Interview with Ian Collie -Executive Producer

What was the origin of Careless?

It's an interesting backstory. We reached out to Helen FitzGerald, who's the creator of Careless. Helen is also the author of The Cry, which Synchronicity later adapted, and she's written a number of novels. Although she's Australian, she lives in Glasgow, and we caught up over lunch when I was in London for one of the markets.

I was telling Helen how much I'd loved The Cry, and she said she'd loved Saving Mr. Banks, so we had a laugh about that from the outset. As a former lawyer, and Helen being a former social worker, we naturally gravitated towards conversations about redemption, parole and the criminal justice system.

At the time, there was a lot of discussion in the UK around Jon Venables and the wider questions surrounding rehabilitation and reoffending. We started talking about what redemption really means, how parole works, and how society balances giving offenders a second chance while protecting the public.

Those conversations became the thematic foundation of the project. Helen later sent us the first pitch document, under a different title at the time, and that eventually became Careless.

Can you talk about assembling the creative team?

It all starts with the writer, and in this case that was Louise Fox. We'd spoken once or twice before about other projects, and she's very much in demand, but we thought she'd be perfect for this.

Helen FitzGerald was involved throughout the development process alongside Lou, but unfortunately had to step away because of another major ITV project. Christian White then came on board. He's both a crime novelist and a screenwriter, and he'd worked with Lou before, so they already had a great creative relationship.

Ultimately, Lou wrote three of the four episodes and was our executive producer from a script and editorial perspective. It was fantastic working with her. She's incredibly methodical and really interrogates every aspect of the story to make sure the emotional truth and the story logic are always there. The scripts were in very safe hands.

What themes does Careless address?

Parole is obviously a major theme. The series asks when someone should be released back into society, what that means for victims' families, and how we balance punishment with rehabilitation.

Society can't keep people incarcerated forever, so there's always that question of when the time is right for someone to be given another chance.

The idea of care is another important theme. Robbie uses his role as a carer to gain access to this household, and I probably shouldn't say too much more because it is a psychological thriller.

Beyond that, the series explores broader ideas about trust, responsibility and what it really means to care for someone.

Why did you want to work with director Katie?

Stevie has a fantastic track record. She directed Safe Home, which we weren't involved with, and then worked on The Twelve, where we did get to work with her. She did an excellent job, so she was always on our list of top-tier directors we'd love to collaborate with again.

It's also exciting to see talented younger female directors coming through, and Stevie is definitely one of those. She's thoughtful, passionate and incredibly collaborative. The cast love working with her, and so does the production team.

She's very open-minded and always willing to listen to other perspectives before making her own decisions. It's been a real pleasure working with her, and I think audiences will see just how much she's brought to the series.

Why will Careless appeal to a global audience?

Crime dramas and psychological thrillers have universal appeal because they explore that grey area between good and evil, and Careless is no different. At its heart is a mystery that keeps you asking whether someone really is who they appear to be.

Ultimately, it's a story about trust. We all let people into our lives believing they're who they say they are. In a world of scams, deception and people presenting themselves as something they're not, there's a real anxiety around who we can trust.

Careless taps into that fear and asks a simple question: have we invited the right person into our home?