Are you British? If so, then you could be forgiven for thinking this is a column about the joys of eating alone.
If so, then you could be forgiven for thinking this is a column about the joys of eating alone. If you are German, Norwegian, Danish, Swedish, Finnish, Swiss, Estonian, Austrian, Faroese or Australian, however, you will know that I'm talking about a TV show. One of the most frequently shown programmes ever.
Dinner for One is an 11-minute-long black-and-white British TV sketch made in 1963 about a posh old lady and her Yorkshireman butler, but is virtually unknown in Britain. Dinner For One is shown on December 23 every year on Norwegian national TV, in English, as well as being a staple of New Year's Eve telly schedules in Germany (the English and a German remake), Denmark, Sweden and many other countries.
It features white-haired Miss Sophie, who sits down to dinner at a table set for five and orders her butler James to start the annual ritual of serving her and her "guests", Sir Toby, Admiral von Schneider, Mr Pomeroy and Mr Winterbottom, or rather, their empty chairs (they're dead, we presume). It therefore falls to the decrepit James to play their roles, at least during the toast that accompanies every course, making him increasingly inebriated. Before each course, he asks the same question and receives the same response: "Same procedure as last year, Miss Sophie?" "Same procedure as every year, James." So well known are the phrases in continental Europe, they're staples of German headline writers.
On holiday recently, we came across a Norwegian and two Danes, travelling separately, who could all quote from the sketch by heart. Why is it so popular? we asked. Because it's about absent friends and nostalgia, and the whole family can enjoy it, came the response.
It's a quirky, slightly odd little film, but for half the continent of Europe, it's cherished like the angel on top of the tree. So this year, go online and make Dinner for One part of your Christmas ritual.
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