Jodie Whittaker and Suranne Jones on what makes Frauds "fresh" – and the impact they hope it has
The heist drama stands out in a drama landscape that can sometimes feel repetitive.
Suranne Jones and Jodie Whittaker have opened up about their ITV drama Frauds, describing it as a "fresh" idea on the British TV landscape – which they hope will inspire more.
Set against the cinematic backdrop of southern Spain, the series introduces us to estranged partners-in-crime Bert (Jones) and Sam (Whittaker), who reunite after a long absence to plot one last heist.
It's one of three shows starring Jones to premiere in as many months, following Netflix thriller Hostage and preceding BBC romcom Film Club, with the wide variety of genres represented in the line-up being noteworthy.
Jones agreed that they're "different enough" to co-exist, and hoped that Frauds could inspire "more" diversity in the types of stories being told on British television – and especially those featuring female characters.
"When you look at the scale of the show… placing two females in a [male-dominated] heist world, and also, the location, the odd characters – it feels fresh to me," she told RadioTimes.com. "And obviously that’s what attracted Jodie."
Jones co-created Frauds with Maryland collaborator Anne-Marie O'Connor and expressed her hope to "see more of this stuff", referring to dramas that don't fit the typical British TV mould.
Whittaker concurred: "When I read it, I was just blown away by how different these characters felt [and] this particular relationship, and the world that we were in… but it still felt authentic. I felt like I knew these people.
"As extreme as some of the characters are – we're all pretty heightened – but there's some kind of familiarity with it, and within this specific friendship."
The former Doctor Who star previously said that British television shows can often have only one challenging female role, acknowledging that she and co-star Jones have had to audition against each other in the past.
With that in mind, she spoke to feeling "really lucky to be in an art heist led by two women" and had a "brilliant time exploring roles in a genre we wouldn't normally get to play in".
Jones added: "It's women behaving how you wouldn't expect women to behave... usually those aspects get diluted and don't end up on screen. But you can't dilute these two people because there's so much frisson and history."
Frauds premieres on ITV1 and ITVX at 9pm on Sunday 5th October.
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Authors
David Craig is the Senior Drama Writer for Radio Times, covering the latest and greatest scripted drama and comedy across television and streaming. Previously, he worked at Starburst Magazine, presented The Winter King Podcast for ITVX and studied Journalism at the University of Sheffield.
