House of Guinness, the latest historically-inspired red-blood drama series from Stephen Knight (Peaky Blinders), is now a month old, and the buzz around this series is starting to cool as the hype for the final season of Stranger Things, Netflix’s NFL games, and the annual cavalcade of Christmas fluff begins to ramp up.
So, you’ve got a few weeks before the deluge of holiday content, Oscar bait films, and prestige television floods your television, you’ve got some time to decide which shows you’ll want to binge, and so the question is — should you be watching House of Guinness?
For those on the fence, you might be apprehensive of diving into this series because on paper, House of Guinness sounds like it should’ve been called Pinty Brewers or Peaky Blinders, but actually Irish.
The series does borrow a number of musical and aesthetic elements from Peaky, however this series feels a lot different from Tommy and the lads tussling with gangsters, communists, and the IRA. This is a series that is wholly its own and not a retread of Peaky. So we’re going to give you five reasons why you need to be raising a pint (aka watching) House of Guinness this fall … or during Saint Patrick’s Month.
1. The Music: Peaky Blinders is known for its incorporation of fuzzed out rock ‘n’ roll from the likes of The White Stripes, Nick Cave, Arctic Monkeys and Black Rebel Motorcycle Club. At the time this was such an audacious move to put modern music into a historical setting.
House of Guinness employs a similar, but much more specific application of modern music to its historical setting. Instead of fueling the soundtrack with leather jacket-wearing nostalgia from the aughts, it’s steeped in music indigenous to Ireland. The first episode slaps you right in the face with a one-two punch of heavy alt rock outfit Fontaines D.C. and the controversial hip-hop unit Kneecap.
Throughout the series, viewers will recognize classic acts like Derek Warfield & The Wolftones, The Clancy Brothers, and The Chieftains. However, the soundtrack doesn’t stop at recognizable standards that Irish-America descendants will recognize from their local pub’s jukebox. HOG’s soundtrack taps into soulful tunes from Lankum and Lisa O’Neill, bangers from The Scratch and The Mary Wallopers and retro soul from Dublin’s Rocstrong. It’s a beguiling tapestry of Irish musical history as standards and ballads filled with spirit of love, loss and rebellion are met with current anthems covering the same subject matter with that inherent passion and sorrow inherent in the Irish.
2. Irish Succession: House of Guinness, from a plot standpoint, is more Succession than Peaky Blinders. Sure, Kendall and Shiv weren’t brawling in the streets with Fenian protestors, nor did Cousin Greg light fire to the St. James Gate Brewery (although you can picture it) — but the similarities are there. This series, despite all its flash, is a family drama. House of Guinness is about the house, the family of the Guinness empire — not the sizzle and suds that bring all the viewers to the yard. Like Succession it delves into family politics, family secrets and dysfunction set to the overarching story of who is succeeding the late patriarch of the Guinness brewing empire.
3. That Cast: Anthony Boyle (Derry Girls), Louis Patridge (Enola Holmes), Emily Fairn (Saturday Night), Fionn O’Shea (Normal People), and Niamh Rose McCormack (Everything Now) may not be household names in the U.S. However, when you watch them in this series you know that fact will be shortly changing. These are all the types of “wow” performances that make the industry and audiences take notice.
Then there’s the supporting cast — Dervla Kirwan (Ballykissangel), Ann Skelly (Sandman), David Wilmot (Bodkin), Seamus O’Hara (Say Nothing), and two notorious Game of Thrones alumni – Michael McElhatton (Roose Bolton) and Jack Gleeson (King Joffrey). Absolutely filthy.
4. James Norton: James Norton is one of those British actors where you point your finger at the TV with your brow furrowed and you say, “Where do I know him from?” American audiences might recognize him from AMC’s not-so-awesome series McMafia, Joss Whedon’s HBO series The Nevers, an episode of Doctor Who during Matt Smith’s run or on the big screen in Little Women or Bob Marley: One Love.
Wherever you know him from — forget it ever existed. His role here as Sean Rafferty, the head of the Guinness warehouse and security for the family, is one of the stand-out star-making roles in the series. Norton eats this role up like Sunday brunch. It’s a big, showy, physical and violent role that demands your attention every time he comes on screen. The performance is absolutely magnetic, and big things (like the new season of House of the Dragon) are on the horizon.
5. Production Value: If you’ve never seen Peaky Blinders, you’re in for a real treat when it comes to the look and feel of this series. Knight and his production team know how to separate themselves from the plethora of UK-centric historical dramas that are released in theaters, streamers and traditional TV every year. There is a real feeling of antiquity to it as opposed to “we placed a whole bunch of people in silly clothing on a set.” The cinematography is just phenomenal as the sweeping street fights to tense boardrooms to an intimate scene in a garden — it’s all filmed with such wonderful innovation and complexity. It’s a great, visually tantalizing show to view.
