Dinner for One is the television sketch first broadcast in 1963 that became a New Year’s Eve tradition in Germany.
The English-language sketch stars Freddie Frinton as a butler serving a birthday dinner to Miss Sophie, played by May Warden. Because Miss Sophie’s four guests are absent, the butler repeatedly drinks their toasts and gradually becomes increasingly intoxicated.
German broadcaster Norddeutscher Rundfunk recorded and broadcast the performance in 1963. The short program became an annual holiday fixture in Germany and several other European countries, even though it was far less well known in the United Kingdom, where the performers originated.
The recurring line “The same procedure as every year” is strongly associated with the sketch. Its New Year’s Eve status comes from repeated holiday broadcasting rather than from the plot taking place on New Year’s Eve.