In Germany, Dinner for One is traditionally broadcast on New Year's Eve more than any other television program.
Dinner for One is a short English-language comedy sketch in which an elderly woman hosts a birthday dinner for four absent friends, while her butler performs their parts and repeatedly drinks their toasts. Its recurring line, “The same procedure as every year,” became closely associated with German New Year's viewing.
The sketch was written by British author Lauri Wylie and became famous in Germany after a 1963 recording by the German broadcaster NDR. Although it is little known in the United Kingdom, German television has shown it regularly on December 31 for decades.
The program is not a New Year's story: its plot concerns a birthday. That distinction is one reason the tradition is often interesting to international viewers. In Germany, however, its annual scheduling has made the comedy an established part of Silvester television culture.