Dinner for One is Germany's New Year's Eve broadcast tradition centered on a short comedy sketch.
The sketch features an elderly woman, Miss Sophie, celebrating her 90th birthday with a formal dinner. Because her four invited friends have died, her butler, James, serves their courses and drinks while impersonating each guest. He repeatedly says, “The same procedure as every year,” a line that became closely associated with the program.
The performance was written by British author Lauri Wylie and filmed for German television in 1963. Freddie Frinton played James and May Warden played Miss Sophie. Although the production is in English, it became an annual New Year's television fixture in Germany and several other European countries.
A common misconception is that it is a British New Year's tradition of equal prominence. The sketch is British in origin, but its recurring holiday television status is especially strong in German-speaking Europe. Its title refers to the dinner, not to a countdown ceremony.