| Company type | Subsidiary |
|---|---|
| Industry | Television production Film production |
| Genre | Documentary Nature |
| Founded | 8 July 1968 in Oxford, UK |
| Founder | Gerald Thompson Peter Parks John Paling Sean Morris David Thompson |
| Headquarters | London , United Kingdom |
Key people | Clare Birks (CEO) Caroline Hawkins (Creative Director) |
| Products | Meerkat Manor Lemur Kingdom Fatal Attractions |
| Parent | Circle Communications (1996–1998) Southern Star Group (1998–2009) Fairfax Media (2009–2011) Boomerang Plus (2011–2012) Boom Pictures (2012–2013) Twofour Group (2013–2015) ITV Studios (2015–present) |
| Website | oxfordscientificfilms |
Oxford Scientific Films (OSF) is a British company that produces natural history and documentary programmes owned by ITV Studios. Founded as an independent company on 8 July 1968, by documentary filmmaker Gerald Thompson, it broke new ground in the world of documentaries, using new filming techniques and capturing footage of never before filmed activities of its various subjects. In 1996, Oxford Scientific Films was sold to Circle Communications, where it retained its own identity as a division within the company. The following year, Circle Communications was taken over by Southern Star Entertainment UK. Under the new ownership, Oxford Scientific Films produced multiple award-winning programmes and films, including the Animal Planet series Meerkat Manor.
In March 2008, Southern Star merged its Sydney-based factual business division into the Oxford Scientific Films division, using the OSF name for specialist documentaries, and "Southern Star Factual" for its features and entertainment style documentaries. When Southern Star was sold to Endemol, Oxford Scientific Films was retained by parent company Fairfax Media. In 2011, Boomerang Plus acquired the company. In 2012, Oxford Scientific Films became part of Boom Pictures, which merged with the Twofour Group in 2013, which was acquired by ITV Studios in 2015.