The New Year's Eve broadcast watched in Germany and several other European countries is “Dinner for One.”
The short British comedy sketch features an elderly woman, Miss Sophie, celebrating her birthday while a butler named James serves dinner to four absent guests. James repeatedly impersonates the guests and drinks their toasts, creating the sketch's central comic routine.
Although the performance is in English, it became an annual television tradition in Germany after a recorded version was broadcast there in 1963. It is also shown in countries including Austria, Switzerland, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, and Estonia, with scheduling varying by country.
The line “The same procedure as every year” is closely associated with the sketch, but the program is not a drama about New Year's Eve. Its connection comes from the recurring holiday broadcast tradition and the ritual familiarity viewers attach to it.