The highly anticipated 8-part drama, House of Guinness, produced by Kudos for Netflix, which airs from 25th September, was hosted by Space Studios Manchester over 35 weeks, during May 2024 to January 2025.
Producer Cahal Bannon paid tribute to Space Studios Manchester for its facilities and support over the duration of the shoot: “Space is the place to be if you are shooting in the north west of England. Great stages, great people with an abundance of fabulous locations within an hour of its doors. What’s not to like?”
Written by Steven Knight and directed by Tom Shankland and Mounia Akl, House of Guinness stars Anthony Boyle, Louis Partridge, Emily Fairn, Fionn O’Shea, James Norton, Niamh McCormack, Seamus O’Hara, Jack Gleeson and Dervla Kirwan and charts the aftermath of the death of brewery mogul, Sir Benjamin Guinness, and the great impact of his will on the fate of his four children: Arthur, Edward, Anne, Ben and other Dubliners affected by the expanding Guinness empire.
Stages 1 and 4 at Space Studios hosted a range of sets including the ballroom, the docks office and the boarding house whilst the cast and crew also used dressing rooms, unit bases, workshops and production offices.
Dean Sinacola, Studio Manager at Space Studios Manchester commented:
“House Of Guinness coming to Space Studios was a perfect fit. The stages’ flexibility allowed multiple sets to be turned around quickly for the team while proximity to the city allowed the production great access to locations and doubles within a short drive from the studios. The production utilised stages, offices, workshops and several costume rooms on site to accommodate the huge cast. Very little of the facility wasn’t used in the production, which makes Space Studios the true home of the House Of Guinness”
Screen Manchester supported the production and key location scenes were shot in Lever St, Back Piccadilly, Sackville Building/Sackville St, Anita St and Victoria Square, Ancoats, Heaton Hall, Dale St – Northern Quarter.
Screen Manchester’s Film Office Manager Bobby Cochrane commented:
“It is always exciting to see news heralding the release of projects we’ve been involved with, and House Of Guinness is certainly no exception. At Screen Manchester, we enjoyed working with the location team from Kudos Productions, securing locations and filming permits for some of the city’s most iconic locations. Our team is now eager to tune in to Netflix to see the end results, which, judging from promotional trailers, are spectacular”
Opened in 2014, Space Studios Manchester is a purpose-built facility for feature film, HETV and commercials production. Located 10 minutes from Manchester city centre, the site features over 80,000 sq ft of production space across 6 sound stages, ranging from 9,000 sq ft to 30,000 sq ft, along with purpose designed dressing and make-up facilities, laundry, prop storage, workshops, on-site catering and extensive free parking. Other major productions recently shot at Space include AMC’s “Talamasca”, season 7 of Sky’s “Brassic” and Amazon’s “Lazarus”.
