The series marked the debut as a television presenter of Charlotte Uhlenbroek, a 32-year-old primatologist who had worked with Jane Goodall at Gombe Stream studying chimpanzee behaviour. Over the course of the three, 50 minute episodes, Uhlenbroek encounters many species of primate, from the lemurs of Madagascar to the mountain gorillas of Rwanda. The animal behaviour filmed is used to explain the origins of primates and the development of skills and adaptations that have enabled human beings to become the most successful primate of all.