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How could you respond if that wildest companion from your teenage years got back in touch? What if you were battling a terminal illness and felt completely unburdened? What 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 die of cancer in her care? What if you had been a nearly unbeatable pair of scam artists who retained a collection of costumes from your prime and a longing to feel some excitement again?

These questions and beyond form the core of Frauds, a new drama starring Suranne Jones and Jodie Whittaker, flings at us on a wild, thrilling season-long journey that traces two female fraudsters determined to pulling off one last job. Echoing a recent project, Jones developed this series with her collaborator, and it has all the same strengths. Much like the mystery-thriller formula served as a backdrop to the psychodramas gradually unveiled, here the elaborate theft the protagonist Roberta (Bert) has meticulously arranged in prison after learning her prognosis is the vehicle for an exploration of friendship, betrayal and love in all its forms.

Bert is released into the care of Sam (Whittaker), who resides close by in the Spanish countryside. Remorse prevented her from ever visiting Bert, but she remained nearby and avoided scams 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 bought her plenty of new underwear, because there are many ways for women companions to show repentance and one is the acquisition of “a big lady-bra” following ten years of uncomfortable institutional clothing.

Sam aims to continue 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 former relationship gradually reasserts itself and her strategies are already in motion by the time she lays out the full blueprint for the heist. The series plays around with the timeline – producing engagement rather than confusion – to present key scenes initially and then the rationale. So we observe the duo stealing gems and timepieces off wealthy guests’ wrists at a memorial service – and acquiring a gilded religious artifact because what’s to stop you if you could? – before removing their hairpieces and reversing their funeral attire to transform into vibrant outfits as they stride out and down the chapel stairs, filled with excitement and assets.

They require the stolen goods to finance the operation. This entails recruiting a forger (with, unknown to the pair, a betting addiction that is likely to draw unwanted attention) in the form of illusionist’s aide Jackie (Elizabeth Berrington), who has the technical know-how to help them remove and replace the target painting (a famous surrealist piece at a major museum). They also enlist feminist art collector Celine (Kate Fleetwood), who focuses on works by artists depicting female subjects. She is as ruthless as all the criminals 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 had them running scams 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.

Plot twists are interspersed with deepening revelations about the duo’s past, so you get all the satisfactions of a Thomas Crown Affair-ish caper – carried out with immense energy and admirable willingness to overlook obvious implausibilities – alongside a captivatingly detailed portrait of a bond that is possibly as toxic as Bert’s cancer but equally difficult to eradicate. Jones gives perhaps her finest and most complex performance yet, as the wounded, bitter Bert with her lifetime pursuit of excitement to divert attention from the gnawing pain within that has nothing to do with her medical condition. Whittaker supports her, doing brilliant work in a somewhat less flashy role, and together with the creative team they craft a incredibly chic, deeply moving and profoundly intelligent work of art that is inherently empowering devoid of lecturing and an absolute success. Eagerly awaiting future installments.