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. 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. He remained with the BBC, producing the hospital drama series
Casualty (1993–94), before returning to ITV in 1996 to once again direct for
The Bill. His last directorial credit for the programme was in 2002.{{cite web | url = http://www.holby.tv/db/index.php?id=10,1296,0,0,1,0 | title= Michael Ferguson filmography ==Personal life==