---
title: 'There Are No Ghosts at the Grand - Official Behind-the-Scenes Clip'
source: 'https://youtube.com/watch?v=NQQAgwiakFY'
video_id: 'NQQAgwiakFY'
date: 2026-06-13
duration_sec: 381
---

# There Are No Ghosts at the Grand - Official Behind-the-Scenes Clip

> Source: [There Are No Ghosts at the Grand - Official Behind-the-Scenes Clip](https://youtube.com/watch?v=NQQAgwiakFY)

## Summary

Alex Brightman discusses his role as Chris David in the game 'There Are No Ghosts at the Grand', a first-person story-driven mystery with renovation, ghosts, and musical numbers. The game features a 30-day cycle where players renovate during the day and fight ghosts at night, with a talking Scottish paintbrush named McBrushy. Chris is a morally complex character with a secret mission, and players shape conversations through musical duets.

### Key Points

- **Game Genre and Mechanics** [0:07] — The game is a first-person, story-driven mystery with ghosts, renovation, and musical numbers. Players renovate during the day and fight ghosts at night using the same tools.
- **30-Day Time Limit** [0:58] — Players have 30 days and 30 nights to complete the renovation before things unravel completely.
- **Talking Tool Companion** [1:05] — McBrushy, a Scottish paintbrush with a face, provides advice, encouragement, and occasional insults.
- **Seaside Town Setting** [1:22] — The game is set in a charming seaside town with shops, winding streets, fishing boats, and a rusty scooter, full of secrets.
- **Musical Numbers** [1:38] — Characters break into musical numbers (ska, punk, jazz) that reveal their fears, past, and secrets. The player character Chris duets with them, and player choices affect the song's tone.
- **Chris David's Character** [3:15] — Chris is an American who inherits a crumbling hotel from a father he never knew. He has a secret mission and is unreliable, secretive, but has heart.
- **Chris's Moral Complexity** [4:38] — Chris is morally flexible, not a villain but not honest. He carries a past he doesn't fully understand, making choices players may not agree with.
- **Chris's True Goal** [5:23] — Chris is not there to renovate but to investigate, aided by a talking cat and power tools like McBrushy.

### Conclusion

The game blends horror, comedy, and musical elements into a unique experience where players uncover the truth through renovation, ghost battles, and interactive songs.

