Meet the SVOD Editor: Neil Fergusson

At History Hit, we’re lucky to have an extraordinary team driving our mission to make history more accessible in the digital age. But how does each person's role shape the bigger picture, and what unique insights do they bring?

Neil Fergusson is one of the creative forces shaping History Hit’s documentary films, blending precision editing with storytelling flair to bring the past to life on screen. In his Meet the Team feature, Neil shares what it’s like to jump between medieval battles and Inca conquests in a matter of weeks, the thrill of uncovering unexpected historical connections, and why the best part of the job is working with a gang of quirky, lovable, hard working people.

Sum up your role in one sentence.

Editing - along with some other very talented editors - high-end factual history programmes for the History Hit subscription channel.

Take us through a typical day in your role.

9am - pour myself a cup of coffee and turn on the computer. Then start editing, with frequent pauses for coffee when possible.

But seriously, in more detail, it depends on where a film is in the post-production process. We edit the films in roughly four weeks - which is quite quick but they are always well planned and we make sure to make each film unique. A longer or more complicated film might take a bit more time and shorter films might be done a little quicker. If I’m in the first week of editing a new film I’ll tend to be doing a lot of prep work, getting to know all the rushes and getting a very basic draft of the film down that resembles a script that the Producer/Director has given me. This will involve placing temporary narration and getting interviews structured along with any pieces to camera. In the middle of an edit it will all be about working the footage as hard as possible to create dynamic scenes.

There also might be structural changes to the story, as once you’ve got the first draft done, interesting dramatic ideas might develop that could involve shaking up the order of some scenes. I’ll also start designing how any graphics or maps might look but I won’t spend too much time on this initially as everything is liable to change and I want to do this once we’ve got what we call ‘picture lock’. Picture lock is when the Producer/Director are happy with the edit. However my work doesn’t stop there as all the sound will still need mixing and I will want to give the footage a nice, maybe sometimes quite creative, grade. The film will still likely change in subtle ways as it goes through fact checking and QC-ing but hopefully it’s a smooth ride to uploading to the channel ready for whenever it’s scheduled for release.

What are the most enjoyable and challenging parts of your role?

The most enjoyable part is easily the people. History Hit is basically just a gang of quirky, lovable, hard working people. It’s a group with a great breadth of character and personalities. Everyone seems to want to support each other and there’s a real unique blend of interests.

With the kind of editing that I get to do there's quite a lot of creative freedom to how the story can be told. We're all really keen to try out new techniques in telling often familiar historical events in exciting original ways.

Fast paced but creative is exactly the kind of editing I like doing. So whilst sometimes you can feel a little whiplash - editing a story set in medieval winter one week then editing the epic story of the Inca the next week - that challenge is what keeps you on your toes and makes you sometimes find unusual narrative or visual solutions that you might have ironically neglected if there was more time.

How did you get into the role?

I’ve been an editor for a while now. I studied Media Studies then Screen Arts at university and once I graduated I started to try and do some small editing jobs as a freelancer whilst working part time jobs. After a while things built up and I ended up working as a full time freelance editor for over 10 years. My experience is primarily factual broadcast and I have cut programmes for most of the major broadcasters, but I have also done fictional work from time to time and I have edited films that have been Bifa nominated and Bafta shortlisted.

History Hit is my first full-time employed job. I had reached a point in my life where I wanted a little more stability career wise and I’ve always admired the History Hit brand - my wife is a big fan of the podcasts.

What is the most interesting or surprising thing you’ve learned working at History Hit?

So many historical insights of course - with my first being that Normans are descended from Vikings. When studying history at school the Normans are sort of just taken as read and their lineage taken for granted. William was just someone who ‘conquered’. But learning how they were vikings who settled in Northern France explains so much of why things went down the way they did. For example I was always confused by the 100 year war… but now understanding how important Norman ancestry is, it all seems to make more sense.

My latest discovery is about the Inca. I’m just finishing an epic two-part series on them. To be honest I knew nothing, but now all my mates in the pub will think I can be an Inca specialist (to be clear I am absolutely not though). You’d think they were an ancient civilisation - but no! The empire lasted between the 15th to early 16th century.

Any advice for someone looking to get into your field?

I’d say it’s not easy being an editor and right now the industry is in a state of flux. More traditional forms of broadcasting are in uncertain times and the internet means that audiences are watching films and programmes in much more diverse environments. I’d figure out what kind of film/programmes/content you want to make and focus on that. If you want to get into feature film editing look towards working from the ground up in post production houses.

If you’re more interested in online content then try to do your own films and build connections that way. I started out editing small films for local organisations in Sheffield. Through making contacts I progressed to re-versioning foreign TV programmes for UK broadcasters. Things will take time, there will be ups and downs. A good editor engages in the best collaborative way possible with whoever they’re working with and no matter what the film is.

Who is your History Hero (and why)?

Víctor Jara.

He was a Chilean singer-songwriter and activist. I’m a guitar player who very much admires his music and playing. He rose to prominence under Salvador Allende administration. He performed Latin American and Chilean folk music. His songs often combined left wing activism and sentiments. He became very popular in Chile. When the Allende government was overthrown in a military coup led by Augusto Pinochet, Jara was taken prisoner. He was taken along with other known leftwing citizens were taken and held at Estadio Chile, an indoor stadium. He was recognised by soldiers who separated him from the rest and proceeded to torture and beat him. During this time he managed to write the lyrics to the song 'Estadio Chile':

"How hard it is to sing when I must sing of horror. / Horror which I am living, horror which I am dying."

These were smuggled out but Jara was executed with a shot to the head followed by mass machine gun fire.

I am interested in historical figures of resistance during times of oppression but Jara more so because his music is really bloomin’ good and I recommend everyone check it out.