EXCLUSIVE: Nicola Holt, a British actress and model who has appeared in Viewpoint and Hollyoaks, has warned other women in the industry to “beware” film producer Kevin Proctor after he pleaded guilty to stalking.

Proctor, 47, was handed a 12-month restraining order and a £505 ($666) fine by Manchester Magistrate’s Court after he admitted stalking Holt, including being involved in planting a tracking device on a car being used by the Emmerdale actress. 

He has previously denied the charge of stalking involving serious alarm and distress, but on Thursday, pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of stalking. During the court hearing, Proctor’s barrister said the incident was isolated, out of character, and that his autism meant he struggled to make rational decisions.

As a producer, Proctor was most recently involved in Midas Man, the troubled biopic about Beatles manager Brian Epstein, starring Jacob Fortune-Lloyd and Emily Watson. He has several high-profile credits in behind-the-scenes roles, including working as an assistant production coordinator on Star Wars: Episode VIII – The Last Jedi.

Kevin Proctor in 2019

Getty

In an interview with Deadline, Holt has spoken about her experience for the first time, revealing that Proctor’s actions mean she lives in perpetual paranoia about being followed. She warned other women in the screen industry to avoid falling into the producer’s “nice guy trap.”

Holt said she first encountered Proctor on social media during the pandemic. He gave her freelance work on Prime Video true-crime documentary The Never Ending Murder, co-produced by Proctor’s Studio Pow. After Holt did other work for Proctor, including appearing in his 2022 short Lapushka!, their professional connection developed into a romantic relationship.

They saw each other regularly while he was filming Midas Man in Liverpool, but Holt said she ended their relationship in August 2023 after learning that he had a girlfriend. Holt said they continued to discuss professional opportunities, but Proctor’s behavior changed when she entered a relationship with another man in early 2024.

Holt recalled seeing Proctor’s car on numerous occasions near her home and at sets of traffic lights. When house hunting with her partner, Holt said she spotted Proctor at a yet-to-be-completed property development site. “There was no reason for anyone to be there,” she said. “As we were exiting the estate, I saw him walk across a set of driveways. I thought to myself, ‘You’re going crazy, Nicola.’”

Holt Discovers Tracking Device

In the following days, a tire was slashed on Holt’s work van while she was staying in a hotel (though it was not established if this was connected to Proctor), and she spotted the producer on a separate occasion at another set of traffic lights.

She confided in her boyfriend, who questioned how Proctor could have known her movements. On June 28, 2024, Holt found a tracking device behind a number plate on her partner’s car, which she was using because her personal vehicle had broken down. Holt filed a police report and Proctor was arrested in July 2024.

“I was shaking. My heart dropped. I ripped off the tracker because it’s a magnetic one, and I ran back inside and did not stop crying,” Holt remembered. “I drove around to the local police station, which was closed, so I just sat in the car park crying.”

Speaking in court on Thursday, Proctor’s barrister said the producer hired a private investigator to attach the tracker to the car of Holt’s partner. “He did not apply it himself — he is a film producer by trade and not well-versed in these sorts of things. But the tracker was applied on his instruction,” Aisling Byrnes said, per a report in the Manchester Evening News.

Holt said her “paranoia is really heightened” after her experience, and that even seeing an unusual car outside her home can trigger anxiety. In her victim impact statement, Holt said: “Not feeling safe in your own home is a violation and that’s what these brutal, thoughtless actions have done.”

Nicola Holt

Craig Fleming

Holt said she was grateful that the matter had been dealt with in court. “I want other women to know what he’s capable of,” she continued. “I wouldn’t like to see him again in that place of power in the industry.” 

Proctor’s barrister said his life had been “turned upside down” by the events and he had suffered “considerable reputational damage within his industry.” The lawyer added that Proctor now works in a freezer factory and lives with his parents.

Proctor was cited as a producer throughout Midas Man‘s development, but his credit was missing from the final feature. Deadline broke a number of stories about Midas Man‘s troubled path to the screen. Proctor’s other credits include Cordelia, a psychological thriller starring Antonia Campbell-Hughes and Johnny Flynn; and Funny Cow, a story about a female comedian, starring Maxine Peake, Paddy Considine, and Stephen Graham.