Pope's first media job was as a reporter for the Ealing Gazette. He joined London Weekend Television in 1983 as a researcher on The Six O'Clock Show. In 1996 Pope was appointed Head of Factual Drama at LWT before moving to Granada Television in the same role. He finally moved to ITV where he is Head of Factual Drama. Among Pope's television writing credits are Fool's Gold: The Story of the Brink's-Mat Robbery (1992), The Place of the Dead (1997), Essex Boys (2000), Bob Martin (2000), Dirty Filthy Love (2004), Christmas Lights (2004), Pierrepoint (2005), Northern Lights (2006), City Lights (2007), The Fattest Man in Britain (2009) and The Widower.
As a Producer, Pope's credits include Fool's Gold: The Story of the Brink's-Mat Robbery (1992), The One That Got Away (1996), The Show (1997), This Is Personal: The Hunt for the Yorkshire Ripper (2000), Bob Martin (2000), Essex Boys (2000), Christmas Lights (2004), Northern Lights (2006), City Lights (2007), Pierrepoint (2005), and The Fattest Man in Britain (2009).
In addition to winning a BAFTA for the television drama See No Evil: The Moors Murders in 2007, Pope was also nominated in 2001 for My Beautiful Son, and again in 2004 for Dirty Filthy Love. In 2004 he appeared as himself in an episode of The South Bank Show. Pope and Steve Coogan are nominated for the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay at the 86th Academy Awards for writing the Academy Award nominated film Philomena starring Judi Dench.
In 2015, Pope's contributions were recognised when he received a special BAFTA award in 2015.
