Rafadan Tayfa is a Turkish animated children's television series directed by İsmail Fidan and written by Ozan Çivit. First aired in 2014, the series centers around a group of six children in Istanbul learning new things. Production takes place in Ankara and is done by ISF Studios. Work on the show started approximately in 2012, with the aim of portraying the Turkish mahalle culture of the 1980s and 1990s. Several spin-offs and three featured films related to the series have also been produced. Both the series and movies are generally well liked by children. Premise In a neighbourhood in Istanbul, Turkey, a group of six children who call themselves "Rafadan Tayfa" experience adventures to learn new things and resolve conflicts within the group and with other residents of the neighbourhood. Cast and characters Hakan Coşar as Mert, regarded as the leader of the group. Zeynep Şirin Giobbi as Akın, the younger brother of Mert. Yağmur Sergen as Kâmil, son of the bakkal who helps to run the store. Levent Kol as Hayri, obese brother of Hale that likes food. Emine Sergen Kazbek as Hale, younger sister of Hayri. Seçil Akıncılar as Sevim, oldest in the group. Mert, Akın, Kâmil and Hayri are the main characters featured in all episodes, while Hale and Sevim only appear in most. Other characters include Basri (Nusret Çetinel) the grumpy old man, Rüstem (Levent Kol) the kofta seller and Yumak, a dog taken care by Akın and Basri. Production The director of Rafadan Tayfa is İsmail Fidan, while the writer is Ozan Civit. The series is produced by ISF Studios, an animation studio founded by Fidan. The series is aimed at children but also adults. Production of the series, as well as voicing, takes place in Gölbaşı, Ankara. After receiving his master's degree in 2009 on public administration and politics, Fidan realized that the 1980s in Turkey were mostly remembered as coup years, and thought that many values of his childhood were forgotten. After discussing this with Civit, they decided to "combine the neighborhood culture and their childhood" for the project. Characters included in the series are ordinary people "one could meet on the street". Fidan was insipired by his close relatives when creating the several of the characters. In early 2017, Fidan said that they had been working on the series "for five years". The initial name chosen for the series was Yukarı Mahalle,