The idea for the AAP leader was developed by Karin van der Meer and Sacha Krijnen. We following the monkey named Benedict going into the house. As soon as he enters the house everything changes in a cardboard-playhouse. This cardboard plays an important role in this tv show.
We used a stop-motion style while the viewer is going through the house meeting all the main characters.
To test if and how we could fit the concept of Karin and Sacha into 20 seconds, we first made an animatic.
For the final version of the leader, we used real elements of the cardboard house, like the sofa, created by production designer Bram Doyer.
The setting of the show is the small village Nagele. The whole village was designed following the principles of “Het Nieuwe Bouwen” by architects like Cornelis van Eesteren, Aldo van Eyck en Gerrit Rietveld. The geometric and square shapes and bright colors, created by "De Stijl" are used in the style of the show.
We used an original typeface designed by Theo van Doesburg, a prominent member of De Stijl.
Orphan Lena hasn't been too happy. Her foster parents only see the eleven-year-old as a pay check. But one day, Lena finds a huge gorilla at the doorstep: It is Benedict, her last remaining relative. He has the papers to prove it. A wonderful life begins for the two as they move in together. And even though Benedict can't talk, he sure can read and write. But there are problems: Lena's old foster parents hatch a plan to get her and her money back. Yes, Benedict is a gorilla - but they belong together, and everybody needs to deal with that.
— Maarten Koopman