Is ITV's Frauds based on a true story?

ITV is set to broadcast a gripping new drama starring Suranne Jones and Jodie Whittaker.

Six-part series, Frauds, which is co-created by Suranne and Anne-Marie O'Connor, revolves around two con artists named Bert and Sam.

Their toxic yet darkly humorous friendship is reignited after a decade to execute the heist of the century, aided by a team of highly skilled accomplices.

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"Whilst the team must overcome numerous challenges before they can pull off the heist, it's the power struggle between Bert and Sam that threatens to derail their plans and destroy them both," the synopsis continues.

"Set against the epic rolling hills of southern Spain and the dark criminal underbelly that casts a shadow over the glistening coast, Frauds is a complex and addictive story of friendship, deception and survival," reports the Liverpool Echo.

Joining Suranne and Jodie in the cast are Talisa García as Miss Take, Elizabeth Berrington as Jackie Diamond and Karan Gill as Bilal Anwar.

Completing the line-up are Thais Martin as Caitlin, Javier Taboada as Blas, Christian Cooke as Deegs, Lee Boardman as Craig, Kate Fleetwood as Celine, Nansi Nsue as Amaya and Abdul Salis as Mateo.

Is Frauds based on a true story?

Despite the story having themes that resonate with many people, the series is entirely fictional.

Speaking about the inspiration behind the show, co-creator Anne-Marie O'Connor revealed at a recent press event: "We'd be talking about things like Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, Thelma and Louise, Risky Business. Just things that we thought were really fun, and then we wanted to tell a story of friendship through it.

"This is about friendship and how friendship can sour or how important friendships can be to somebody through their life, and how they can go wrong or be toxic."

Anne-Marie further explained the importance of telling a heist story from a female perspective, given that the genre has been predominantly male-dominated.

"The heist genre is very [male-orientated] and if it is female, they've taken the boy one off the shelf and put women in a version of it. We wanted to try and do it through a female perspective," she said.

Suranne added: "It's underpinning everything with the emotional heist... Every character is there for a reason. Every character is running from something.

"Every character has been kind of left by society for some reason. So, as we bring them all in, it's like, 'What are they capable of together?' But they're not just there because you know, 'Oh, we'll have one of those and one of those,' it's like, 'No, there's a real reason why they're part of the team.'"

She concluded: "Every emotion that we draw on, every reason why someone's there, was really thought about."

Frauds will premiere on Sunday 5th October at 9pm on ITV1 and ITVX