Shaftesbury is a Toronto, Canada based production company that specializes in the production of TV and film across a series of genres, including documentary, comedy and thrillers. The company was founded by Christina Jennings in 1987 and has worked with TV networks and movie producers from around the world to create some of the best known and best loved shows broadcast in Canada and beyond. Perhaps the show most often associated with Shaftesbury is Life with Derek, a sitcom that aired initially in Canada and became so successful that it was later turned into a movie that was also a success for the production company.
Shaftesbury have also been associated with the production of a number of drama series and thrillers throughout its life, including the hugely successful Murdoch Mysteries. For the series Shaftesbury partnered with ITV Worldwide to produce a show about a Toronto police detective who had begun to use forensics and modern detecting methods in a bid to solve a series of crimes. The Listener is another hugely successful crime driven drama that features a paramedic who discovers he has the ability to read minds and assist the police in solving a series of crimes. Sitcoms also feature in the Shaftesbury output; The Jane Show won critical reviews for the story of a novelist who takes on a corporate job to change her life for the better.