An unstoppable force meets an immovable object, you might say.

This toxic friendship consisted of con artists Roberta 'Bert' Mancini and Martha 'Sam' Samuels; reunited after 10 years when the former is released from Spanish jail on compassionate leave.

Bert has a form of incurable cancer - or does she? - and guilt-trips her oldest friend into co-orchestrating one last criminal hurrah: the stealing of Salvador Dali's The Great Masturbator from a Madrid art gallery.

They're aided by a magician's assistant, a seriously talented forger, a security guard, and Sam's streetwise daughter, all amidst inner-company fallouts and revelations.

So, what was Bert in the clink for to begin with, why did Sam originally give Caitlyn up for adoption, and do the eponymous frauds get away with the precious painting and sail off into the sunset?

***Warning: spoilers for Frauds on ITV ending ahead***

Frauds on ITV key plot points

Before Bert's timer runs out of sand, she's hellbent on pulling off "the heist of the century", which she essentially stole the idea for from her prison cellmate.

Enter Jackie Diamond, the bored magician's assistant looking for a way out of the mundanity of playing second fiddle to her husband The Great Diavolo; Bilal the Bradford-based genius who owes £100,000 to money lender Deegs, and later on, Spanish waitress Caitlyn, who was given up for adoption by mum Sam in her teens.

The ever-calculated Bert identifies Celine as a potential buyer for Dali's questionably-named artwork, which resides in the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, but first she must grift a golden crown of thorns from a local church to sell her skills in thievery.

Celine bites and they're off to the races, as long as the eclectic gang can successfully swap the real Great Masturbator for Bilal's flawless replica. 

While sneaking off with the crown of thorns, though, she also stole rich guy Carlos Perez's watch. This, coupled with an earlier crime that saw Bert run off with a priceless 300-year-old matador costume, brings her to the attention of the Spanish authorities.

The plan goes kaput

One of Bert's prison guards, Blas, makes a nuisance of himself by turning up halfway through preparation for the art heist. He threatens to inform the crew that Bert isn't really living with cancer if she doesn't cough up some cash.

He then proves himself useful by getting a job at the Reina Sofía after the initial plan is unwittingly sabotaged by protestors. They've defaced Pablo Picasso's Guernica painting at the very same gallery, forcing a tightening of security around The Great Masturbator. 

The new plan sees Jackie building a rig - kitted out with magnetic lock disruptors - to get Bilal's fake into position while Caitlyn and Miss Take (more on her later) create a distraction in the next room of the gallery to tempt potential witnesses away from the scene.

Bert and Sam will be present as "service workers", while Blas oversees security.

Do the frauds get away with it?

Blas swapped the CCTV feeds, but the crew only had seven-and-a-half minutes to pull of the swap.

Caitlyn was nearby with fake-crying babies in a pram (audio played over the phone), Miss Take staged a protest with the help of some dancers in front of another piece of art. Caitlyn asked to be shown to a breastfeeding room by the guard and left her double pram below the painting as Bert and Sam swept into position.

Why was Bert sent down in the first place?

10 years prior to the start of Frauds, Bert and Sam were hired to take something from a safe for a particular client, but this "caused a whole load of trouble" and resulted in a turf war.

"Bert ended up on the wrong side, it was a mess," Sam explains to Caitlyn.

"People got hurt. We were both arrested but Bert kept me in the dark on a lot of it, she took the rap because it was her rap to take."

In subsequent flashbacks, we learn that Sam was wired up on the night and purposefully incriminated Bert - fearing that her accomplice would inevitably bring them both down with her outlandish antics.

Some way or another Bert discovered the truth, yet never grassed Sam up.

Bert's terminal cancer was a scam

During another argument between Suranne and Jodie's partners-in-crime, the truth is finally given oxygen.

"Why would you lie about that? Oh my God you're deranged!" stresses Sam upon finding out the cancer was a hoax.

"No I'm smart, I am so much smarter than you!" replies Bert, who knew a tall tale was the only way back into Sam's life.

"I worked out how to pay for a cancer patient's record. I took pills so that you thought I was sick, which made me sick and that was actually really fucking inconvenient at times!

"I played the long game and here I am, that is so much better than any con."

This was Bert's way of paying Sam back for that act of betrayal a decade ago.

Caitlyn's adoption explained

Sam ultimately learns that Caitlyn is her daughter by reading secret letters between her and Bert, who'd tracked Caitlyn down a year ago. Such is Sam's fury, she punches Bert in the swimming pool.

When she gets to sit down with her daughter - who's developed a sharp criminal mind of her own - to clear the air, Sam reveals that she wanted Caitlyn to have a better life than what she could provide at the time.

"I was really young, I didn't have any family support," she added, but the terrible reality is that Caitlyn was instead passed over to "religious nuts" and fled her adoptive family when she was just 16.

What happens at the end to Caitlyn and Sam?

Deegs and Bilal's violent dynamic

Self-described "venture capitalist" Deegs is still waiting for his £100k off Bilal when we first meet them.

Coincidentally, they're both heading to the same sunny location at the airport: Deegs to build a money-laundering gym empire and Bilal to paint his own Great Masturbator for the female cons.

When Bert and Sam can only provide their forger with £10k up front, this causes Deegs to take drastic action.

Heading to Bilal's apartment to pay the rest of his £100k fee, Bert, Sam and Jackie find him in the midst of a physical beating. After a standoff, Deegs takes off with both Bilal and the sack of money, but Caitlyn has slipped a tracker into the bag.

Dreaming up a rescue plan involving faulty air-conditioning, the fraudsters manage to get Deegs arrested at his hotel, thus bringing Bilal back into the fold to finish off their con-depending artwork.

Deegs is released on bail and attempts to blackmail his victim once again - previously making threats towards Bilal's mum's life - but Bert steps in and leaves the nasty piece of work tied to a chair in an abandoned church in the middle of nowhere.

What's the deal with Bert and Miss Take?

Spanish club owner Miss Take shares a long and colourful history with Bert.

When Bert's mother - who co-owned the club way back when - ran off with a man never to return, Miss Take was left to pick up the pieces and take care of the youngster.

She had Bert working the floor on busy nights, expertly sneaking cash out of customers' pockets.

When Bert invites Miss Take onto the Great Masturbator heist as an adult, it's a tough sell, but her arm gets twisted by Sam and their dysfunctional family is whole again.

Read more: Frauds on ITV: Plot, episodes, guest stars, and start date of 'unique heist show' starring Suranne Jones

Frauds is available to stream in its entirety on ITVX.