If you’ve been missing your fixes of Peaky Blinders, The Crown and Downton Abbey, Netflix has answered your prayers. House of Guinness is it. From its very first episode, it announces itself as the drama of the year. It blends the moody underworld intensity of Peaky Blinders, the dynastic intrigue of The Crown, and the sumptuous social tension of Downton Abbey — yet it feels wholly its own. Prepare for a soaring, messy, sexy and heart-rending ride you won’t want to get off.
House of Guinness: Brewing Ambition, Betrayal and Burdens
Set in Dublin and occasionally New York in the 1860s, House of Guinness opens in the wake of the death of Sir Benjamin Guinness, the patriarch who turned the Guinness brewery into a global powerhouse. His passing sets off a chain of family and political conflicts as his will forces two of his children, Arthur and Edward, to share stewardship of the brewery. Their uneasy alliance becomes the show’s central powder keg, threatening to blow apart the business and the family alike.
The four Guinness siblings — Arthur, Edward, Anne, and young Ben — carry deep secrets, tangled loyalties, and conflicting ambitions. Sibling rivalries mix with forbidden romances, political unrest, and moral compromises.
Into their orbit steps Sean Rafferty (James Norton), a charismatic outsider whose relationship with the family adds danger and desire in equal measure. From the family funeral to boardroom battles to explosive confrontations in shadowy alleyways, every episode is charged with the sense that a single wrong move could change the fate of Ireland itself.
Cast & Character Highlights
Anthony Boyle as Arthur Guinness
Boyle is electrifying. Arthur is proud, volatile, and haunted, torn between duty and resentment. Boyle gives us the slow burn of suppressed fury, flashes of tenderness, and the dangerous charisma of a man who might love you or destroy you. He is gloriously hateful — a villain you can’t quite stop rooting for.
Louis Partridge as Edward Guinness
Partridge plays Edward with quiet intelligence and simmering ambition. Forced to share power with his brother, Edward is both partner and rival, and Partridge captures every shade of jealousy and reluctant affection.
Emily Fairn as Anne Plunket
Anne is the overlooked sister who sees everything. Fairn makes her smart, strategic, and emotionally sharp — a woman underestimated by her brothers but never by the audience.
Fionn O’Shea as Ben Guinness
As the youngest sibling, O’Shea gives Ben a mix of vulnerability and hidden steel. He’s the wild card whose loyalties and choices could tip the balance. We’d love to see more of his story.
James Norton as Sean Rafferty
Norton is magnetic as the enigmatic outsider whose presence disrupts the Guinness power structure. He’s charming, seductive, and possibly dangerous — a performance of quiet menace and unexpected tenderness, that recaptures the Norton magic seen in Happy Valley.
The supporting ensemble — including Dervla Kirwan, Michael McElhatton, Danielle Galligan, Niamh McCormack and Jack Gleeson — add texture and unpredictability, ensuring that no alliance or betrayal ever feels safe.
Visuals & Soundtrack: A Feast for the Senses
Beyond its storytelling, House of Guinness is visually spectacular. Every frame is a painterly composition: mist-shrouded Dublin streets, candlelit drawing rooms, the gleam of copper brewing vats, and opulent ballrooms that pulse with wealth and menace. Costumes are rich with period detail while never feeling fussy, grounding the characters in a world of privilege and danger. There are some fantastic stunts and set-pieces, and it feels like it has ten-times the budget of Peaky B.
The soundtrack is a triumph in itself. Borrowing stylistic cues from Peaky Blinders, it fuses period instrumentation with modern energy — driving percussion, distorted guitars, and haunting vocals that give 19th-century Dublin an urgent, contemporary pulse. Each musical cue sharpens the tension, making the emotional highs and brutal lows hit even harder.
Why It Rivets You
Emotional complexity: No one is entirely good or evil. Allegiances shift by the episode, and sympathy rarely lasts long.
Scale and spectacle: Lavish interiors and explosive action scenes sit side by side, making every episode feel cinematic.
Tension of inheritance: The weight of legacy presses on every character, turning personal choices into political earthquakes.
Relentless pacing: Just when you think things might settle, a betrayal or revelation ignites the next firestorm. Tension builds through each of the eight episodes and you really feel like in the end, the shit is going to hit the fan big time.
2025’s best new drama
House of Guinness is a sumptuous, savage, breathless epic that balances sweeping period drama with intimate emotional turmoil. The cast is uniformly superb, with James Norton magnetic as the dangerous outsider and Anthony Boyle delivering a career-defining, gloriously hateful performance. The writing understands that a dynasty is only as strong as its fractures, and the stunning visuals and pulse-pounding soundtrack elevate every twist.
It’s a show that will make you marvel, rage, weep — and, above all, crave more. Raise a glass: House of Guinness has brewed the perfect blend of beauty, brutality, and addictive drama.
It’s the best new Netflix drama in a while and deserves to run and run. Definitely our favourite new show of 2025, Guinness never tasted so good.
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