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How would you respond if your most reckless friend from your teenage years reappeared? What if you were dying of cancer and felt completely unburdened? Consider if you felt guilty 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 care? If you used to be a almost unstoppable pair of con artists who retained a collection of costumes left over from your glory days and a deep desire for one last thrill?

These questions and beyond are the questions that Frauds, a new drama starring Suranne Jones and Jodie Whittaker, flings at us on a exhilarating, intense six-part ride that traces two conwomen bent on executing a final scheme. Similar to an earlier work, Jones developed this series with a writing partner, and it has all the same strengths. Just as the mystery-thriller formula was used as background to emotional conflicts slowly revealed, here the grand heist Jones’ character Roberta (Bert) has carefully planned while incarcerated after learning her prognosis is the vehicle for a deep dive into companionship, deceit, and affection in all its forms.

Bert is placed under the supervision of Sam (Whittaker), who resides close by in the Andalucían hills. Remorse prevented her from seeing Bert during her sentence, but she remained nearby and worked no cons without her – “Bit crass with you in prison for a job I botched.” And for her new, if brief, life on the outside, she has purchased numerous undergarments, because various methods exist for female friends to offer contrition and one is the acquisition of “a big lady-bra” after a decade of underwire-free prison-issue rubbish.

Sam wants to carry on maintaining her peaceful existence and care for Bert until her passing. Bert has other ideas. And if your most impulsive companion has other ideas – well, you often find yourself going along. Their old dynamic gradually reasserts itself and Bert’s plans are already in motion by the time she reveals the complete plan for the heist. The series plays around with the timeline – producing engagement rather than confusion – to give us the set-pieces first and then the explanations. So we observe the duo stealing gems and timepieces off wealthy guests’ wrists at a funeral – and bagging a golden crown of thorns 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, awash with adrenaline and assets.

They need the assets to finance the operation. This entails recruiting a forger (with, unbeknown to them, a gambling problem that is likely to draw unwanted attention) 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 art enthusiast Celine (Kate Fleetwood), who specialises in works by artists depicting female subjects. She is equally merciless as all the criminals the forger and their funeral robbery are drawing towards them, including – most dangerously – their former leader Miss Take (Talisa Garcia), a modern-day Fagin who had them running scams for her from their teens. She did not take well to their declaration of independence as self-reliant tricksters so there’s ground to make up there.

Unexpected developments are interspersed with progressively uncovered truths about the duo’s past, so you experience the full enjoyment 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 friendship that is potentially as harmful 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 lifetime pursuit of excitement to distract from the gnawing pain within that has nothing to do with metastasising cells. Whittaker stands with her, delivering excellent acting in a slightly less interesting part, and together with the creative team they craft a incredibly chic, emotionally rich and highly insightful work of art that is feminist to its bones without preaching and in every way a triumph. Eagerly awaiting future installments.