I know what you mean about the fun. I felt that this series didn't focus so much on the friendships. In series 1 and 2 the character hit the town, crashed parties, went to the "disco", invited each other over or bust into each others' room, went to the pub to eat greasy handburgers and fries. What made series 1 and 2 so great was how close-knit they were, how their destinies collided. I'm not saying their friendship was perfect, it even fell apart towards the end, but at least it made sense. One more thing, I think that the first generation was much more realistic and believable in how they portrayed teenagers. We would see them doing very mundane things like go to college, go shopping etc. In series 4 many characters looked so miserable, out of it and malajusted (except maybe Pandora, Thomas and JJ). I'm looking at Emily, Naomi, Effy, Freddy and Katie as well. Cook was the only one holding up strong.