Jodie Whittaker: ‘It was an absolute dream to finally work with Suranne Jones’

You know you’re in for a ride when Jodie Whittaker or Suranne Jones star in a gritty crime drama – well, now they’re joining forces.

ITV’s new heist series, Frauds, has all the makings of an iconic piece of television, as these two stars play lifelong friends Bert (Suranne) and Sam (Jodie), who reunite for one last heist – if their complicated relationship can survive it.

‘[This show] felt like it could have only been created by two women who know the industry inside out,’ Jodie told Metro about the show, created by her co-star Suranne and Anne Marie O’Connor (Maryland).

Filmed in Tenerife, the first episode kicks off with Bert getting picked up from prison after a ten-year sentence by fellow con artist Sam, who has tried to turn her life around in the meantime. 

Fuelled by revenge and the lust for one last big score, the pair soon undertake their biggest ruse yet.

Both powerhouses in the British acting scene, it’s taken until now for their paths to cross professionally, despite meeting each other ‘numerous times’. 

But it seems it was well worth the wait.  

As the 43-year-old actor explained: ‘It was so exciting to be like, “oh, this feels like a part I’ve not seen Suranne play either.” For both of us, it felt like a brilliant, challenging thing. 

‘Also, there’s so much chemistry between Sam and Bert, and me and Suranne get on like a house on fire, so that was an absolute dream in that scenario. 

Playing on the contrast between Sam’s short fuse and desperation to cling to her newly-tidy record with Bert’s ‘devil may care’ attitude, Jodie reveals ‘you just understood why they had this history, why they’re in this toxic love-hate friendship that’s lasted so long – because there is a slight addiction to each other.’

Faced with the prospect of being away from her young family to shoot was the main thing holding the Doctor Who star from plunging in headfirst – but luckily, they managed to make it work. 

‘That comes when your boss is Suranne. It felt like this incredibly nurturing, passionate piece to be a part of that was also a right laugh,’ she beamed.

The entire series is bolstered by an ‘extraordinary’ ensemble cast who all have their own part to play in the heist of a lifetime, and it was even more ‘fascinating’ to tell this adrenaline-fuelled tale with two women ‘in their 40s’.

Entering a genre typically reserved for men (think the Oceans franchise), the BBC star reflected on just how far the industry has come in diversifying since her career started.

‘There’s a lot of continual evolution in the industry. I don’t think we’ll ever tick every box of everything because there’s so much that needs to be done in every demographic. Are we there yet? No. 

‘I am now 43, playing women in my 40s, and I am aware that I’m really f***ing lucky to be still carving out fascinating roles. Also, as an audience member, I don’t only want to watch one type of person at a certain age on television,’ she said. 

In a career littered with memorable characters, there’s one Jodie would absolutely love to reprise.

‘I’m always really grief-ridden when I say bye to a character,’ she shared.

‘One character, I’d like to know where they are now, because I feel so emotional about her, is Orla [an incarcerated mother from BBC’s Time].’

‘I’d like it if there were a fast forward now of however many years to see how Orla is doing, because the system was so broken. [After] the decimation of her life, I would absolutely love to revisit that and see where it went.’

Elsewhere, calling Broadchurch the ‘gift that kept on giving’, she credits the series for introducing her to future Doctor Who showrunner Chris Chibnall, who in turn cast her in ‘one of the best gigs of [her] entire life’.

After bidding farewell to her trailblazing iteration of the Time Lord in 2022, she returned to the Tardis for the 15th Doctor Ncuti Gatwa’s final episode earlier this year. 

She recalled: ‘I really loved my lines that were basically just acknowledging how absolutely beautiful [Ncuti] is. 

‘When he was cast, I was like, “Oh my god, he’s got a perfect face.” He was amazing because it was the first time I’d ever met him, and we met in our full Doctor costumes, which is just hilarious and so Doctor Who.

‘It was just wonderful to be a part of his [regeneration] episode. I know how emotional that episode is. I’ve done it, and it’s the ending of all endings when you regenerate.

‘Even just getting in my costume and my wig, I felt like no time had passed, and a whole lifetime had passed. I’ve grown a human since then, but the minute you’re in your boots and your long coat, I was like, “Oh, man, this is home”.’

Although she ‘doesn’t know anything’ about Billie Piper’s shock cameo, I pointed out that the Wednesday star once declared Rose Tyler would love the 13th Doctor. 

‘Now she needs to keep saying it,’ Jodie joked about a possible collaboration on the show, later adding ‘anyone [who] asks me to revisit it in any format, I will 100% do it.’

The TV star recently featured in Netflix’s Toxic Town, which told the true story of a community impacted by a shocking health scandal in the Midlands.

Citing Time’s Jimmy McGovern as one of her ‘absolute inspirations’, she continued: ‘I’ve done a lot of social dramas, and I will want to do them for the rest of my life.

‘Especially on something like Toxic Town, I did not know that story, shamefully, but then, realised not a lot of people did either – that should have been a massive scandal, and it wasn’t.

‘We have extraordinary writers at the moment who aren’t afraid to present you with things you don’t necessarily want to see. We’ve all seen Adolescence; it made you [realise] that the bedroom is not safe anymore if we have access to all of these things.

‘If you’re going to be in something, you want it to make a mark, and to understand why it’s been made now.’

As for the future, she’ll play England football team psychologist Pippa Grange in the TV adaptation of Dear England, about England football manager Gareth Southgate.

‘It’s a story [about] something I absolutely love. I love football. I’m in a house that’s obsessed with it, so for me it’s an ideal combination of genre because it’s about the psychology of approaching sport.

‘It covers so many different topics, but also shines a light on a moment in our sporting history we think we know about with such a detailed level of characterisation, particularly of Gareth [Southgate], that it transcends being a sports fan.’

Frauds premieres on ITV1 on Sunday, October 5, at 9pm. It will be available to stream on ITVX.

Got a story?

If you’ve got a celebrity story, video or pictures get in touch with the Metro.co.uk entertainment team by emailing us celebtips@metro.co.uk, calling 020 3615 2145 or by visiting our Submit Stuff page – we’d love to hear from you.