House of Guinness Nombre on Netflix

One of Ireland’s world-renowned brands, Guinness beer, has become the center of a family story that House of Guinness is one of Netflix’s most talked-about productions in September.

Critics are giving the series high ratings. Viewers are doing the same.

However, critics in Ireland are harshly criticizing the series from many angles.

According to the Irish Times, the series reflects a primitive understanding of the Irish people’s experience under British colonization.

The review states that there are major shortcomings in who the Anglo-Irish are and how they are viewed by Irish society.

The examination in the Irish Independent describes the series as “shockingly” distant from socio-cultural reality.

The portrayal of underground revolutionaries trying to overthrow politics and British rule after a major famine in Ireland is also criticized.

House of Guinness, which premiered on Netflix, tells the story of one of Ireland’s most famous families during a crisis.

Founder Benjamin Guinness has passed away, and his four children, each with dark secrets, are responsible for determining the fate of the brewery.

Steven Knight says that when he looked at the history of the Guinness family, he immediately realized that “it was an incredible drama and story.”

He explains that the “characters, events, and their intertwining with history and what was happening at the time” affected him.

Although the story is based on real events, Knight states that fiction is also used for the dramatic aspect.

He says that while real and fictional events are working together in the script, “the least credible ones are usually real events.”

The screenwriter, speaking to the BBC, says, “Some historical events are so surprising and unexpected that you don’t make them up yourself.”

What Do Irish Actors Say?

James Norton portrays the head brewer Sean Rafferty, one of the fictional characters in the series.

This character’s fate is intertwined with the power struggles of the dynasty.

Norton describes the character he portrays as a “mixture of many different people who lived at that time.”

He also adds that researching the history of Guinness was “fascinating and enchanting.”

The 40-year-old actor says that he was ready to be in the series as soon as he read the first four episodes of the script:

“I read the first four-episode script at once and didn’t even think about the rest.”

Since most of the actors in the series are Irish, Norton admits feeling pressure to perfect the accent and confesses that he was “very nervous on the first day of shooting.”

He explains, “At the beginning, you really work hard, and when you get through the first big scene and say the first lines, you don’t look back.”

Accompanied by Irish actor Danielle Galligan, Norton portrays Lady Olivia, an aristocrat who married into the Guinness family.

She was the richest woman in England and Ireland at the time after the British monarch.

The actress says she enjoyed researching the character she portrayed and discovering who she really was.

“She was very lively in the series, but then I learned that she was actually a very lonely and quiet woman, painting a lot of watercolors,” she explains.

“Despite having everything, she was still searching for something. As I learned about her, I understood her dissatisfaction, which gave her another dimension,” she says.

Galligan says that telling this Irish story on a global scale with a production like this is “an experience that will only happen once.”

In addition to Niamh McCormack and Jack Gleeson, who is known for his role as Joffrey Baratheon in Game of Thrones, play important roles in the series.

McCormack and Gleeson say they are proud to be part of a series that makes Ireland known worldwide.

However, they admit feeling pressure on how the series will be received among their own country’s audience.

Gleeson says he tries not to think too much about it.

“You want your country to look good, but I hope people will manage not to look at this series as a historical document,” he says.

Knight was less concerned about what the audience would think:

“I should care, but I don’t. If you worry about what people will think, you can’t do anything because you are trying to please too many people.”

House of Guinness has been compared to productions like Succession, The Crown, and Peaky Blinders.

‘There is the Same Energy, Humor, and Courage’

However, Knight says he is not interested in comparisons to other productions:

“People argue that every similar project is a mixture of things, but I don’t agree. I’m sure this series is a unique production.”

For Norton, being compared to such successful productions is a positive thing.

“It’s great to be seen in parallel with these dynasty series. I would be very happy if we were included in that group,” he says.

Gleeson also shares the same opinion and thinks that this series “takes the best parts of those dynasty series and creates its own magic and essence.”

Knight acknowledges that there are many similarities between House of Guinness and Peaky Blinders and that these productions influence each other.

“There are many similarities; there is the same energy, humor, and courage in the family,” he says.

The 66-year-old screenwriter recently completed the Peaky Blinders film The Immortal Man. In this film, Cillian Murphy will play Birmingham gangster Tommy Shelby.

Turning intra-family power struggles into television phenomena worldwide seems to have become a habit for screenwriter Steven Knight.

He turned a family gang in Birmingham into a brand that the whole world follows with the Peaky Blinders series.

Speaking to the BBC, the screenwriter says he is also writing the script for the new James Bond film.

The last film in the Bond series will be directed by Denis Villeneuve, who made a name for himself with the film Dune: Desert Planet.

This article was prepared and checked by BBC journalists. Artificial intelligence was also used in the translation as part of a pilot project.