There is a very clear moment in House of Guinness where you realise exactly what kind of show it wants to be. James Norton’s Sean Rafferty strides through chaos in a long coat, the soundtrack thrashing behind him, looking as if he has been built entirely out of violence, sex appeal and bad decisions, and suddenly Steven Knight’s latest historical drama clicks into place. This is not a quiet family saga about inheritance law and brewery logistics. This is Guinness by way of power plays, street fights, political unrest, forbidden desire and enough brooding masculinity to fog up the camera lens.
Created by Peaky Blinders writer Steven Knight, House of Guinness begins in Dublin in 1868, after the death of Sir Benjamin Guinness, the powerful brewing patriarch whose family fortune has shaped the city around him. His four adult children are left to deal with the consequences of his will, his empire and the fact that none of them seem especially ready to carry the weight of either. What follows is a lavish, pulpy and often gripping drama about privilege, ambition and the cost of staying at the top, with a pint glass in one hand and a family dagger in the other.
It is not always as sharp as it could be, and there are moments where the season feels like it might have benefitted from a tighter edit, but when House of Guinness works, it really works. It has style, swagger, heart, and serious Sunday-night drama energy, even though Netflix has kindly given everyone permission to binge it in one emotionally irresponsible sitting.
A dynasty drama with pints, politics and family chaos
At first glance, the obvious comparison is Peaky Blinders, and House of Guinness clearly shares some of that same Knight DNA: the heightened period setting, the modern music cues, the brutal flashes of violence, the smoke, the swagger, the sense that everyone is one bad decision away from disaster. But the more the series unfolds, the more it starts to feel like a 19th-century answer to Succession, only with a booze empire, Dublin streets and a family legacy built on stout rather than media power.
After Benjamin Guinness dies, his children are thrown into a power struggle that is as emotional as it is financial. Arthur, played by Anthony Boyle, is arrogant, angry and desperate to turn inherited wealth into political influence, but his private life leaves him dangerously exposed in a world that would destroy him for it. Edward, played by Louis Partridge, seems more practical and commercially minded, but his ambition comes with its own idealism and naivety. Anne, played by Emily Fairn, is sharp and emotionally intelligent, but constantly underestimated because she is a woman. Ben, played by Fionn O’Shea, appears to be the family disaster, drunk and gambling his way through the wreckage, but he is also the one who seems least interested in pretending to be anything else.
The show understands that privilege does not cancel out pain, even if it does make that pain much more expensively dressed. These are not people we are asked to pity exactly, but they are people whose flaws, secrets and fears are compelling to watch. Their father has left them wealth, status and influence, but he has also left them trapped inside the mythology of the Guinness name.
James Norton brings the heat
And then there is James Norton as Sean Rafferty, the Guinness brewery foreman and head of security, who gives the show a shot of pure danger whenever he appears. Rafferty is not a member of the family, but he moves through their world like someone who knows where all the bodies are buried and could probably arrange for a few more if the situation called for it. Norton plays him with a coiled physicality that feels both controlled and unpredictable, making Rafferty one of the season’s most magnetic figures.
There is a lot going on in House of Guinness, but Norton’s presence cuts through it with ridiculous ease. He is all sharp looks, low threats and simmering tension, and yes, the screen does seem to get warmer whenever he appears. The character could easily have tipped into parody, but Norton keeps him watchable because there is intelligence behind the menace. Rafferty is not just the show’s resident hard man. He is a strategist, a fixer and a reminder that empires are not protected by polite conversation alone.
The wider cast is strong too. Boyle gives Arthur the right mix of entitlement and vulnerability, while Partridge makes Edward more interesting as the series goes on, especially as his vision for the business begins to clash with the moral compromises required to expand it. Fairn brings real heart and steel to Anne, even if the drama does not always give her as much room as it should, and O’Shea makes Ben more than simply the drunk brother drifting around the edges. When the show focuses on these siblings and what their inheritance does to them, it is at its most engaging.
Ireland, unrest and the cost of power
What gives House of Guinness more bite than a straightforward rich-family drama is the world around the family. Dublin in 1868 is not just a backdrop here. The city is full of anger, class tension and political unrest, with the Guinness name tied to wealth, British loyalty and a version of power that many people in Ireland deeply resent. The show is set less than two decades after the Great Famine, and that history gives the drama a weight it would not otherwise have.
The Fenian rebellion thread, led through characters including Ellen Cochrane, played by Niamh McCormack, and Paddy Cochrane, played by Seamus O’Hara, brings a necessary sense of pressure from outside the family gates. It reminds us that the Guinness fortune exists in a city where poverty, grief and fury are not abstract ideas, and where one family’s success story may look very different depending on which side of the brewery walls you are standing on. That political texture is one of the show’s strongest elements, even if the series occasionally tries to carry too many threads at once. There are times in the second half where the plot starts to feel a little overfilled, with side stories jostling for space and some episodes stretching themselves further than they need to. A leaner version of the season might have hit harder. Still, the ambition is admirable, and even when it drags, House of Guinness remains visually rich and full of atmosphere.
CultureCues Standout Moment
The standout moment comes early, when Rafferty is forced to protect the Guinness funeral procession from a furious Dublin crowd. It is a brilliant introduction to both the character and the world of the show: grief, rebellion, class anger and corporate power all crashing together in the street, while Rafferty handles the chaos with the kind of confidence that suggests he has never once considered losing a fight.
What really gives the sequence its charge, though, is the soundtrack. As the Guinness children walk down the stairs, “Starburster” by Fontaines D.C. kicks in, instantly giving the scene a sharp, modern pulse that cuts through the period setting. It is exactly the kind of bold music choice Steven Knight knows how to use well, turning family mourning into something more dangerous, stylish and alive. The show makes it clear from the start that the Guinness name is not just a family legacy. It is a symbol, a target and a business that requires muscle as well as money. Norton’s Rafferty steps into that tension and instantly gives the series its most dangerous spark.
Final thoughts
House of Guinness is a strong, polished and hugely watchable first season, packed with rich period detail, sharp performances and the kind of dramatic excess that makes television feel properly fun. It occasionally feels a touch overfilled, with so many family tensions, political threads and personal secrets fighting for space, but that ambition is also part of its appeal.
At its best, the series is a seductive study of power, inheritance and the mess people make when they are born into money but still desperate for control. Knight clearly knows how to make status feel dangerous, desire feel disruptive and family loyalty feel like both a privilege and a trap. Stylish, sharp and full of old-money chaos, House of Guinness pours itself a strong first season and leaves more than enough behind for another round.
House of Guinness season one premiered on Netflix in the UK on 25 September 2025.