Suranne Jones & Jodie Whittaker to Star in 'Frauds'

The first three months of the year are when British networks start revealing the shows they've been working on internally, which will hopefully head our way in 2025. While none of these shows have American distributors when first announced, some are easily recognizable as the sort of show that will be headed to American streaming services. For example, I knew I was looking at a future PBS show from the first moment I read about Toby Jones and Mr Bates vs the Post Office. Now, ITV has announced another show that will absolutely find its way over here, either on PBS or BritBox: Frauds.

Frauds is a brand new crime-comedy caper-thriller starring Suranne Jones (Vigil) and Jodie Whittaker (Doctor Who) as what the British call a pair of "Skilled Confidence Tricksters," which is the fanciest way to say "Con Artists" ever invented. Whittaker stars as Sam, and Jones is Bert, the partner-in-crime she hasn't seen in a decade, as she's been doing time inside. But when Bert finally gets out, the two discover they're going in very different directions.

That may not sound like a PBS series, but though public broadcasting pulls from all the different U.K. networks, Masterpiece has a special relationship with ITV. Some of its shows that ran (or are still running) on PBS via Masterpiece include Downton Abbey, Morse, Lewis, Endeavour, Sanditon, Unforgotten, Grantchester, The Marlow Murder Club, and Van der Valk. Moreover, Frauds is being produced by Monumental, which is the company Masterpiece is using to produce The Forsyte Saga, and Jones is co-producing via TeamAkers; TeamAkers' first series, MaryLand, aired on Masterpiece in 2024.

Here's the show's synopsis:

We pick 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. 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. Locked into a pattern of fierce friendship coupled with deep mistrust that goes back many years, Bert has no one else to turn to in the final weeks of her life. This won't be an easy ride for Sam, who is burying feelings of guilt and a past she’d rather have forgotten. 

Pricked by those feelings, she reluctantly agrees to give her ailing former friend a bed in the idyllic smallholding she calls 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 capable of treachery? Or will the push and pull of their toxic friendship be ruined before they can pull off the job and escape one another for good?

Jones and Whittaker are the only cast revealed so far. Writer Anne-Marie O’Connor (MaryLand) penned all episodes; director Giulia Gandini (Shetland) will helm the series with Pat Tookey-Dickson producing. Jones, O’Connor, and Tookey-Dickson all executive produce alongside Debra Hayward, Alison Carpenter, Jill Forbes, Alison Owen & Katie Kelly for Monumental Television, part of ITV Studios.  

Frauds is currently filming in Spain and will premiere on ITV before the end of 2025. Place your bets now on where it lands in the U.S.