{"id":162203,"date":"2025-09-26T20:15:20","date_gmt":"2025-09-26T20:15:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/162203\/"},"modified":"2025-09-26T20:15:20","modified_gmt":"2025-09-26T20:15:20","slug":"what-house-of-guinness-gets-right-and-wrong","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/162203\/","title":{"rendered":"What House of Guinness gets right and wrong"},"content":{"rendered":"

What could be more exciting than a brand new Netflix series dubbed Succession meets Peaky Blinders<\/a>? And there\u2019s good reason for the hype, as Peaky Blinders creator Steven Knight is the man behind House Of Guinness<\/a>, which follows the fall-out after the death of Sir Benjamin Guinness (yes, that Guinness family) and the four children in line to inherit the famous brewery. Very Succession-esque, indeed. <\/p>\n

The exciting period drama has got everyone talking, but how much of the show is based on real life events? Well, we take a look into the real history and separate fact from fiction.<\/p>\n

So, is House Of Guinness really based on a true story? <\/p>\n

In short, yes. The series follows the real Guinness family and is set in 19th-century Dublin. While the family business\u2019 legacy stretches generations before and beyond this period, the show picks up around the death of Sir Benjamin Guinness in the 1860s, and the reading of his will. Which of his four children would inherit the famous family business?<\/p>\n

What to read next<\/p>\n

The Guinness family are a brilliant topic for a biopic series, given their vibrant and volatile history. Members of the Guiness family have been well known politicians, public figures, business people and members of high society throughout the generations. They even earned the rumour of the existence of a \u2018Guinness curse\u2019 due to the number of tragedies in the family in the 1940s. As the Netflix series is set much earlier than this, these later events won\u2019t be covered directly, but we may see some scene-setting or foreshadowing of the dark future ahead. <\/p>\n

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Netflix<\/p>\n

The series is even based on the idea of Ivana Lowell, the real-life Guinness heiress, who worked with the show\u2019s creator, Steven Knight, to tell the story of her ancestors. Here\u2019s what we know about the real lives of some of the key characters from the show\u2026<\/p>\n

Sir Benjamin Guinness<\/p>\n

Sir Benjamin Guinness was a real person and owner of the successful brewery. His grandfather, Arthur Guinness founded the company in 1759 and signed an incredible 9,000 year lease on St. James\u2019s Gate Brewery in Dublin. However, it is Sir Benjamin who is credited with boosting the company\u2019s success, meaning that his death marked a significant end of an era \u2013 and a vacuum of power to fill. Cue his four children and potential heirs to the company\u2026<\/p>\n

Edward Guinness<\/p>\n

In the Netflix series, Louis Partridge plays Edward Guinness, who jointly inherits the brewery with his brother Arthur \u2013 leaving the third brother and their only sister out in the cold. In the show, Edward is described as being a more reckless and volatile personality to Arthur, who is more measured and careful. Whether this was the case or not in reality, it doesn\u2019t appear to have been too much of an issue for Edward\u2019s business ambitions as, eight years after inheriting the company, he bought out his brother\u2019s share.<\/p>\n

Despite being in his twenties when he took over the company (and still just 29 when he became sole owner), he went on to create huge success for the company. His influence brought even greater rewards for the business than his prolific father, and made him the richest man in Ireland. Edward floated part of the company on the stock market \u2013 remaining chairman \u2013 before retiring at 40 as a very rich man. We also have Edward to thank for establishing the Guinness Storehouse, now a tourist attraction in Dublin.<\/p>\n

Arthur Guinness<\/p>\n

Arthur is played by Anthony Boyle in the Netflix series, and is one of the two chosen sons who Sir Benjamin entrusts the family business to. However, in reality, he had his sights set on other heights beyond business \u2013 into the world of politics and property. Having been co-owner of the brewery for 8 years, he sold his share to his brother Edward. He became a landlord of various estates and was elected an MP for the city of Dublin as part of the Conservative party in 1868. <\/p>\n

However, there was scandal a year later and his position was voided, when it was discovered that he had gained his seat with illegal efforts on the part of an election agent. Eventually, Arthur was cleared, and he was elected again in 1874. <\/p>\n

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Netflix<\/p>\n

Benjamin \u2018Ben\u2019 Guinness Jr<\/p>\n

The young Benjamin \u2018Ben\u2019 Guinness Jr, was the baby of the four siblings and lost out on ownership of the family company to his two older brothers (although in real life he did still have some shares). In the series, he\u2019s shown to be overlooked by his father when it comes to taking on the family business and struggles both with an alcohol problem and to prove himself in a complicated hierarchy. <\/p>\n

In real life, he has health struggles but was part of the military and became a captain in the Royal House of Gardens over in England, where he spent most of his life. <\/p>\n

Lady Anne Plunket (n\u00e9e Guinness)<\/p>\n

Perhaps unsurprisingly for the times, Sir Benjamin\u2019s daughter, Anne (played by Emily Fairn in the series) was left out of company ownership in her father\u2019s will \u2013 in the show as well as in reality. Born in 1839, Anne Guinness married a baron \u2013 William Plunket \u2013 at 24 and became Lady Anne Plunket, going on to have six children \u2013 two sons and four daughters. <\/p>\n

While Lady Anne didn\u2019t get to sign on the dotted sign of the company, she was active in charitable causes and even established a nursing home. Sadly, Anne was in ill health for most of her life and died in 1889. In St Patrick\u2019s Cathedral (restored by her father years earlier), she is commemorated with stained-glass windows. <\/p>\n

Sean Rafferty<\/p>\n

One of the show\u2019s most intriguing characters is not a member of the Guinness family at all: Sean Rafferty, played by James Norton. In the Netflix series, Sean is a foreman at the brewery and a fixer for the family, helping craft their public image. Despite Steven Knight saying the character is \u2018one of the most extraordinary aspects of this series,\u2019 it\u2019s not clear whether Sean was a real figure or not. It may be that he represents one of more figures who helped the real family in the same way, or be a plot device to help facilitate the telling of the real story.<\/p>\n

House Of Guinness is available to watch on Netflix now.<\/p>\n

MORE UNMISSABLE SHOWS<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"What could be more exciting than a brand new Netflix series dubbed Succession meets Peaky Blinders? And there\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":162204,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[379,73740,381,96,1156,73739,391,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-162203","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tv","8":"tag-content-type-news","9":"tag-contentid-bfd31a19-d675-484e-8373-db9d9b9dbb13","10":"tag-displaytype-standard-article","11":"tag-entertainment","12":"tag-locale-gb","13":"tag-shorttitle-true-story-vs-tv-drama-what-house-of-guinness-gets-right-and-wrong","14":"tag-tv","15":"tag-uk","16":"tag-united-kingdom","17":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/162203","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=162203"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/162203\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/162204"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=162203"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=162203"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=162203"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}