House Of Guinness review: fast-moving opener fuels arson and family tensions

House Of Guinness opens with a fast-moving sequence that sets the tone for Steven Knight’s new period drama about the Guinness family and the brewery that bears their name. The premiere episode blends a riotous funeral procession, an arson attack on the brewery, and simmering family tensions, all set against 19th-century Dublin and New York. The show depicts Sir Benjamin Guinness in a light that invites scrutiny of a legacy that is at once philanthropic and combative. Knight frames the family saga as both a business epic and a private theater of power and betrayal.

Cast members play their parts with a mix of swagger and fragility. The eldest son Arthur (Anthony Boyle) expects to inherit but shows little interest in running the business; his sibling Edward (Louis Partridge) is the sharp, calculating mind in the room. Benjamin (Fionn O’Shea) is a decadent, often flashily flawed figure, while Anne (Emily Fairn) keeps order in the family but hides a secret. Ellen Cochrane (Niamh McCormack) is a forceful counterpoint who wields blackmail and influence, and Sean Rafferty (James Norton) looms large as the brewery’s charismatic foreman and fixer. The ensemble is complemented by Seamus O’Hara as Patrick Cochrane, among others, delivering a cast that suits Knight’s penchant for big, operatic storytelling.

Plot-wise, Edward negotiates a deal at a wake that would make Arthur a sleeping partner, a turn that foregrounds the business mechanics behind the family drama. The writing leans into brisk, confident dialogue and lush production design that aims to transport viewers to a world of parades, parlors, and public showmanship. But private entanglements intrude: Anne’s affair with Sean Rafferty registers as a visible tremor in the family’s carefully stage-managed image. The expectation of secrets and blackmail threads through the episodes, underscoring Knight’s interest in the tension between public virtue and private vice.

Where House Of Guinness borrows from late Victorian and early modern thriller conventions, it also signals a debt to contemporary prestige television. The premiere places the family against a backdrop of social upheaval, with temperance activists burning the eponymous figure in effigy and political undercurrents seeping into the dialogue. The score, at times, channels a modern edge that drew mixed reactions from audiences and critics, described by some as a jolt that undermines the period mood. Nonetheless, the technical craft remains strong: the production design, costumes, and performances work to give the sprawling story a sense of scale and immediacy.

An explicit thread in the material is a timeline of misfortune that accompanies the Guinness enterprise. The show traces a broad lineage of tragedy, from the 1700s founding of the business to late 20th-century shocks, weaving in events such as the assassinations and deaths that reshaped the family’s standing and the brand’s fortunes. The arc includes eras of glamour and danger—car crashes, suicides, overdoses, and other scandals—that the narrative uses to remind viewers that a dynasty built around a global label has never existed in a vacuum. The sequence serves to heighten the sense that every business decision is tethered to a long history of consequences, some visible on screen and others whispered in the wings.

On balance, the review acknowledges the show’s ambition and its strong ensemble. The performances give texture to a sprawling cast, and Knight’s appetite for high-stakes drama is evident in the brisk pacing and the way each scene funnels toward a larger reckoning. There is a sense, however, that viewers who know the historical arc may anticipate certain beats, which can blunt the sense of surprise. Still, the visual flare, the interplay between Edward’s business acumen and Arthur’s reluctance, and the charged personal dynamics offer a compelling, if theatrical, entry into a saga that merges corporate power, public spectacle, and private transgression.

The premiere in London brought together actors such as Louis Partridge, Anthony Boyle, Fionn O’Shea, Emily Fairn, Niamh McCormack, and James Norton, with production notes indicating further episodes will explore the family’s fortunes as the empire faces new pressures. For those seeking a glossy, high-stakes historical drama with a darkly comic undercurrent and a touch of political edge, House Of Guinness promises a brisk, style-forward foray into a saga that sits at the intersection of business splendour and personal ruin.