WARNING! This article contains SPOILERS for House of Guinness season 1!
Netflix’s House of Guinness introduces an ensemble of fascinating characters from various backgrounds and places of power, and the two most compelling have an interesting factor in common. With each episode beginning by reminding audiences that the series is a work of fiction inspired by true stories, House of Guinness’ cast of characters features a healthy mix of real and fictional figures in its dramatization of the titular family.
Though the four real-life siblings of the Guinness family are the stars of the series, many of the employees, political rivals, and local Dublin residents that flesh out the rest of the main cast are completely original to the Netflix historical drama show. Arguably, two of House of Guinness’ most engrossing characters are ones that fall into the latter category, which highlights one of the series’ larger challenges.
Mr. Rafferty & Ellen Cochrane Are House Of Guinness’ Two Most Compelling Characters
Though there are cases to be made for Anthony Boyle’s Arthur Guinness, Louis Partridge’s Edward Guinness, and Emily Fairn’s Anne Guinness, I walked away from House of Guinness feeling that those from the titular family didn’t reach the multifaceted, compelling heights of James Norton’s Sean Rafferty and Niamh McCormack’s Ellen Cochrane.
Neither of the two come from power, status, and wealth like the Guinnesses, yet they also represent two very different types of characters interacting with the family throughout the first season. Additionally, against their better judgment, both find themselves in forbidden love affairs with members of the Guinness family; Ellen with brewery overseer Edward and Rafferty with Arthur’s wife Lady Olivia.
Ellen Cochrane serves as the series’ strongest representation for House of Guinness’ Fenians, working with her brother and an entire political resistance to fight for Irish independence, a cause that Sir Benjamin Lee Guinness was undermining. Ultimately, she gets one of House of Guinness’ most complex stories to work with as a single female revolutionary, sister of a hot-tempered rebel, and secret lover to a member of the family she’s long despised.
Rafferty also finds himself in a similarly unique role from the beginning to end of House of Guinness season 1. Rafferty is the head foreman and man in charge of the Guinnesses’ security, essentially serving as their enforcer against any figures who may cause trouble for the family, whether privately or with business exploits.
However, Rafferty also has to contend with being a man with only an illusion of power – that which is given to him by the Guinnesses, but can be snatched away in the blink of an eye. He gets to put on an authoritative face towards anyone outside the family, but, deep down to the Guinnesses, he knows he’s just as expendable as anyone else.
Any resentment he may harbor for the Guinnesses is also exacerbated by his affair with Olivia, which grows all the more tragic once she becomes pregnant with Rafferty’s child and Arthur makes her abort the baby. House of Guinness season 2’s story is set up with Olivia and Rafferty planning to secretly carry on their affair while he strives to one day take them both away from any of the Guinnesses’ influence.
Both Rafferty and Ellen hold incredibly engrossing roles in the series as the two main characters with a close, loving relationship within the Guinness family, but a simultaneous rejection of their power and decisions. As such, perhaps more than the others in the series, Raffety and Ellen’s futures are situated as some of the riskiest and most intense stories for House of Guinness to continue exploring.
However, it isn’t just their similar connections to the Guinnesses and backgrounds that the two share, as Ellen and Rafferty are also uniquely two of the only main characters not based on real-life people. In major instances of House of Guinness’ true story changes, there are no direct historical counterparts for Sean Rafferty or Ellen Cochrane.
They’re both entirely made up for the Steven Knight-created drama, reflecting a struggle that House of Guinness must continue to contend with as the story continues further into the Guinnesses’ real history.
House Of Guinness Gets Much More Creative Freedom With Its Fictional Characters Than The Main Guinnesses
Though House of Guinness still takes plenty of liberties with the Guinnesses’ history, given its disclaimer about being a work of fiction, the differences between what the series is able to do with its fictional characters compared to real-life figures are difficult to ignore. Overall, the most remarkable change the series makes to the main Guinnesses is their sexual exploits, whereas House of Guinness’ original characters have so much more to work with.
There’s a certain level of caution that a show like House of Guinness has to take when fictionalizing a story about real people, especially when the Guinness family still has prominent descendants today. It opens itself up to far more scrutiny when taking significant liberties with fact and fiction for the Guinnesses with real-life counterparts, whereas that same risk isn’t present for characters like Rafferty or Ellen.
Though Rafferty and Ellen stood out as more captivating characters throughout House of Guinness season 1, that isn’t to say that the main Guinnesses themselves weren’t intriguing. If that were the case, there would be no basis for the show in the first place. Their story, their dynamics, and their personal lives are incredibly fascinating in House of Guinness’ unique setting, but it’s hard to feel like the series doesn’t occasionally have to play it safe with them.
House Of Guinness Season 1 Didn’t Have Enough Time To Flesh Out Its Main Cast
A contributing factor to characters like Rafferty and Ellen Cochrane standing out more than the Guinnesses is also the first season’s length. The show covers approximately a year’s worth of time in just eight episodes, with massive transformations to the brewery, political campaigns, new and broken romances, marriages and weddings, and political revolutions all being covered.
With such an expansive cast, House of Guinness season 1 almost felt spread too thin in certain areas, which hindered the potential for more quiet, character-driven moments that could have fleshed out the main figures. It was difficult to feel connected to each of the Guinnesses and sympathize with their problems amid so much noise required to introduce audiences to this world with so many moving pieces.