The comedy sketch traditionally broadcast on German New Year's Eve is titled “Dinner for One.”
The short English-language sketch centers on Miss Sophie, who celebrates her 90th birthday with a formal dinner. Because her four regular guests have died, her butler, James, acts as each guest and drinks the corresponding toast. His increasingly unsteady performance supplies the recurring comedy.
The sketch was written by British author Lauri Wylie and became famous through a German television recording made in 1963. Freddie Frinton plays James and May Warden plays Miss Sophie. Although the dialogue is in English, the program became a major German New Year's television tradition.
“Dinner for One” is a notable cultural mismatch: it is far more famous in Germany and some northern European countries than in the United Kingdom, where it was not originally a comparable New Year's institution. The phrase “same procedure as every year” is strongly associated with the broadcast.