“Dinner for One” is the German television comedy that became a New Year's Eve tradition in Germany since the 1970s.
The black-and-white sketch features an elderly woman, Miss Sophie, celebrating her 90th birthday with an imaginary dinner for four absent friends. Her butler, James, serves the meal and imitates each guest's drinking, repeatedly stumbling through the increasingly chaotic evening. The recurring line “The same procedure as every year” became closely associated with the broadcast.
The sketch was written by British author Lauri Wylie and performed in English by Freddie Frinton and May Warden. A German television recording was made in 1963, and repeated holiday broadcasts helped turn it into an annual ritual.
Its fame is unusual because the program is far better known in German-speaking countries than in Britain, where it originated. It is not a German-language production: the standard televised version is performed in English, with a German introduction and subtitles or surrounding commentary depending on the broadcast.