In 2008, aged 13, Cope was cast in the role of Michael in a West End theatre production of Billy Elliot the Musical.[4] In 2010, he appeared in the BBC sketch show The Impressions Show with Culshaw and Stephenson.[5] He subsequently joined the hip-hop dance troupe Ruff Diamond, who finished as runner-up on the Sky One dance competition Got to Dance in 2013.[6] Cope went on to appear in the short films A Six and Two Threes and Waterbabies, as well as television series including Hetty Feather (2019), Doctors (2019) and Vera (2021).[7] His stage credits include Richard III (2017), Punk Rock (2017), Macbeth (2017), The Night Watch (2018), Spilt (2018), Candide (2018), F$%k Magical Michael (2019), Witness for the Prosecution (2019) and The Legend of Sleepy Hollow (2022).[8]
In 2023, Cope appeared in an episode of the mystery crime series Mrs Sidhu Investigates.[13] In August 2025, Cope was announced as a contestant on the twenty-third series of Strictly Come Dancing, as a replacement for Kristian Nairn, who withdrew from the competition due to health issues.[7][14] He was partnered with Katya Jones.[15] They scored the series' first perfect score of 40, with a couple's choice dance in the Halloween special, with judge Anton du Beke describing the dance "as good as any we've ever seen on any series".[16] Cope and Jones became the ninth couple to be eliminated in week 11 after losing the dance-off to Amber Davies and Nikita Kuzmin.[17]
