House of Guinness: Netflix Drama Draws on Real History, Steven Knight Says

Netflix’s House of Guinness opens with the funeral of Sir Benjamin Lee Guinness in 1868, framing the drama as a fiction inspired by true stories. Series creator Steven Knight has repeatedly said the show traces real episodes from the Guinness family’s rise, suggesting that some events are stranger than any writer could dream up.

Historically, four Guinness siblings—Arthur, Edward, Benjamin, and Anne—were in their early 20s when their father died and they were asked to run the family brewery and empire. They shared control of the business until 1876, when Arthur sold his half to Edward. Arthur became a baron and a key Conservative figure, while Edward oversaw expansion into America and beyond.

Knight notes that many of the real events are as improbable as the show’s more sensational twists. "True events are more weird and strange and bonkers than things that you could ever make up," Knight said. "For example, Arthur’s attempt to rig an election using train tickets and wardrobes with holes cut in the back. It’s true. It’s all true. Yeah, you wouldn’t dare make that up."

Part of the show’s fabric is the Irish immigrant experience in New York. When Edward’s circle sends him to America, the series threads in the discrimination Irish immigrants faced and the rough welcomes they encountered in urban tenements and street life. Former Game of Thrones actor Jack Gleeson—who plays Edward’s American associate Byron Hedges—speaks to the historical arc of the New York chapters. Gleeson said the show’s portrayal of immigrant life is an important part of the history that viewers may not know well: "The history of Irish immigrants in New York and how they were discriminated against, that was also, yeah, an interesting part of history that perhaps people don’t know. So it was good to represent that. Maybe people can find out more about it."

Towards the front of the series, Arthur contends with keeping his sexuality hidden during a time when homosexuality could be a death sentence. He enters a marriage of convenience with Lady Olivia Hedges. Knight said that while the arrangement had practical roots in history, the records reveal real emotion between the spouses. "There was real emotion. They became jealous. And I think stuff like that, as a writer of fiction, you wouldn’t do that, but the truth is stranger than fiction." The romance becomes entangled in a larger, morally complex tapestry for the brothers as they navigate loyalty and secrecy.

A less sensational, but equally telling, strand follows Anne, Aunt Agnes, and cousin Adelaide as they push Arthur and Edward to commit substantial portions of the family fortune to charitable projects. Knight frames the Guinness legacy in tandem with beer—and the philanthropy that built institutions and landmarks. "The Guinness legacy, as well as fantastic beer, is the work that they did. There are buildings that were built by this family then that are still standing now in London and in Dublin," Knight said. He attributes to the women in the family a decisive role in redirecting wealth toward public good, with religious and philanthropic motives intertwined with the business empire.

Unlike other modern succession dramas, House of Guinness closes Season 1 with the core siblings—Arthur, Anne, Benjamin, and Edward, together and facing external pressures—finding unity rather than tearing each other apart. Knight suggested the real Guinness family was also capable of solidarity when confronted by enemies, a dynamic he chose to emphasize on screen. "The Guinness motto is ‘In love, we trust.’ They trust love. And at the end, they come back together and hold each other and say, ‘We love each other.’"

House of Guinness is now streaming on Netflix. While the drama leans on documented history for its backbone, Knight stresses that it remains a work of fiction designed for entertainment, not a documentary. The series blends period detail, modern music cues, and romantic intrigue to illuminate a family whose fortunes helped shape breweries, neighborhoods, and cultural icons across Ireland and beyond.