House of Guinness true story: How much of the Netflix drama is based on real history?
Steven Knight's new series delves into the history of the Guinness family.
Steven Knight, the creator of Peaky Blinders and SAS Rogue Heroes, is delving into history once more, telling the story of the real-life Guinness family in House of Guinness.
The series stars Anthony Boyle, Louis Partridge, Emily Fairn, Fionn O'Shea and James Norton, and charts a number of years as their character's lives are impacted by the contents of their father's will, as well as the choices they make and the politics of the time.
Fans of Knight's other dramas will know that his shows often move between real history and fictional drama - but how much of the story is real this time around?
Read on for everything you need to know about the true story behind House of Guinness.
Is House of Guinness based on a true story?
It is. The Guinness siblings who the show tells the story of – Arthur, Edward, Anne and Benjamin – were all real people, as were a number of the side characters who make appearances.
The series is set in 19th-century Dublin and New York, and begins immediately after the death of another real-life figure, their father Sir Benjamin Guinness.
Sir Benjamin's grandfather, Arthur, signed a 9,000-year lease on the brewery site in 1759, but Benjamin took the business global, becoming the wealthiest man in Ireland by 1855.
The series has been based on an idea by real-life Guinness heiress Ivana Lowell, who worked with Knight to retell the stories of her descendants.
Lowell had originally planned to start the series as far back as the developing of the recipe for Guinness dark stout, but Knight decided to pick it up after the death of the founder's grandson Sir Benjamin Guinness, who died in 1868.
Knight told the BBC: "Ivana is an absolute mine of information and untold stories about the family going back years. Meeting her was the best bit of research imaginable because you didn't just get the stories, you got the [family] confidence, and the spirit and the slight madness… I was hooked."
How much of House of Guinness is based on real history?
The central characters in the Guinness family are based on real individuals, and many of the public events seen in the series really occurred.
For instance, it is true that the eldest son of Benjamin Guinness, Arthur, expected that he would take over the brewery, but that his father's will compelled him to share ownership with his brother Edward.
It is also true that their sister, Anne, inherited only a nominal amount, and committed herself to improving the lives of the poor and sick in Dublin, and that their brother Benjamin inherited little as he was regarded as a drunk.
Meanwhile, the political element of the series, which sees the Fenians, Irish revolutionaries, targeting Guinness interests, is true to life.
However, as is common in historical drama, anything related to the opinions of the characters, and plenty of behind-closed-doors conversations and events are fiction. The series has also added a key character, James Norton's Sean Rafferty, who is entirely fictional.
Lowell told the BBC that the decision to add Refferty, the brewery foreman and family fixer, provided "the conflict and the passion that makes a story interesting".
House of Guinness is coming to Netflix on Thursday 25th September 2025 – sign up from £5.99 a month. Netflix is also available on Sky Glass and Virgin Media Stream.
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Authors
James Hibbs is a Drama Writer for Radio Times, covering programmes across both streaming platforms and linear channels. He previously worked in PR, first for a B2B agency and subsequently for international TV production company Fremantle. He possesses a BA in English and Theatre Studies and an NCTJ Level 5 Diploma in Journalism.
