House of Guinness

What’s it about?

Based on ‘true stories’ of the family behind the Guinness brewing company in 19th-century Ireland and New York. After the death of Benjamin Guinness, the man responsible for the extraordinary success of the Guinness brewery, we follow the fate of his four adult children.

The facts

• Episodes directed by Tom Shankland, Mounia Akl
• Created and written by Steven Knight (Peaky Blinders)
• English language
• Runtime: ~50 minutes per episode
• Starring Anthony Boyle, Jack Gleeson, Louis Partridge, James Norton
• Netflix original series

Why did it get this rating?

This series was self-rated by Netflix. You can find out more about self-rating by streaming providers here.

Sex

A woman holding a gun forces a man to pull down his trousers. It is dark and we don’t see any detail. She looks down and threatens to ‘shoot it off’.

In episode five we see couples kissing (clothed) leading to sex. We see movement and kissing but the camera stays focused on facial expressions to show they’re receiving pleasure from their partners.

In episode six a stronger sex scene shows movement, kissing, and a brief glimpse of the woman topless.

Suicide themes

In episode five we see a woman threatening to suicide by pointing a gun to her head. The scene is tense and may be upsetting for anyone impacted by suicide.

Violence

Protesters and workers clash during a funeral procession. We see people arm themselves with metal objects and then use the weapons during fist fights. We see someone get kicked in the head while wounded on the ground. There’s limited injury detail, but we do see some blood splatter. We subsequently see people battered and bruised with some bloody facial cuts.

We see three men partially naked and chained to chairs in a dark warehouse. They are tortured by being threatened with violence and knocked to the ground, and we see one having his jaw broken by being stood on.

A man grabs and crushes another man’s genitals through his clothing.

Content that may disturb

Episode 3: A character suffers a miscarriage. We see blood on her skirts and on her hands. Later she asks if there was ‘anything to bury’ and it’s confirmed that it was an early-stage pregnancy miscarriage.

Episode 5: We see a woman screaming during labour. We subsequently see the baby born safely.

Offensive language

There is occasional swearing, used as emphasis such as ‘where the f*ck is Arthur?’, ‘f*cking’, and as an insult such as ‘f*ckers!’.

When content stays with you:

We all have our boundaries, and it’s completely okay if something you’ve watched is weighing on your mind. If certain content lingers with you, consider having a chat with friends or whānau to debrief about what you’ve just seen. But if you’re still feeling affected, please reach out to any of the following helplines for support.

• 1737
• Safe to talk
• Lifeline
• Youthline

Further information

• Why are ratings and content warnings important for me and my whānau?