Martin Pope
Martin Pope is a joint CEO and co-founder of Magic Light Pictures, one of the UK’s leading entertainment companies which makes high-quality and imaginative content for audiences, families and children worldwide.
Magic Light is renowned for its BBC One Christmas animated specials based on the best-selling books by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler, which have won countless prestigious awards and been screened across the globe to huge popular and critical acclaim.
Recent Magic Light productions include BBC One Christmas animated specials: The Smeds and The Smoos, Superworm, Zog and the Flying Doctors; double BAFTA winner The Snail and the Whale; Emmy winning Zog; Oscar nominated and BAFTA winning Roald Dahl’s Revolting Rhymes; Stick Man; Oscar nominated and BAFTA winning Room on the Broom. A second season of Magic Light’s first animated preschool property Pip and Posy has just launched (104 x 7’), a delightful series revolving around the world of play based on the books by Axel Scheffler. Currently in production is festive animated special Tabby McTat, another Julia Donaldson/Axel Scheffler collaboration, a story set on the streets of London about the warm and wonderful friendship between a musical cat and a talented busker called Fred, voiced by Jodie Whittaker, Ṣọpẹ́ Dìrísú and Rob Brydon.
Prior to forming Magic Light, Martin ran his own company and before that spent nine years in BBC Films, starting as a runner taking Faye Dunaway her lunch, and finishing with producing roles on films from directors including John Madden and John Schlesinger. Previous feature productions include Magic Light’s Chico and Rita, European Film Award winning and Oscar nominated animated feature; Wild Target; Glorious ’39; The Cottage; Touch of Pink; The Heart of Me; Lawless Heart; as well as tv dramas such as The Turn of the Screw with Colin Firth. Martin is on the board of ACE Producers and is joint Vice-President.