“Dinner for One” is the 1963 television comedy famously broadcast in Germany around New Year’s Eve.
The short sketch was written by British author Lauri Wylie and features an elderly woman, Miss Sophie, celebrating her birthday with an imaginary dinner for four absent friends. Her butler, James, serves each course and repeatedly drinks the guests’ beverages, becoming increasingly intoxicated while maintaining the formal routine.
Although the sketch is in English, it became a major German New Year television tradition after a German recording was broadcast. The recurring line “The same procedure as every year” became closely associated with the ritual of annual viewing. The program is also shown in other northern European countries, with scheduling varying by country.
A common mix-up is assuming that the comedy originated in Germany because of its popularity there. It was created and performed in Britain, and the familiar television version was recorded in 1963 at a studio in Switzerland. Its cultural importance comes from repeated seasonal broadcasting rather than from its original stage setting.