Jeff Pope

British producer and writer Jeff Pope specialized in bringing true life stories to the screen. With a background in journalism and current affairs, it's perhaps not surprising that he was drawn to telling real stories about real people. His first producer credit was on newscentric magazine program "6 O'Clock Show" (ITV 1982-1988) while 1992 saw his first written work on UK TV with an episode of "Crime Story" (ITV 1992-93) and the TV movie "Fool's Gold: The Story of the Brink's-Mat Robbery" (ITV). By 1996 Pope had been appointed head of Factual Drama at LWT before moving to Granada Television. He wrote and/or produced several critically acclaimed dramas including "The Place of the Dead" (1997), based on an account of a British army expedition in Malaysia; "This is Personal: The Hunt for the Yorkshire Ripper" (ITV 2000) as well as several films including "Essex Boys" (2000) and "Pierrepoint" (2005). In 2007 Pope won a BAFTA for gritty miniseries "See No Evil: The Moors Murders" (ITV). He was be nominated again in 2010 for "Mo" (Channel 4), a biopic detailing the life of British politician Mo Mowlem; in 2012 for "Appropriate Adult" (ITV), the story of serial killers Fred and Rosemary West and yet again in 2013 for "Mrs. Biggs" (ITV) based on the infamous Great Train Robbery. With most of his projects involving true crime, "Philomena" (2013) was a change of pace for Pope. Co-written with actor Steve Coogan and adapted from Martin Sixsmith's book "The Lost Child of Philomena Lee," it told the remarkable true story of Philomena Lee (Judi Dench) and her search for her son, who she had been forced to put up for adoption a half-century before. The film won Pope another BAFTA and an Academy Award nomination.