## Transcript

Welcome to England, Mr. David.
>> Hello. I am Alex Brightman and I am an
actor and a writer and a voice actor. I
play Chris David, who's an American who
inherits this crumbling old British
hotel. So, There Are No Ghosts at the
Grand is this crazy amazing mix of
genres. First-person, story-driven
mystery with ghosts, renovation, and
musical numbers.
>> Let me welcome you to the Grand,
a hotel famous across the land.
>> And during the day, you're fixing it up.
Kind of with like you're painting walls,
scraping wallpaper, blasting gunk with a
sandblaster. But at night, the whole
place changes completely. The hotel's
crawling with ghosts, monsters, creepy
stuff. And the same tools you were using
to renovate, now you're using them to
fight back. The paint sprayer is now a
weapon. Furniture cannon now starts
doing damage and it gets nuts. Totally
wild. But the clock's ticking. You've
got 30 days, 30 nights to get the job
done before things [music] unravel
completely. So, while you're doing all
that, you've got this smart-aleck
Scottish tool, favorite character in the
game. Literally this paintbrush with a
face giving you advice, encouragement,
the occasional insult.
>> When you said bring the Grand back to
life, is this what you meant?
No. I mean gear, we like A PAINT SO NOT
SOMETHING ALL THAT
>> Outside the hotel, the whole setting is
this seaside town to explore. Little
shops, winding streets, fishing boats,
even this rusty scooter you'll see. It's
all charming and weird, kind of full of
secrets. And by [music] the way,
speaking of musical numbers, this game's
got ghosts, renovation tools, haunted
hotel rooms.
And if that's not weird enough, suddenly
someone breaks into a full musical
number.
>> [music]
>> Ska songs, punk stuff, jazz. And it's
not just for show. Each character has a
song that reveals something about them,
like their fears, their past, their
secrets. But the twist is, this is
great.
I'm singing with them.
>> It's hard to watch, but [music] hard to
resist.
Our town can't cease to exist. Slip away
into [singing] the abyss. Down in the
deep, deep dark.
>> Chris, the character that I play, duets
with every one of them. So when they
open up, he answers. Sometimes sort of
gently, sometimes not, sometimes a
little aggressive. But the cool part is,
you, the player, actually choose what
Chris I sing.
>> It's green.
>> I'm on your side.
>> Then why are you lying to me?
Mhm.
>> I I'm not.
>> His verses change the tone of the song
sometimes or push it in a different
direction. You're shaping the
conversation through music. For someone
like me who loves theater and music and
weird storytelling, this is honestly one
of my favorite parts of the game. Makes
it completely [music] unique uh and
fascinating. You get these moments where
someone's telling you this world lore in
a song, and then you, as Chris, sing
back. And so it starts to shape the
story. So it's got everything. A little
horror, a little comedy, a little
musical stuff, and somehow it completely
[music] works.
>> So, you're the new owner of the Grand
Hotel huh?
>> I'm not staying. I'm just here to sell
the place.
>> Well, I hope you do better than the last
guy. He disappeared, you know.
>> My father? Yeah, I know.
>> So I play Chris David. He's an American,
which I know a lot about. Uh he inherits
this old, sort of half-collapsed hotel
on the English coast, the Grand, from a
father he never knew. He shows up and he
just thinks he's going to renovate the
place. Really, he's there chasing
something deeper.
Chris has his own secret mission that
not even the player is fully [music]
aware of. He's searching for something.
Breaking into places, stealing stuff at
night, while during the day he just
renovates the Grand and acts like
everything is normal. So everyone in the
town thinks they've got him figured out.
This brash American guy who doesn't
belong here.
But Chris is misjudging [music] them,
too.
The ghosts, the villagers, the hotel
itself, none of it is what it first
seems. And what makes this really fun to
play is that he's not always honest with
you or with himself. [music]
>> It's a good idea to keep the cot close.
>> [snorts]
>> Be careful. One background check and
you're done.
>> Yes, I know. I know. I'm going to need
them to trust me if we're going to pull
this off. But don't worry, they don't
suspect anything.
>> He does this thing that players don't
see.
He's unreliable. He's secretive. And
half the time you're not even really
sure what he's seeing is actually real.
But he also has heart.
He's trying to make sense of this place
and of himself. And slowly, through
these ghost hunts and these weird
musical numbers and strange encounters,
you start to slowly see the truth come
eking through.
>> I tend to get cast as people who are
morally flexible. Let's just go with
that. And Chris totally fits that, but
in a different way. He's not really a
villain,
but he's also not very honest. Um, he's
carrying this past that he doesn't
really fully understand. So, he's making
choices that the player might not always
agree with or understand, and that's
really fun for me. The sort of mystery,
the complexity, um, and I love
characters where you're not quite sure
if you trust them, or they kind of say
one thing, but they really mean another,
and you don't know which one's which,
and the cracks start to show slowly. So,
Chris definitely has those, those
cracks. Um, he's not evil, but he's just
complicated. He's layered. So, yeah, it
has been a real blast playing someone
who is trying to do the right thing,
but also kind of doing a bunch of
sketchy stuff behind your back.
>> I'm not here to renovate and decorate.
I'm here to investigate. And to help me,
I've got a talking cat.
>> You're the one doing all the talking,
you know, Mason.
>> And a set of power tools that also talk.
>> Well, hello there. I'm Robert C.
McBrushy. It is also a blast to be
working beside McBrushy.
>> And am I allowed to say who that No, I'm
not allowed to say who's playing it.
Then I won't I won't. Okay, I won't. I'm
getting a lot of this. Don't say it. But
he's this talking power tool, Mick
Brushy, who helps you throughout the
game. He's a grumpy, Scottish, mildly
passive-aggressive sort of machine-type
thing, and he's very good at getting
paint off of a wall. And whoever's
voicing him,
whoever's voicing him,
total legend. You are going to love it.
Mark my words.
It's really
Oh.