Thanks, everyone!

Why do I like Fiona? Because I loved Highland Twins, I like how she uses her psychic powers to help Joey (yes, I know it's a bit silly but EBD actually made it come across very well, including Bill's hang-ups) and what a proud and fierce little kid she is, and how she's really into gruesome stories about her clan. I'm half-Scottish myself, although my dad's family are from Port Glasgow - not the Highlands! - so it's always nice to see Scottish characters. Her phonetic accent in the unabridged version grated on me a bit, but then I never understood why EBD felt the need to do that anyway. I can forgive the 'ooh they're Scottish so let's make them wear kilts' thing. The whole episode with Jack being feared dead and Joey's breakdown contained some of EBD's strongest writing, IMO.

Of the new characters from the Swiss era, I should add that I really like Samantha and Samaris. I had other kids picking on me for wanting to work and not slack off, so I can identify with Samaris, and her terrible flute-playing made me laugh. Samantha's a nice girl too. And I think I mentioned early that Ruey is another favourite.