The British television comedy traditionally broadcast every New Year's Eve in Germany is Dinner for One.
Dinner for One is a short English-language stage sketch written by Lauri Wylie. It features an elderly woman, Miss Sophie, celebrating her birthday with an imaginary dinner party while her butler, James, serves in place of four absent guests. James repeatedly drinks each guest's beverage and becomes increasingly intoxicated.
Although the sketch originated in Britain, it became a German New Year's Eve tradition after a television recording was broadcast in 1963. The program is known in German as Der 90. Geburtstag, or “The 90th Birthday,” and is shown repeatedly around the holiday period.
The phrase “the same procedure as every year” became strongly associated with the broadcast. The program's popularity is unusual because it is performed in English but has become a recurring fixture of German-speaking television.