Every New Year's Eve, half of Germany sits down to watch an English comedy sketch starring a comedian that few in the UK would recognise.

The 18-minute sketch, called Dinner For One, features a masterful comic performance by the late actor Freddie Frinton, who plays James, butler to an elderly upper-class English woman called Miss Sophie.

She is celebrating her 90th birthday by hosting a dinner for her close friends. Because she has outlived them all, James impersonates each guest, getting more drunk with each toast.

Originally written in the 1920s, it was recorded in 1963 by a German television station, and has since become embedded in the country's New Year ritual.

Simon Green, co-director of the Aston Centre for Europe, says: "He's part of the ritual of New Year's Eve, which is much bigger in Germany than in the UK.

"A lot of people watch it, like the Queen's Speech in Britain. In that sense, it's a real element of German culture.

"It's on in the early evening, at about six or seven o'clock, so people will watch it while they're having a drink and before they have their dinner."

The reason why this programme has such appeal is a bit of a mystery, says Professor Green, although farce is popular in Germany and its appeal is helped by the fact that a good knowledge of English is not required (it's not dubbed).

"It's one of those historical accidents that somehow become part of the national character. It's just chance that in September in Britain, there's this fantastic evening of national sentiment, the Last Night of the Proms."

Its catchphrase, "The same procedure as every year", is often referred to in German culture.

The sketch has not been shown in the UK for 30 years, although it is still popular in Australia and Scandinavia.

Frinton found some belated fame in the UK in 1964 as a plumber in the sitcom Meet The Wife, but four years later he died suddenly, aged 59, unaware of how famous he would become.