This New Year's evening piece was Astrid Henning-Jensen's debut as a TV director. She did a total of eight TV dramas for Danmarks Radio in the years 1961-1965.
'Et brev til en søn' by H.C. Branner was the fourth of five short plays commissioned by Danmarks Radio for New Year's evening. Before these, only TV adaptations of already established theater plays had been broadcast. The first play was 'Møde ved midnat' by Frank Jæger (two versions, 1957 and 1958) followed by 'X-60 starter' by Finn Methling (1959), 'To i en tråd' by Ernst Bruun Olsen (1960), 'Et brev til en søn' by H.C. Branner (1961) and 'Nytårsspil' by Karl Bjarnhof (1962).