EastEnders
"EastEnders" is often filmed on location, away from the studios in Borehamwood. Sometimes an entire quartet is filmed on location, which has a practical function and are the result of "EastEnders" making a "double bank", when an extra week's worth of episodes are recorded at the same time as the regular schedule, enabling the production of the programme to stop for a two-week break at Christmas. These episodes often air in late June or early July and again in late October or early November. The first time this happened was in December 1985 when Pauline (Wendy Richard) and Arthur Fowler (Bill Treacher) travelled to the Southend-on-Sea to find their son Mark, who had run away from home. In 1986, "EastEnders" filmed overseas for the first time, in Venice, and this was also the first time it was not filmed on videotape, as a union rule at the time prevented producers taking a video crew abroad and a film crew had to be used instead. In 2011, it was reported that eight per cent of the series is filmed on location.
Michael Ferguson (director)
Michael Ferguson (born 14 June 1937) is a British script writer, television director and television producer. 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 also directed and produced ITV's popular police drama "The Bill", and directed four serials of the BBC's science fiction series "Doctor Who" between 1966 and 1971.