Doctor Who
Doctor Who is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. The programme depicts the adventures of a time-travelling humanoid alien known as the Doctor who explores the universe in a sentient time machine called the TARDIS that flies through time and space, whose exterior...
for which he directed the serials The War Machines
The War Machines
The War Machines is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in 4 weekly parts from 25 June to 16 July 1966...
(1966), The Seeds of Death
The Seeds of Death
The Seeds of Death is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which originally aired in six weekly parts from 25 January to 1 March 1969...
(1969), The Ambassadors of Death
The Ambassadors of Death
The Ambassadors of Death is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in seven weekly parts from March 21 to May 2, 1970.-Plot:...
(1970) and The Claws of Axos
The Claws of Axos
-Writing:In late 1969, script editor Terrance Dicks contacted new writing duo Bob Baker and Dave Martin after reading a draft script they had sent around the BBC for another production, A Man's Life. After offering the duo a seven-part story in November 1969 for Doctor Whos eighth season, Baker and...
(1971). He remained at the BBC during the 1970s, directing various programmes including Quiller
Quiller
Quiller is the alias of a fictional spy created by English novelist Elleston Trevor and featured in a series of Cold War thrillers written under the pseudonym "Adam Hall".The series focuses on a solitary, highly capable spy...
(1975) and Colditz
Colditz (TV series)
Colditz is a British television series co-produced by the BBC and Universal Studios and screened between 1972 and 1974.The series deals with Allied prisoners of war imprisoned at the supposedly escape-proof Colditz Castle when designated Oflag IV-C during World War II, and their many attempts to...
(1972), before moving to rival network ITV
ITV
ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...
in 1976.
At ITV he directed Dickens of London
Dickens of London
Dickens of London is a 1976 television miniseries from Yorkshire Television based on the life of English novelist Charles Dickens. Both Dickens and his father John were played by British actor Roy Dotrice. The series was written by Wolf Mankowitz and Marc Miller...
(1976), directed and produced the wartime drama The Sandbaggers
The Sandbaggers
The Sandbaggers is a British television drama series about men and women on the front lines of the Cold War. Set contemporaneously with its original broadcast on ITV in 1978 and 1980, The Sandbaggers examines the effect of the espionage game on the personal and professional lives of British and...
(1978), Flambards
Flambards (TV series)
Flambards was a television series of 13 episodes which was broadcast in the United Kingdom in 1979 and in the United States in 1980. The series was based on the three Flambards novels of English author K. M...
(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
Peter Cregeen
Peter Cregeen is a British television director, producer and executive. He is possibly best known for being the original director of ITV's successful police drama, The Bill, and his substantial contribution to the serial thereafter...
- the head of series at the BBC - “poached” him in 1989 to become the executive producer
Executive producer
An executive producer is a producer who is not involved in any technical aspects of the film making or music process, but who is still responsible for the overall production...
of BBC1's flagship soap opera, EastEnders
EastEnders
EastEnders is a British television soap opera, first broadcast in the United Kingdom on BBC One on 19 February 1985 and continuing to today. EastEnders storylines examine the domestic and professional lives of the people who live and work in the fictional London Borough of Walford in the East End...
. Ferguson took over from series producer Mike Gibbon
Mike Gibbon
John Michael "Mike" Gibbon is an English television producer and director. Gibbon married Moya McCarthy in July 1976 and they have a daughter, Sophie....
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. According to EastEnders scriptwriter, Colin Brake
Colin Brake
Colin Brake is an English television writer and script editor best known for his work for the BBC on programs such as Bugs and EastEnders. He has also written spin-offs from the BBC series Doctor Who...
, Ferguson was responsible for bringing in a "new sense of vitality", and creating a programme that was “more in touch” with the “real world” than it had been over the last year. Ferguson altered the way the episodes were produced, changed the way the storylines were conceptualised and introduced a far greater amount of location work than had previously been seen. As a consequence of these changes, a large number of characters were axed in early 1990 as the new production machine cleared way for a new direction and new characters. Among the characters he introduced were the Tavernier
Hattie Tavernier
Hattie Tavernier is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Michelle Gayle between 1990 and 1993. Hattie and her family were introduced in July 1990 by producer Michael Ferguson. The Taverniers were the first collective black family to join the soap at the same time...
family, pub landlord Eddie Royle
Eddie Royle
Edward "Eddie" Royle is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Michael Melia from 1990 until 1991.-Storylines:...
and most notably the Mitchell brothers and their sister Sam
Sam Mitchell (EastEnders)
Samantha Margaret Priscilla "Sam" Mitchell is a fictional character from the BBC One soap opera EastEnders. The third member of the Mitchell family to be introduced, Sam entered as a 15-year-old school girl in July 1990, played by Danniella Westbrook. Westbrook quit in 1993, but was reintroduced...
— the Mitchells went on to become major long-term characters, among the most popular featured in the programme. At EastEnders Ferguson was responsible for storylines such as the return of runaway Diane Butcher
Diane Butcher
Diane Maureen Butcher is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Sophie Lawrence. Diane appeared as a regular character between 1988 and 1991, when Lawrence decided to leave. The character made several brief returns in 1993, 1994, and 1997...
, giving Mark Fowler
Mark Fowler
Mark Albert Fowler is a fictional character from the popular British BBC soap opera EastEnders. Mark was an original regular character in the series starting February 1985 but became a semi-regular after his original portrayer David Scarboro was written out of the role in April 1985. Scarboro made...
HIV, Mo Butcher
Mo Butcher
Maureen "Mo" Butcher is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Edna Doré between 1988 and 1990. She was introduced as the matriarch figure of the Butcher family, Frank Butcher's elderly mother. She was portrayed as a battle-axe, tough and interfering...
’s Alzheimer’s, Nick Cotton
Nick Cotton
Nick Cotton is a fictional character from the British soap opera EastEnders played by John Altman on a recurring basis from the soap's debut episode in February 1985, through to his last appearance to date in 2009. Nick is the son of characters Charlie and Dot Cotton, and the father of Ashley and...
’s attempt to poison his mother Dot Cotton, and the murder of Eddie Royle. Ferguson decided to leave EastEnders in July 1991.
He remained with the BBC, producing for the popular hospital drama Casualty (1993-1994), before returning to ITV in 1996 to once again direct for The Bill. His last directorial credit for the programme was in 2002.