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What could you do if your most reckless friend from your teenage years got back in touch? Imagine if you were battling a terminal illness and had nothing to lose? Consider if you were plagued by remorse for getting your friend imprisoned 10 years ago? If you were the one she got sent to prison and your release was granted to die of cancer in her care? What if you had been a almost unstoppable pair of con artists who retained a stash of disguises left over from your glory days and a longing to feel some excitement again?

All this and more form the core of Frauds, a new drama starring Suranne Jones and Jodie Whittaker, presents to viewers on a wild, thrilling six-part ride that follows two female fraudsters determined to pulling off one last job. Echoing a recent project, Jones developed this series with her collaborator, and it retains similar qualities. Just as a suspense-driven structure served as a backdrop to the psychodramas slowly revealed, here the grand heist the protagonist Roberta (Bert) has carefully planned in prison since her diagnosis is a means to explore a deep dive into companionship, deceit, and affection in every variation.

Bert is placed under the supervision of Sam (Whittaker), who lives nearby in the Andalucían hills. Guilt stopped her from ever visiting Bert, but she remained nearby and worked no cons without her – “Rather insensitive with you in prison for a job I messed up.” And for her new, if brief, life on the outside, she has purchased numerous undergarments, because various methods exist for women companions to offer contrition and one is the acquisition of “a big lady-bra” after a decade of uncomfortable institutional clothing.

Sam wants to carry on leading her quiet life and care for Bert until her passing. Bert possesses different plans. And when your daftest friend has other ideas – well, you often find yourself going along. Their former relationship slowly resurfaces and Bert’s plans are already in motion by the time she reveals the complete plan for the robbery. The series experiments with chronology – producing engagement rather than confusion – to give us the set-pieces first and then the explanations. So we observe the duo slipping jewellery and watches off wealthy guests’ wrists at a memorial service – and acquiring a gilded religious artifact because why wouldn’t you if you could? – before removing their hairpieces and turning their mourning clothes inside out to transform into vibrant outfits as they walk confidently down the church steps, filled with excitement and loot.

They require the stolen goods to finance the operation. This entails hiring a document expert (with, unbeknown to them, a betting addiction that is likely to draw unneeded scrutiny) in the guise of magician’s assistant Jackie (Elizabeth Berrington), who possesses the necessary skills to assist in swapping the intended artwork (a famous surrealist piece at a major museum). They also enlist art enthusiast Celine (Kate Fleetwood), who specialises in works by male artists exploiting women. She is equally merciless as any of the gangsters their accomplice and the funeral theft are drawing towards them, including – most dangerously – their former leader Miss Take (Talisa Garcia), a contemporary crime lord who employed them in frauds for her from their teens. She reacted poorly to the pair’s assertion of themselves as independent conwomen so unresolved issues remain in that area.

Unexpected developments are layered between deepening revelations about Bert and Sam’s history, so you experience the full enjoyment of a Thomas Crown Affair-ish caper – executed with no shortage of brio and admirable willingness to skate over rampant absurdities – plus a mesmerisingly intricate portrait of a friendship that is possibly as toxic as Bert’s cancer but just as impossible to uproot. Jones delivers arguably her best and most complex performance yet, as the wounded, bitter Bert with her endless quest for thrills to distract from the gnawing pain within that is unrelated to metastasising cells. Whittaker stands with her, delivering excellent acting in a somewhat less flashy role, and together with the creative team they create a fantastically stylish, emotionally rich and profoundly intelligent work of art that is inherently empowering without preaching and an absolute success. More again, soon, please.