“An extraordinary heist thriller”: Suranne Jones and Jodie Whittaker team up in “emotional" ITV drama Frauds

It’s been far too long since we last saw Suranne Jones on our screens and fortunately, she’s making it up for it with not one but two brilliant dramas coming to our screens. Soon to step into the shoes of the British Prime Minister in Netflix's Hostage, she's also been busy working on what's set to be an extraordinary heist thriller. The Gentleman Jack actress has co-created a new six-part ITV drama, Frauds, which she'll also star in opposite Jodie Whittaker, as a pair of criminal friends taking on the ultimate heist - and judging by the first-look images, it's TV gold.

Co-created by Jones and Anne-Marie O’Connor (Maryland, Trollied), the drama follows con artists Bert (Suranne Jones) and Sam (Jodie Whittaker). The pair have been living in Spain for the last few years, Sam in the rolling hills and Bert in the slightly less idyllic setting of a prison cell. After a decade behind bars, a cancer diagnosis allows Bert to walk free on compassionate discharge - and she has a burning desire to pull off one final job that will prove her worth.

Suranne told ITV: “Working on Frauds with Anne-Marie and Monumental for the last 2 years has been a wild ride. We took the idea of toxic female friendship and turned it on its head to give the heist genre an emotional heartbeat. I have always wanted to work with Jodie, and now I am. I hope you love Bert and Sam and all they get up to as much as we do."

Ahead of Frauds' arrival on our screens, here's everything you need to know about the new ITV drama, including the plot, cast and release date.

What is Frauds about?

As we mentioned, the six-part drama stars Suranne Jones and Jodie Whittaker (Time, Doctor Who) as complex duo Bert and Sam, whose intertwined past resurfaces in the setting of Southern Spain after a decade of separation. The story picks up as Sam anxiously waits for Bert to be released from a maximum-security prison on grounds of compassionate discharge. She's frail and facing her final days, having been diagnosed with cancer, but Bert's mindset is as it's always been, to take risks and live life on the edge.

The official synopsis continues: "Set in the picturesque mountainous region of Southern Spain, it's apparent from the outset that Sam and Bert have unresolved issues of the thieving kind. Locked into a pattern of fierce friendship coupled with deep mistrust, that goes back many years, Bert apparently has no one else to turn to in the final weeks of her life. And we sense this isn't going to be an easy ride for Sam, who is clearly burying feelings of guilt, and a past she'd rather stay forgotten.

"Pricked by those feelings, she reluctantly agrees to give her ailing former friend a bed in the idyllic smallholding she calls a home. Despite trying to keep Bert at a distance, she is immediately pulled back into their complex and addictive relationship. On the pretext of one final, multi-million-pound art heist, Bert attempts to lure Sam out of retirement, but at what cost? Can Sam stay one step ahead of her former friend, who is clearly capable of treachery? Or will the push and pull of their toxic friendship see them both ruined before they are able to pull off the job and escape one another for good?"

Co-creator and writer, Anne-Marie O’Connor, says: “Suranne and I wanted to take a look at the importance and fierceness of female friendship and to do it using the propulsive heist genre. I am thrilled to be working with Monumental again, and having Jodie joining us alongside Suranne is a dream.”

Invested yet? Us too.

Who is in the cast of ITV's Frauds?

The cast of Frauds includes:

• Suranne Jones (Doctor Foster, Gentleman Jack) as Bert
• Jodies Whittaker (Toxic Town, Broadchurch) as Sam
• Talisa García (Baptiste, Blurred) as Miss Take, a smart, funny, and acerbic Spanish trans woman in her fifties who hosts drag bingo at the club on the Costa del Sol
• Elizabeth Berrington (Lost Boys and Fairies, Good Omens, Stella) as Jackie Diamond. a sharp-witted and sharp-mouthed magician’s assistant to her husband The Great Diavolo
• Christian Cooke (Rematch, Love, Rosie) as Deegs, a Bradford money lender who tracks Bilal to Spain, creating conflict with Bert and Sam
• Nansi Nsue (Past Lies, The Mallorca Files) as Amaya, a determined Spanish cop and working mum investigating a bizarre series of thefts
• Lee Boardman (Enola Holmes, Andor, The Crow Girl) as Craig, Jackie’s husband, a gaslighting, narcissistic mid level magician
• Abdul Salis (The Wheel of Time, Mufasa: The Lion King) as Mateo: a kind man, considered he is Miss Take’s husband and greatest champion
• Karan Gill (The Decameron, Brian And Margaret, I May Destroy You) as Bilal, an idiosyncratic Bradford loner with an unusual secret – he’s the world’s greatest forger
• Thais Martin (Coolie) as Caitlin, Sam’s long-lost daughter, a petty criminal with her eye on the prize
• Kate Fleetwood (The Wheel of Time, Harlots, Fate: The Winx Club Saga) as Celine, a no-nonsense East London ex-pat art dealer with a children’s soft play centre as a front for her dealings
• Javier Taboada (The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon) as Blas, a charismatic Spanish prison guard who had a relationship of sorts with Bert while she was inside

How can I watch ITV's Frauds?

Good news - ITV has confirmed that Frauds will arrive on ITV1 and ITVX later this year. As soon as we have a confirmed date, we'll share it here.