The German-language New Year's Eve television sketch about Miss Sophie and her butler James is called Dinner for One.
The short comedy features an elderly woman, Miss Sophie, celebrating her 90th birthday with a formal dinner. Her four invited friends are absent, so her butler James impersonates each guest while serving the courses and repeatedly saying, “The same procedure as every year.”
Although the sketch was written in English and became a major annual television tradition in German-speaking countries, it is comparatively little known in Britain, where it originated as a stage performance. German broadcaster NDR first televised it in 1963. Repeated broadcasts made it one of Germany's most recognizable New Year's Eve programs, and the catchphrase became closely linked with the holiday.