Netflix‘s new drama House of Guinness offers a vibrant exploration of the succession turmoil that beset the affluent Guinness family during the late 19th century. Following the demise of the influential patriarch Sir Benjamin Lee Guinness, his four children in their twenties are left to split his substantial inheritance. The eldest son Arthur (Anthony Boyle) aspires to ascend the ranks of English society more than run a brewery, the sole daughter Anne (Emily Fairn) finds herself in an unfulfilled marriage, and the second son Benjamin (Fionn O’Shea) struggles with mental instability and is plagued by debts and addiction. This leaves the youngest, Edward (Louis Partridge), as the family’s primary beacon for sustaining prosperity.

Edward is dedicated to the family enterprise, holds firm principles, and displays a maturity beyond his age, yet finds himself awkward in simple social scenarios. Over the course of House of Guinness‘s eight episodes, he encounters hurdles in social interactions and acknowledges his difficulties in connecting with others. His intense focus on the brewery operations, combined with his charming air of detachment, suggests that today’s perspectives might classify him as neurodivergent.

“After I shot it, after I watched it, I thought maybe I could have turned that up a bit because it was something I spoke about with [director and EP Tom Shankland],” House of Guinness star Louis Partridge told DECIDER. “And ‘neurodivergent’ is a good, right way to put it.”

“Just like some lack of awareness when it comes to how to deal with people and emotions and social life. There is a flicker of that,” he said. “I think he kind of learns stuff along the way and I think, yeah, acknowledges that in himself, possibly throughout the series. But yes, I did intend for a bit of that so thanks for picking up on it.”

In House of Guinness Episode 3, Edward invites Irish Catholic activist Ellen Cochrane (Niamh McCormack) to the Imperial for tea and conversation. He wants to build bridges between his wealthy Protestant family and the Fenians for business purposes. Ellen initially balks at the idea of meeting such a prominent member of a Unionist family in an upper class establishment, but goes anyway.

What follows is a delicious scene where Edward pours Guinness the proper way to show Ellen the importance of “keeping her head,” and Ellen flirtatiously challenges him in reply by gulping a whole pint of stout in one go.

“Oh, my god, I loved it,” Niamh McCormack said. “I had the curtsy at the end, which was like a little improv moment that I tried that Tom, the director, ended up loving. So that was really cool.”

“There’s so much power play going on there, and she kind of then takes the cake with downing that pint in very, very fancy hotel that she has no business being in and she kind of makes her mark on that,” she said. “And it is that power play. And I think that kind of continues with the relationship as the series progresses, but I loved it.”

When we asked Partridge about the flirtatious subtext to the scene, he teased us. “I think that might be your dirty mind!” he said. “No, there was a little something.”

“There was certainly a look in the in the end, but I think at that point Edward is purely business-minded. So he wouldn’t even have clocked, really, until maybe the end, and then he would have said, ‘Oh, no, I daren’t think a thought like that,’” Partridge said. I think it’s all business, business, business for him.”

“But that is the beginning. She is the bit of thread that unravels him,” he admitted, teasing what goes down in future episodes of the new Netflix show. “It’s very naughty of him.”

House of Guinness is now streaming on Netflix.