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What would you respond if your most reckless friend from your youth reappeared? Imagine if you were battling a terminal illness and felt completely unburdened? What if you were plagued by remorse for landing your friend in the clink 10 years ago? If you were the one she landed in the clink and your release was granted to die of cancer in her care? If you used to be 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?

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 season-long journey that follows two female fraudsters bent on executing a final scheme. Echoing a recent project, Jones developed this series with her collaborator, and it retains similar qualities. Just as the mystery-thriller formula served as a backdrop to emotional conflicts gradually unveiled, here the elaborate theft the protagonist Roberta (Bert) has meticulously arranged while incarcerated after learning her prognosis is the vehicle for an exploration of companionship, deceit, and affection in all its forms.

Bert is placed under the supervision 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 messed up.” And to prepare for Bert’s, albeit short, freedom, she has purchased numerous undergarments, because there are many ways for female friends to offer contrition and one is the acquisition of “a big lady-bra” following ten years of uncomfortable institutional clothing.

Sam wants to carry on leading her quiet life and look after Bert till the end. Bert has other ideas. And if your most impulsive companion devises alternative schemes – well, you often find yourself going along. Their old dynamic slowly resurfaces and Bert’s plans are underway by the time she reveals the complete plan for the heist. This show experiments with chronology – to good rather than eye-rolling effect – to present key scenes initially and then the rationale. 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 reversing their funeral attire to become colourful suits as they stride out and down the chapel stairs, filled with excitement and assets.

They need the assets to finance the operation. This involves recruiting a forger (with, unbeknown to them, a betting addiction that is likely to draw unneeded scrutiny) in the guise of illusionist’s aide Jackie (Elizabeth Berrington), who has the technical know-how to help them remove and replace the intended artwork (a renowned Dali painting at a major museum). They also enlist feminist art collector Celine (Kate Fleetwood), who specialises in works by artists depicting female subjects. She is equally merciless as all the criminals their accomplice and the funeral theft are drawing towards them, 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 reacted poorly to their declaration of independence as self-reliant tricksters so unresolved issues remain in that area.

Unexpected developments are interspersed with deepening revelations about the duo’s past, so you get all the satisfactions of a sophisticated heist tale – carried out with immense energy and praiseworthy readiness to skate over rampant absurdities – plus a mesmerisingly intricate portrait of a bond that is potentially as harmful as Bert’s cancer but equally difficult to eradicate. Jones delivers arguably her best and multifaceted portrayal yet, as the wounded, bitter Bert with her lifetime pursuit of excitement to divert attention from the gnawing pain within that is unrelated to metastasising cells. Whittaker supports her, delivering excellent acting in a slightly less interesting part, and alongside the writers they create a fantastically stylish, deeply moving and highly insightful work of art that is inherently empowering without preaching and in every way a triumph. Eagerly awaiting future installments.