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What could you respond if your most reckless friend from your youth reappeared? What if you were dying of cancer and had nothing to lose? What if you felt guilty for getting your friend imprisoned a decade back? If you were the one she got sent to prison and you were only being released to die of cancer in her custody? What if you had been a almost unstoppable pair of scam 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 featuring Suranne Jones and Jodie Whittaker, flings at us on a wild, thrilling six-part ride that follows two female fraudsters bent on executing a final scheme. Echoing an earlier work, Jones co-created this with her collaborator, and it has all the same strengths. Just as a suspense-driven structure was used as background to the psychodramas slowly revealed, here the elaborate theft the protagonist Roberta (Bert) has meticulously arranged in prison after learning her prognosis is a means to explore a deep dive into companionship, deceit, and affection in every variation.

Bert is placed under the supervision of Sam (Whittaker), who lives nearby in the Andalucían hills. Remorse prevented her from ever visiting Bert, but she remained nearby and worked no cons without her – “Bit crass with you in prison for a job I messed up.” And to prepare for Bert’s, if brief, freedom, she has bought her plenty of new underwear, because various methods exist for female friends to show repentance and a classic example is the purchase of “a big lady-bra” after a decade of underwire-free prison-issue rubbish.

Sam aims to continue leading her quiet life and care for Bert until her passing. Bert has other ideas. And if your most impulsive companion 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 reveals the complete plan for the robbery. 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 slipping jewellery and watches 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 reversing their funeral attire to become colourful suits as they walk confidently down the chapel stairs, filled with excitement and loot.

They require the stolen goods to finance the operation. This involves recruiting a forger (with, unbeknown to them, a gambling problem that is due to attract unwanted attention) in the guise of illusionist’s aide Jackie (Elizabeth Berrington), who has the technical know-how to assist in swapping the intended artwork (a famous surrealist piece at a major museum). They also enlist art enthusiast Celine (Kate Fleetwood), who specialises in works by male artists exploiting women. She is as ruthless as all the criminals the forger and their funeral robbery are drawing towards them, including – most perilously of all – their old boss Miss Take (Talisa Garcia), a modern-day Fagin who had them running scams for her from their teens. She did not take well to the pair’s assertion of themselves as independent conwomen so unresolved issues remain in that area.

Plot twists are interspersed with progressively uncovered truths 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 overlook obvious implausibilities – plus a captivatingly detailed portrait of a bond that is possibly as toxic as Bert’s cancer 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 her internal anguish that has nothing to do with metastasising cells. Whittaker stands with her, doing brilliant work in a slightly less interesting part, and alongside the creative team they craft a fantastically stylish, deeply moving and highly insightful piece of entertainment that is inherently empowering devoid of lecturing and an absolute success. More again, soon, please.