The German-language New Year’s Eve tradition centers on watching the comedy sketch “Dinner for One.”
The short performance features an elderly woman, Miss Sophie, celebrating her 90th birthday with a formal dinner. Because her invited friends have died, her butler, James, impersonates each guest and repeatedly drinks their toasts. The recurring line “The same procedure as every year” became especially recognizable.
Although the sketch is British and performed in English, it became an extraordinary television tradition in Germany and several other European countries. German broadcaster NDR first transmitted it in 1963, and it has been repeated around New Year for decades.
The program is less central to British New Year customs, where many viewers may not know it. Its German cultural status comes largely from repeated annual broadcasts rather than from its original stage history.