SAME PROCEDURE AS EVERY YEAR

THE 11 MINUTES BLACK AND WHITE 1963 TV RECORDING FEATURING BRITISH COMEDIANS FREDDIE FRINTON AND MAY WARDEN HA BECOME AN INTEGRAL COMPONENT OF THE NEW YEAR'S EVE SCHEDULE OF SEVERAL GERMANY TELEVISION STATIONS AND DANISH NATIONAL TELEVISION. IT HAS ALSO BEEN A CULT TELEVISION CLASSIC IN GERMANY, NORWAY, SWEDEN, FINLAND, FAROE ISLANDS, AUSTRIA: ON NEW YAER'S EVE 2003 ALONE, THE SKETCH WAS BROADCAST 19 TIMES (ON VARIOUS CHANNELS). THE SKETCH PRESENTS THE 90th BIRTHDAY OF ELDERLY UPPERCLASS ENGLISHWOMAN MISS SOPHIE, WHO HOSTS A DINNER EVERY YEAR FOR HER CLOSE FRIENDS MR POMMEROY, MR WINTERBOTTOM, SIR TOBY, AND ADMIRAL VON SCHNEIDER TO CELEBRATE THE OCCASION. NOTE THAT THE PLOT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH NEW YEAR'S EVE, AS IS OFTEN INCORRECTLY STATED. THERE IS A "HAPPY NEW" TOAST, BUT THIS IS PURELY A REFERENCE TO MISS SOPHIE'S CONSIDERABLE AGE, SHE HAS OUTLIVED ALL OF HER FRIENDS, AND SO HER EQUALLY AGED BUTLER JAMES MAKES HIS WAY AROUND THE TABLE, IMPERSONATING EACH OF THE GUESTS IN TURN.