The problem with business dynasties is that the kids aren’t usually as good as the parents

And the TV show Succession, based on Murdoch, is giving us a glimpse into the real-life world of unfolding high-stakes drama, writes Chris Blackhurst

It’s difficult not to escape the conclusion that Rupert Murdoch has been pursuing a forlorn quest (Getty)

A recurring high-stakes business theme at present is families and their ability to get on, and the safeguarding of fortunes by future generations.

Try as they might, even the sharpest commercial brains cannot deny the inevitable. One day, like it or not, they will have to consider what happens next. Three legal dramas involving money-making geniuses and their not-so genius relations have coincided.

There is the unfolding battle involving the Barclay twins and their children, culminating in the extraordinary footage of one grandson planting a bug in the conservatory of the Barclay-owned Ritz hotel to secretly record the conversations of one side of the family. Then it transpires the four billionaire Hinduja brothers are embroiled in litigation, of three against one, over the claim they once agreed that their assets belonged to all of them. Meanwhile, a UK court has declared Pramod, younger brother of steel tycoon Lakshmi Mittal, to be bankrupt.