A gang of criminals teaming up to pull off a big heist is familiar territory in film and television, but the dramas distributed by ITV Studios Fraud flips the script by making it a women’s team.
Doctor Who Star Jodie Whittaker plays Sam and is part of the ensemble alongside Suranne Jones, who co-created the series, and a cast including Elizabeth Berrington, Kate Fleetwood and Talisa Garcia.
Whitaker traveled through space and time as the Doctor, but Fraud served up something new, she told Deadline in Cannes, where ITV Studios had the drama as one of their big titles at the MIPCOM market.
“We’ve never seen these pieces before,” she said. “It’s an incredible ensemble and all of our characters have unique energy and skills, which is why, as a team, we all end up working together so brilliantly. The heist genre doesn’t usually involve this group of people.”
Mister Jack the star Jones created Fraud with Anne-Marie O’Connor, with whom she previously teamed up on ITV Maryland. It airs on ITV in the UK and ITV Studios was boosting international sales at Cannes.
Whittaker said what also stood out to him was why these characters were joining forces for the heist.
“When you read something like that, you always look for a pattern,” she said. “So often with female characters, it’s because you want to feed your kids at home, or you find yourself in a destitution scenario, and that’s the only reason you’re committing these horrible crimes. I like the fact that actually some of us here are just motivated by money and it’s based on their ego, it’s very refreshing.”
The series comes from Monumental Television, a British producer Specters series, in association with Jones Independent TeamAkers.
