6. Skins (E4, 2007 2013)
What Was The Show A drama about the lives and loves of a group of teenagers in Bristol that changed its main cast every two series.
What Was The Stupid Decision? Almost everything that happened in Series Four and Six.
How Did It Kill The Show? A new series of Skins without the original cast was always a gamble. But thanks to some engaging new characters and the beautifully written love story between the characters of Emily and Naomi, Series Three stood firm and lived up to Series One and Two. Then Series Four came along and rained on that parade. Apart from the lighthearted sixth episode, it was incredibly unpleasant with suicide, bankruptcy, and infidelity all being prominent themes, and with little to no respite from the dark storylines. Plus the much praised love story between Emily and Naomi hit the skids by the second episode, replacing the third series very sweet coming of age romance with a huge dollop of angst and massive amounts of passive-aggressive behaviour. And of course there was the absolutely insane (no pun intended) storyline of main character Effy having a mental breakdown and her counsellor systematically erasing her memories, culminating in a poorly executed final episode that did very little in the way of closure or good storytelling. Series Five valiantly tried to take the series back to its roots but since so many people had stopped watching either because Series Four was so terrible or because they didnt want to watch the show with another new cast, it was fighting a losing battle. Then came Series Six with another raft of death and depression for the characters to deal with as well as the utter lunacy of a character making deals with the Russian mafia, and half of the characters having hallucinations of their dead fiend. This proved to be the final nail in Skins coffin. On average, Series Six brought in 409,000 viewers. A far cry from its first series which consistently had viewing figures of just under a million. A final trilogy of episodes is set to air in July featuring a fraction of the main cast but, for all intents and purposes, Skins has been dead for a while now.