 In the latter part of 1989 "EastEnders" acquired a new executive producer named Michael Ferguson, who took over from Mike Gibbon.Ferguson had previously been a producer on ITV's "The Bill" — a hard-hitting, gritty and successful police drama, which seemed to be challenging "EastEnders" in providing a realistic vision of modern life in London.Due to his success on "The Bill", Peter Cregeen, the Head of Series at the BBC, poached Ferguson to become executive producer of "EastEnders".