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How would you do if that wildest companion from your youth reappeared? What if you were dying of cancer and had nothing to lose? Consider if you were plagued by remorse for landing your friend in the clink a decade back? Suppose you were the one she landed in the clink and your release was granted to succumb to illness in her custody? If you used to be a nearly unbeatable pair of scam artists who retained a stash of disguises from your prime and a deep desire for one last thrill?

These questions and beyond are the questions that Frauds, a new drama featuring Suranne Jones and Jodie Whittaker, presents to viewers on a wild, thrilling six-part ride that follows two conwomen determined to pulling off one last job. Similar to an earlier work, Jones co-created this with a writing partner, and it retains similar qualities. Much like a suspense-driven structure was used as background to the psychodramas gradually unveiled, here the grand heist Jones’ character Roberta (Bert) has meticulously arranged while incarcerated since her diagnosis is the vehicle for a deep dive into friendship, betrayal and love in all its forms.

Bert is released into the care of Sam (Whittaker), who lives nearby in the Spanish countryside. Guilt stopped her from ever visiting Bert, but she has stayed close and worked no cons without her – “Rather insensitive with you in prison for a job I botched.” And for her new, albeit short, life on the outside, she has purchased numerous undergarments, because various methods exist for female friends to show repentance and a classic example is the purchase of “a big lady-bra” after a decade of underwire-free prison-issue rubbish.

Sam wants to carry on leading her quiet life and look after Bert till the end. Bert has other ideas. And when your daftest friend has other ideas – well, those tend to be the ones you follow. Their old dynamic gradually reasserts itself and her strategies are underway by the time she reveals the complete plan for the heist. This show plays around with the timeline – producing engagement rather than confusion – to present key scenes initially and then the rationale. So we watch the pair slipping jewellery and watches off wealthy guests’ wrists at a memorial service – and bagging a golden crown of thorns because why wouldn’t you if you could? – before ripping off their wigs and reversing their funeral attire to become colourful suits as they walk confidently down the church steps, filled with excitement and assets.

They need the assets to finance the operation. This entails recruiting a forger (with, unknown to the pair, a gambling problem that is likely to draw unneeded scrutiny) in the form of illusionist’s aide Jackie (Elizabeth Berrington), who has the technical know-how to help them remove and replace the intended artwork (a famous surrealist piece at a prominent gallery). They also enlist feminist art collector Celine (Kate Fleetwood), who focuses on works by male artists exploiting women. She is as ruthless as any of the gangsters the forger and their funeral robbery are attracting, including – most perilously of all – their old boss Miss Take (Talisa Garcia), a contemporary crime lord who employed them in frauds for her from their teens. She did not take well to their declaration of independence as independent conwomen so there’s ground to make up in that area.

Plot twists are layered between progressively uncovered truths about the duo’s past, so you get all the satisfactions of a sophisticated heist tale – executed with no shortage of brio and admirable willingness to skate over rampant absurdities – plus a captivatingly detailed portrait of a bond that is possibly as toxic as her illness but just as impossible to uproot. Jones gives perhaps her finest and multifaceted portrayal yet, as the wounded, bitter Bert with her endless quest for thrills to divert attention from the gnawing pain within that is unrelated to metastasising cells. Whittaker supports her, doing brilliant work in a slightly less interesting part, and together with the creative team they craft a fantastically stylish, emotionally rich and profoundly intelligent work of art that is inherently empowering devoid of lecturing and an absolute success. Eagerly awaiting future installments.