House of Guinness Season 1 (2025) is a British historical drama from Steven Knight, the creator of Peaky Blinders, and it brings that same sense of family, ambition, and consequence to 19th-century Dublin. The story begins the moment the Guinness family patriarch, Sir Benjamin Lee Guinness, dies and leaves his four adult children to decide what happens next to the brewery, the fortune, and the name that comes with both. Rather than rushing through plot points, the series takes its time with the politics, the personal grief, and the quiet resentments that surface once real power is finally on the table.

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House of Guinness Season 1 – Series Details

Series Name: House of Guinness (Season 1)
Created by: Steven Knight
Directed by: Tom Shankland (Episodes 1-5), Mounia Akl (Episodes 6-8)
Genre: Historical Drama, Family Saga, Political Drama
Release Year: 2025
Episodes: 8
Platform: Netflix

Starring:

• Anthony Boyle as Arthur Guinness
• Louis Partridge as Edward Guinness
• Emily Fairn as Anne Guinness Plunket
• Fionn O’Shea as Benjamin Guinness
• James Norton as Sean Rafferty
• Jack Gleeson as Byron Hedges
• Niamh McCormack as Ellen Cochrane

House of Guinness Season 1 Story Explained

With their father gone, the four Guinness siblings each inherit a different piece of the same problem: how do you protect a family name built on money, brewing, and empire, when none of you agree on what protecting it should look like? Arthur, the eldest and most polished of the four, wants a political career and finds one, but his election win unravels once bribery charges surface, dragging the family into exactly the kind of public scandal his father spent a lifetime avoiding. Edward, the youngest son, is convinced he understands the brewery better than his older siblings and spends the season trying to prove it, all while an arranged match with his cousin Adelaide looms over him despite his interest in Ellen Cochrane, a woman tied to the Fenian republican movement the Guinnesses can’t fully separate themselves from.

Anne, the only daughter, is trapped in a marriage to an older man and spends the season quietly working every social angle available to her, even as she privately deals with a miscarriage and a worsening illness she hides from almost everyone around her. Benjamin, the most overlooked of the four, has the gentlest heart of the family but also a gambling problem that keeps resurfacing whenever things start going well for him. Running underneath all four storylines is the family’s uneasy financial arrangement with Fenian operatives, brokered through Sean Rafferty, a fixer whose loyalty to the Guinnesses is really loyalty to whatever keeps the business intact. By the finale, Arthur has pulled his siblings together in public for the first time all season, standing with them on stage at a political rally, unaware that Rafferty’s associate Patrick Cochrane is in the crowd with a gun. The season ends before we find out who, if anyone, gets hit, leaving Arthur’s fate and the family’s fragile unity deliberately unresolved heading into Season 2.

Performances and Direction

Anthony Boyle carries Arthur’s arc convincingly, playing a man who wants to look composed in public while quietly panicking about everything he can’t control. Louis Partridge and Emily Fairn both do a lot with characters who are frequently underestimated by everyone around them, and Fionn O’Shea makes Benjamin sympathetic even when his choices aren’t. James Norton and Jack Gleeson add sharp supporting energy as men who are useful to the Guinness family right up until they’re not. Tom Shankland directs the first five episodes with a controlled, patient hand, and Mounia Akl takes over for the back half without losing that rhythm, keeping the tension centered on conversations and consequences rather than dramatic twists. The production design leans into muted, period-accurate tones that make 19th-century Dublin feel lived-in rather than decorative, and the pacing rewards viewers willing to sit with the characters instead of waiting for a plot to accelerate.

Final Verdict

House of Guinness Season 1 is a well-built British historical drama that trades constant plot twists for a slower, character-first look at what ambition costs a family. Steven Knight’s writing keeps the politics, the business, and the personal drama tangled together in a way that feels earned rather than convenient, and the ensemble cast makes each sibling’s version of the same crisis worth following. It’s best suited to viewers who enjoyed the slow-burn tension of Peaky Blinders and want that same sensibility applied to a real family’s rise, minus the shootouts. With a second season already confirmed, the cliffhanger ending has a real payoff coming.

If you enjoyed House of Guinness Season 1, you might also like our recap of The Last Kingdom Season 1, another slow-burn historical drama built around family, loyalty, and power. You can also check Netflix’s own official House of Guinness page for streaming details and cast info.

FAQ

Where can I watch House of Guinness Season 1?

House of Guinness Season 1 is streaming exclusively on Netflix.

Is House of Guinness based on a true story?

Yes. The series is inspired by the real Guinness brewing family and the years following Sir Benjamin Lee Guinness’s death, though specific characters, relationships, and events are dramatized for the show.

How many episodes does House of Guinness Season 1 have?

Season 1 has 8 episodes.

Will there be a House of Guinness Season 2?

Yes, Netflix has renewed House of Guinness for a second season, which is expected to pick up directly from the Season 1 finale’s cliffhanger.