So, so disappointed

Let me begin by saying I am a complete This Life obsessive. I own every single episode on video and can repeat the script off by heart.
I admit my expectations for the reunion were probably unrealistically high but I was still crushed by how poor it was and most of all how it departed so radically from the original two series in so many ways. There were so many let-downs I barely know where to begin.
The 'documentary' mechanic must have seemed like a good idea at the time but it just came over as clunky and contrived. I just ended up being irritated beyond belief by the annoying camerawoman hovering in the background, taking the focus away from the characters.
When I read previews about the central idea of the reunion, alarm bells were already ringing. So, Egg has basically written the book of the first two series, and now this woman is filming the reunion of the characters in Egg's book, which in itself is a TV series? So it's a play within a play within a play? In what parallel universe was this deemed a great idea?
I notice in the ten-minute programme afterwards that the producer referred to the 'documentary' format as a 'nod to how TV has changed in the last ten years'. The Office patented the 'mock-doc' idea about five years ago. It's now outdated and took the programme too far away from the ethos of the original. I noticed also the trademark 'shaky camera' direction was gotten rid of. Why? That was part of what made the original series so gritty and relatable.
On to the plot: Are we expected to believe that Miles and his best man Egg would not have kept in contact for the previous ten years? And that Anna would fall out so spectacularly with her closest friend Millie over simply being jealous of Milly having had a child? Anna could be hot-headed but to
completely alienate her best mate due to child-envy? Not a chance.
Miles' character seemed to have become a caricature of his former self. He's gone from smooth-talking pompous arrogance to some sort of mad Boris Johnston country gent. And the bailiffs happening to arrive on the weekend of the reunion? What? The greatest thing about the original two series was that it was believable. It was what REALLY happened, in real life. This was just nonsense.
Egg and Milly's relationship wasn't properly explained. Egg said to the documentary maker at the start that they weren't 'properly married'. Well what were they then? They obviously had a kid but there seemed to be no discernible relationship between them at all, even with Egg's daft late gesture in the lake.
The script was so clumsy: From Anna's bizarre outburst shoe-horned into the middle of dinner apropos of nothing ("Anna, could you pass the salad?" "Salad, what use is that? I need a child!") to Warren's boring bumbo jumbo about new age therapy. Sure, he was always self-analysing and worrying, but underneath it all he was likeable. This time around I just found him irritating and could not relate to him at all. As with many of the main protagonists, the writers took his character traits too far away from what he was like originally for it to be believable.
Most of all it simply wasn't clever or funny. I didn't laugh once or nod knowingly at some reference to past events or some subtle insight about their motives. It was all just a bit daft, like a self-mocking spoof, not realistic.
Another more minor complaint. What happened to Joe, Keira, Rachael and O'Donnell? Obviously they were not still part of the main characters' lives, which is fine, but could their fates not have been mentioned in passing?
I'll stop short of saying it has soiled my cherished nostalgic memories of the original two series (the best drama of all time, which will never be bettered), but I'll certainly think slightly less of the writers after this ill-conceived mish mash. So sad.