The new Netflix series House of Guinness, from Peaky Blinders creator Steven Knight, premieres on 25 September. The eight-episode drama was inspired by a treatment written by Ivana Lowell, a descendant of the brewing dynasty.
Lowell conceived the idea after watching Downton Abbey at a family gathering at Castletown House in County Kildare. She felt her own family’s history – spanning commercial triumph, political intrigue, and personal tragedy – was more compelling. Her treatment formed the basis for Knight’s script.
The series begins with the death of Benjamin Guinness in 1868, leaving four children: Arthur, Edward, Anne, and Benjamin. The heirs must navigate their father’s will, which forces the eldest sons into an uneasy partnership, while Anne inherits little but dedicates herself to philanthropy. The drama echoes themes from Succession, set against the backdrop of 19th-century Ireland’s temperance movement and Protestant-Catholic tensions.
Lowell’s mother was novelist Lady Caroline Blackwood; her grandmother was one of the “golden Guinness girls” of 1920s high society. Knight praised Lowell as a “mine of information” on untold family stories. The show aims to bring the real-life rivalries and scandals of the Guinness family to a global audience.
