Meet Eastenders biggest fan.
Larry Jaffee has met some of the BBC show's favourite stars and even publishes his own Walford Gazette.
But, amazingly, the loyal devotee of Britain's downbeat soap opera lives in NEW YORK and had to fight to keep it on US television.
For the past 17 years Larry has chronicled the comings and goings of the series in his affectionate newspaper tribute to the soap, which is named after the fictional paper on screen.
During the course of creating his 16-page 'tabloid', the 51-year-old has amassed more than 80 exclusive interviews with current and past cast members, including many of the show's biggest stars, including Barbara Windsor, June Brown, Steve McFadden, John Altman, Patsy Palmer and Sid Owen. These now appear in his self-penned book 'Albert Square & Me: The Actors of Eastenders'.
Through the newspaper he has also enjoyed close personal relationships with Wendy Richard, Gretchen Franklin, John Altman and Michelle Collins.
In fact, his occasional trips to London see him staying at Deepak Verma's home, the actor famous for his role as Sanjay.
"I started watching in 1987 when I was living in Washington D.C. in the days before cable television was widely available," says Larry.
"I happened to be watching the very first night Eastenders was on, Tracy Ullman introduced the show as she had done some things on American TV. It was on public broadcasting television channel WETA and I was immediately hooked.
"I've always been an anglophile as I had grew up with the Beatles and the Rolling Stones. I had also loved Matchbox cars which were manufactured in east London."
But his real-life version of the Walford Gazette only came about by a coincidence worthy of a soap plot.
"I started a job in New York in late 1991 and these two guys were talking in the work cubicle next to me about Eastenders. I chimed in that I also watched the show and one of the guys, Dan Abramson, couldn't believe that there was another fan.
"In my inbox the next day I found an impeccably double-space typed five-page memo about that week's most recent episode.
"It was from this shared passion for the show we realised that we may be able to use our talents to create a newsletter about Eastenders. The Walford Gazette was born.
"Little did Dan and I know when we hatched the Gazette in late 1992 that not only would our publication be eagerly read by stateside fans but also by the actors themselves."
Unfortunately Dan passed away in 1999 but Larry, who has also edited media and marketing magazines, still ensures the quarterly paper reaches over a thousand paid subscribers.
But keeping the show itself on US television screens has been a dramatic battle worthy of the show itself.
In 2005, New York public broadcasting TV station WLIW threatened to cancel EastEnders unless fans coughed up the BBC's $29,000 license fee.
Larry spearheaded a fundraising effort that managed to generate nearly $35,000 in financial contributions in one month and the show was saved.
In 2007, Jaffee also led an unusual protest when the president of BBC America, which cancelled the show in September 2003, told an AP reporter that EastEnders was "peculiar to Britain" and "depressing." At Larry's behest Stateside fans bombarded BBC offices with teabags to show their displeasure.
But Larry's relationship with the Beeb hasn't been all bad. In 2004, then-BBC Head of Drama Mal Young, who oversaw the production of EastEnders, presented Jaffee with an Albert Square street sign replica signed by the show's cast as a token of appreciation all that Jaffee has done to keep the programme alive in the States.
With his book compilation of interviews now available online, Larry's love of Walford Square is still strong, although UK fans looking for the latest scoop on the show might be confused by the articles they find in the Gazette - America is 6 years behind the UK and Mark Fowler has only just left.
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