Must-see tonight: Suranne Jones and Jodie Whittaker’s heist thriller Frauds is an exhilarating ride

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If you’re looking for something to watch this weekend, don’t miss Suranne Jones and Jodie Whittaker in the exciting and unpredictable heist drama Frauds. This new six-part series comes from Suranne Jones, who previously starred in the gripping political thriller Hostage, which quickly became a hit earlier this year. It rose to the top of the Netflix charts, reaching number one just days after it launched.

Jones is aiming to captivate audiences again, and ITV’s Frauds promises to be a thrilling show that TV enthusiasts won’t want to miss.

The series focuses on the complicated but amusing relationship (as described in the synopsis) between two con artists, Bert (Jones) and Sam (Whittaker). Their ambitious plan for a big score quickly turns into a risky and chaotic adventure.

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The recent reconnection of their friendship, after being apart for a while, will make their difficult journey a little easier. Once Bert is released from jail early due to compassionate reasons, she contacts Sam – hoping he’ll assist her with one final task, naturally. She needs his help to assemble a team and carry out a large-scale art theft.

The series features the acting skills of Karan Gill, known from I May Destroy You, who portrays the slightly awkward and quirky character of Bilal. It also stars Elizabeth Berrington (Lost Boys and Fairies, Virdee), Abdul Salis (Wheel of Time, Love Actually), and rising star Thais Martin.

It’s a largely female-led cast, which adds a different perspective to the heist genre.

In a recent interview, Jones – the show’s executive producer and co-creator – explained the origins of the story’s focus on female characters.

With this project, [my co-creator Anne-Marie O’Connor and I] simply aimed to push our creative boundaries and try something different [from our previous dramatic work, Maryland].

We wanted to stay consistent with our overall message, continuing to explore the idea of identity. We had already covered sibling relationships, so we decided to focus on female relationships as part of our central theme.

She explained: “So, the idea of a heist is usually associated with men. Because it’s so difficult to get noticed with all the content available today, we knew we had to do something unexpected to stand out. We decided to use the traditionally male-dominated world of heists, but tell the story from a female perspective. That’s how the concept came about.”

Whittaker also spoke on why the strong female lens drew her to the role of Sam: “There are no female parts that I’ve read for a really long time that come anywhere near the dynamic of Bert and Sam.

What I really loved was how it ventured into a genre we don’t get much of on television. It’s a female-led story, with a fun heist element, and the fact that it wasn’t set in the UK made it even more interesting. Honestly, everything about it just felt really exciting!

Frauds is clever and funny, using humor in many ways. It gets laughs from the tense but amusing relationship between the main characters, and also from the increasingly obvious and comical results of Sam and Bert’s deception.

While the story is full of exciting, fast-paced action, it also delves into the complexities of long-lasting friendships – examining the hopes, limits, affection, and bitterness that can build up over the years.

Jones discussed what it was like collaborating on the project with Anne-Marie O’Connor, the co-creator of Fraud.

“The past two years working on Frauds alongside Anne-Marie and the team at Monumental have been incredibly exciting,” Jones stated.

We flipped the common trope of harmful friendships between women and reimagined it, adding genuine emotional depth to the heist genre.

She went on to say:

Frauds premieres tonight on ITV1 and ITVX at 9pm.

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2025-10-05 11:20