“Dinner for One” is the television comedy traditionally broadcast around New Year’s Eve in Germany and Switzerland.
The short English-language sketch features an elderly woman, Miss Sophie, hosting a dinner for four absent guests. Her butler, James, serves the courses and increasingly imitates the guests by drinking their toasts. The recurring line “The same procedure as every year” became strongly associated with the sketch.
Although the performance is in English, it became a German New Year’s tradition after television broadcasts beginning in the 1960s. It has been shown repeatedly on German-speaking television, often in multiple broadcasts across New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day. The program’s unusual status makes it a notable example of a foreign-language television production becoming a local seasonal ritual.
The sketch originated in the British theater repertory and was written by Lauri Wylie. Freddie Frinton and May Warden are the performers seen in the widely broadcast version. Its New Year’s connection is therefore based on broadcasting history, not on the plot taking place specifically at midnight.