Taking family power struggles and turning them into global television sensations is becoming something of a habit for screenwriter Steven Knight.
Following the success of Peaky Blinders, which transformed a Birmingham street gang into a cultural phenomenon, Knight is now focusing on another dynasty steeped in brewing, wealth, and legacy.
House of Guinness, premiering on Netflix this Thursday, delves into the story of Ireland’s most iconic family name during a moment of crisis. The series opens with the death of Sir Benjamin Guinness, leaving his four children, each harboring dark secrets, to navigate the brewery’s future.
Knight notes that researching the real-life Guinness family immediately revealed “an incredible drama and story.”
He was captivated by “the characters, events and how it all intermeshed with history and what was going on at the time.”
While grounded in historical events, House of Guinness is fundamentally a drama. Knight acknowledges a blend of fact and fiction, emphasizing that “it’s often the true events that are the least believable.”
“Some of the historical events are so amazing and unexpected you wouldn’t make them up yourself,” he told the BBC.
One of the fictional characters in the Netflix drama is Sean Rafferty, the brewery’s foreman, portrayed by Happy Valley star James Norton. Rafferty’s fate becomes intertwined with the dynasty’s internal conflicts.
Norton describes his character as an “amalgamation of lots of different people” from the era, adding that he found researching the history of Guinness to be “remarkable and fascinating.”
The actor, aged 40, explains that he was immediately drawn to the project upon reading the script.
“I read the first four scripts all at once and it was a no-brainer,” he says. “Almost every scene starts with Rafferty’s silhouette in a window in a cloud of smoke and I thought ‘sign me up, that’s really cool’.”
Norton notes that the predominantly Irish cast added a layer of pressure to perfecting his character’s accent, admitting he was “so scared on the first day.”
“You work really hard at the beginning and once you crack the first big dialogue scene and have spoken the first lines there’s no going back,” he explains.
Norton’s first scene involved his character punching three disloyal Guinness factory workers. He reveals that he used the line, “I see your three names written in black ash up there,” to help him maintain the accent for subsequent scenes.
Alongside Norton, Irish actress Danielle Galligan plays Lady Olivia, an aristocrat who marries into the Guinness family. At the time, she was the wealthiest woman in Britain and Ireland after the British monarch.
Galligan says she enjoyed researching her character and understanding her true nature.
“She’s such a firecracker in the series and then I actually found out she was also a very solitary and silent woman who painted lots of watercolours,” Galligan explains.
“She was a woman who had everything and yet was still looking for something. Learning about her gave me a sense of her lack of fulfilment and added another layer to her.”
Galligan emphasizes the significance of telling an Irish story and how “to do it on a global scale is a once-in-a-lifetime kind of experience.”
The cast also includes Niamh McCormack, who portrays a character involved with the rebellious Fenian Brotherhood, and Jack Gleeson, best known for his role as Joffrey Baratheon in Game of Thrones.
McCormack and Gleeson express their pride in being part of a series that showcases Ireland, but acknowledge the pressure that comes with representing their country to a global audience.
“It’s always a factor but I tried not to think about it too much,” Gleeson says. “You want things to be represented well but also hopefully people know not to take it too seriously as a historical document.”
Knight seemed less concerned about audience reception, admitting, “I should care but I don’t – if you worry what people are going to think you can’t really do anything as you’d be trying to please too many different people.”
House of Guinness has drawn comparisons to acclaimed shows like Succession, The Crown, and Peaky Blinders, but Knight remains unfazed by these comparisons.
“People say every project is a cross between stuff and I don’t take that too seriously, I’m confident that this is its own thing,” he says.
Norton, who also stars in the BBC’s historical drama King & Conqueror, views the comparisons to successful dynasty shows as a positive.
“To be in the same breath as those dynasty shows is great and I’m happy if we’re included among that group,” he says. Gleeson echoes this sentiment, explaining that the drama “takes the best bits of the rest and adds its own magic and essence.”
Knight acknowledges similarities between House of Guinness and Peaky Blinders, noting their mutual influence. He also mentions his recent work on The Immortal Man, the Peaky Blinders film, which will see Cillian Murphy reprise his role as Tommy Shelby.
“Sometimes parallels are pointed out that I don’t even have a clue about,” he laughs. “But there are a lot of similarities – the family, it has the same energy, humour and swagger.”
Knight is also involved in writing the new James Bond film, a project he previously told the BBC had always been on his bucket list.
The film will be directed by Denis Villeneuve and is currently in development, overseen by Amazon MGM Studios following Barbara Broccoli and Michael G Wilson’s departure in February.
When asked about Bond, Knight smiles and says he cannot comment but admits that the success of his shows has given him greater creative freedom.
He hopes to have used that freedom to make House of Guinness a success in its own right.