“The same procedure as every year”: The long-running sketch “Dinner for One” will also be on TV on New Year’s Eve in 2021. There will be around 20 broadcasts this time again on December 31st and January 1st on German-speaking television – in different versions. The original will be broadcast on ORF 1 on December 31 (11:40 p.m.) and January 1 at 5:20 a.m. On December 31, NDR will broadcast the version “Dinner for One or The 90th Birthday” (3:40 pm, 5:40 pm, 7:40 pm, 11:35 pm), which has been expanded to include a German introduction, and ARD will broadcast it at 4:45 pm. In addition, the sketch is broadcast more often after midnight (00.05 a.m .: BR, 03.45 a.m .: RBB, 05.10 a.m .: ARD).
New this year at ProSieben is a version with Joko and Klaas (8:15 p.m.). Because Joko Winterscheidt and Klaas Heufer-Umlauf lost in their show “Joko & Klaas against ProSieben on Ice” on December 21st, they have to replay the classic sketch on New Year’s Eve at prime time. The private broadcaster announced that it was about establishing a new tradition at the turn of the year with the new version “New Year’s Eve for One”. Joko plays the faithful butler, Klaas the senile landlady. “But even before the first flap falls, Joko and Klaas toast together and with the team to celebrate the past year. Can this end well?”
TV premiere in 1963
The original 18-minute black and white sketch is a German TV production with the English actors Freddie Frinton (1909–1968) and May Warden (1891–1978). “Dinner for One” was performed in English in Hamburg. The sketch had its TV premiere in March 1963 on the show “Guten Abend, Peter Frankenfeld”. The content: Miss Sophie (Warden) celebrates her 90th birthday alone with her butler James (Frinton). He represents Sophie’s late friends Sir Toby, Admiral von Schneider, Mr. Pommeroy and Mr. Winterbottom and drinks to Miss Sophie on their behalf. James gets more and more drunk and regularly falls over the tiger’s head rug to the delight of the TV viewers.
Source: Nachrichten
