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What would you do if that wildest companion from your youth reappeared? Imagine if you were dying of cancer and had nothing to lose? Consider if you were plagued by remorse for getting your friend imprisoned 10 years ago? 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 con artists who still had 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, presents to viewers on a wild, thrilling six-part ride that follows two conwomen bent on pulling off one last job. Similar to an earlier work, Jones co-created this with her collaborator, and it has all the same strengths. Much like a suspense-driven structure served as a backdrop to emotional conflicts slowly revealed, here the grand heist Jones’ character Roberta (Bert) has meticulously arranged in prison since her diagnosis is a means to explore an exploration of companionship, deceit, and affection in all its forms.

Bert is released into the care of Sam (Whittaker), who resides close by in the Spanish countryside. Guilt stopped her from ever visiting Bert, but she remained nearby and worked no cons without her – “Rather insensitive with you in prison for a job I messed up.” And for her new, albeit short, freedom, she has purchased numerous undergarments, because various methods exist for women companions to show repentance and one is the purchase of “a big lady-bra” after a decade of uncomfortable institutional clothing.

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 devises alternative schemes – well, those tend to be the ones you follow. Their former relationship slowly resurfaces and Bert’s plans are underway by the time she reveals the complete plan for the robbery. The series experiments with chronology – producing engagement rather than confusion – to present key scenes initially and then the rationale. So we watch the pair stealing gems and timepieces from affluent attendees at a memorial service – and bagging a golden crown of thorns 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 loot.

They need the assets to finance the operation. This involves recruiting a forger (with, unknown to the pair, a betting addiction that is due to attract unwanted attention) in the guise of magician’s assistant 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 art enthusiast Celine (Kate Fleetwood), who specialises in works by male artists exploiting women. She is equally merciless as all the criminals the forger and their funeral robbery are attracting, including – most dangerously – their old boss 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 there.

Plot twists are layered between deepening revelations about the duo’s past, so you get all the satisfactions of a sophisticated heist tale – executed with no shortage of brio and praiseworthy readiness to skate over rampant absurdities – plus a captivatingly detailed portrait of a friendship that is potentially as harmful as her illness but equally difficult to eradicate. Jones delivers arguably her best and most complex performance yet, as the damaged, resentful Bert with her lifetime pursuit of excitement to distract from the gnawing pain within that has nothing to do with metastasising cells. Whittaker supports her, doing brilliant work in a somewhat less flashy role, and alongside the writers they create a fantastically stylish, emotionally rich and highly insightful piece of entertainment that is feminist to its bones devoid of lecturing and an absolute success. More again, soon, please.