Audiences are generally used to a little bending of the truth with most historical fiction. Matt Damon's character in Air never drove to Michael Jordan's family home before signing the young basketball player to Nike. I doubt that Napoleon ever oinked at Josephine like she does in Ridley Scott's 2023 film, and I don't think random soldiers on the battlefield during the American Civil War in Lincoln were learned to recite the Gettysburg Address by heart.
Not one mob but two awaits him as his casket rolls out of the factory gates. On one side are evangelistic followers of the Temperance movement, whose objections to the Guinness family don't really need to be explained. On the other hand, there's the Fenians, the unruliest of the factions pushing for Irish independence from Great Britain. Sure, Benjamin Guinness might have made great beer, but he was also a unionist and a Protestant.
A Netflix drama about them is on its way, but head of the family Ned Guinness has written his own history of the iconic dynasty. Here, he talks about his idyllic childhood in Farmleigh, the accusations of sectarianism his ancestors faced, why they opposed Irish independence and how the brewery almost moved to Wales Arthur Guinness's great-great-great-great-great grandson would be forgiven for losing track of his names. He was christened Arthur Edward Guinness.
Netflix is no stranger to grand dramas, but its latest addition, House of Guinness, promises to blend historical authenticity with the sharp edge of modern storytelling. From the mind of Steven Knight, the acclaimed creator of Peaky Blinders, the series takes viewers into the turbulent world of one of Europe's most recognizable families. Set for release on September 25, the drama positions itself as both an origin story and a meditation on legacy, power, and the cost of inheritance.