New heist drama Frauds starring Suranne Jones and Jodie Whittaker coming to ITV - how to watch

Brand new drama, Frauds, starring BAFTA and RTS award winning actresses Suranne Jones and Jodie Whittaker is coming to ITV. The six-part heist drama will see the pair play skilled confidence tricksters who’ve been separated by an arduous 10-year prison sentence.

Sam, played by Jodie (Time, One Night, Doctor Who, Broadchurch) has been content to live a life of quiet anonymity in the hills of Southern Spain, whilst her grifting partner, Bert, played by Suranne (Maryland, Vigil, Gentleman Jack, Doctor Foster, Scott & Bailey) has spent the last decade in a Spanish prison cell with a burning desire to pull off one final job that will prove her worth.

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. The show picks up the story as Sam anxiously waits for Bert to be released from a maximum-security prison on grounds of compassionate discharge. Frail and facing her final days, following a cancer diagnosis, Bert’s mindset is as it’s always been, to take risks and live life on the edge.

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?

Executive Producers for Monumental Television, Alison Owen and Katie Kelly, explained how Frauds is the “genius brainchild” of Suranne Jones and Anne-Marie O’Connor, adding: “We are honoured and totally thrilled to be collaborating with them again, and to bring their extraordinary creation to the screen.”

Suranne, who is also an executive producer, described the making of the drama as a “wild ride”. She said: “Working on Frauds with Anne-Marie and Monumental for the last two 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.”

Suranne and Anne-Marie previously collaborated on another drama, Maryland, which aired on ITV1 and ITVX averaging 6.2 million viewers. Anne-Marie said: “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.”

Cast and crew have recently begun filming on location in Spain. Frauds will air on ITV and STV and be available for streaming on ITVX and STV Player.