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What could you respond if that wildest companion from your youth got back in touch? What if you were battling a terminal illness and had nothing to lose? Consider if you were plagued by remorse for landing your friend in the clink a decade back? Suppose you were the one she got sent to prison and your release was granted to succumb to illness in her custody? If you used to be a nearly unbeatable pair of scam artists who retained a stash of disguises left over from your glory days and a longing to feel some excitement again?

All this and more are the questions that Frauds, an original series featuring Suranne Jones and Jodie Whittaker, presents to viewers on a wild, thrilling season-long journey that follows two conwomen determined to executing a final scheme. 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 the psychodramas gradually unveiled, here the elaborate theft the protagonist Roberta (Bert) has meticulously arranged while incarcerated since her diagnosis is a means to explore a deep dive into friendship, betrayal and love in all its forms.

Bert is released into the care of Sam (Whittaker), who lives nearby in the Spanish countryside. Guilt stopped her from seeing Bert during her sentence, but she remained nearby and avoided scams without her – “Rather insensitive with you in prison for a job I botched.” And for her new, if brief, freedom, she has bought her plenty of new underwear, because various methods exist for female friends to offer contrition and one is the purchase of “a big lady-bra” following ten years of uncomfortable institutional clothing.

Sam wants to carry on leading her quiet life and look after Bert till the end. Bert possesses different plans. And when your daftest friend devises alternative schemes – well, you often find yourself going along. Their old dynamic gradually reasserts itself and her strategies are underway by the time she lays out the full blueprint for the heist. This show experiments with chronology – to good rather than eye-rolling effect – to give us the set-pieces first and then the rationale. So we watch the pair 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 assets.

They require the stolen goods to fund the plan. This involves recruiting a forger (with, unknown to the pair, a gambling problem that is likely to draw unneeded scrutiny) in the guise of illusionist’s aide Jackie (Elizabeth Berrington), who has the technical know-how to help them remove and replace the target painting (a renowned Dali painting at a prominent gallery). Additionally, they recruit feminist art collector 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 contemporary crime lord who had them running scams for her since their youth. She reacted poorly to the pair’s assertion of themselves as independent conwomen so there’s ground to make up there.

Plot twists are interspersed with deepening revelations about Bert and Sam’s history, so you experience the full enjoyment of a sophisticated heist tale – executed with no shortage of brio and praiseworthy readiness to skate over rampant absurdities – alongside a mesmerisingly intricate portrait of a friendship that is possibly as toxic as her illness but equally difficult to eradicate. Jones delivers arguably her best and multifaceted portrayal yet, as the damaged, resentful Bert with her lifetime pursuit of excitement to divert attention from the gnawing pain within that is unrelated to her medical condition. Whittaker supports her, delivering excellent acting in a somewhat less flashy role, and together with the creative team they craft a incredibly chic, deeply moving and highly insightful piece of entertainment that is feminist to its bones without preaching and an absolute success. More again, soon, please.