What television sketch has been broadcast in Germany every New Year's Eve since 1972?

“Dinner for One” has been broadcast in Germany every New Year's Eve since 1972.

The short English-language comedy sketch features Miss Sophie celebrating her 90th birthday with an imagined dinner attended by four absent friends. Her butler, James, serves each guest and repeatedly drinks their toast, becoming increasingly unsteady as the meal continues.

The sketch was written by British authors Lauri Wylie and Freddie Frinton performed it with May Warden. Although it is little known in Britain compared with its German reputation, it became a major German New Year's television tradition after repeated broadcasts.

The famous line “The same procedure as every year” is often associated with the sketch, but the program is not a New Year's story in its plot. Its connection with New Year's Eve comes from scheduling and repetition. German viewers commonly watch it as part of the holiday's television rituals, making this British-made performance an unusual cross-border tradition.