Southgate To Lead New Manosphere Doc For BBC

As the BBC’s four-part drama Dear England has recently reminded us, Gareth Southgate is keenly interested in men’s mental health. When he signed on as England manager in 2016, he faced a team battling crippling anxiety – manifested most publicly in an inability to perform under the intense pressure of the nation watching on, especially in penalties. With psychologist Dr Pippa Grange, Southgate created a more nurturing environment where the fear of losing is kept entirely separate from the fear of performing.

In 2021, he penned a letter to the nation ahead of the UEFA Euro 2020 final. Rather than simply offering football platitudes, Southgate tackled the darkest truths at the heart of British football culture. His 1,700-word letter, praised for its statesmanship, acknowledged racism, sexism, post-pandemic isolation, social polarisation, identity, tolerance, and the mental health crisis sweeping the nation.

It offered a rare glimpse into the mind of a public football manager uniquely positioned to observe these phenomena: having led England’s U21 team from 2013–2016, overseen FA coaching methods and youth development, and played the game himself, he understands the feelings that surge on and off the pitch.

Since leaving his England post in 2024, Southgate has pursued various projects: broadcasting, writing his book Dear England: Lessons on Leadership, working as technical observer for UEFA, and serving as a visiting lecturer at Harvard Business School. Yet the conviction that men’s mental health in the UK is at breaking point has never left him.

It’s fitting that soon after Louis Theroux’s Manosphere documentary landed on Netflix, Southgate has partnered with the BBC to examine the crisis young men and boys face in the 21st century. Just announced and set to air next week, here’s everything we know so far.

Gareth Southgate’s BBC Documentary: What We Know

Men’s football has always been intricately bound up with the youngsters training to become the next generation of players and fans. Yet in an era of proliferating screen time, toxic masculinity and social media, we face a crisis.

This is the subject of Gareth Southgate: Changing the Game for Young Men, airing on BBC One next week. Southgate has long spoken about how many young men and boys feel isolated and struggle to open up. The documentary will explore solutions to help this generation thrive. ‘This is the next step in my purpose to get young men and boys moving in the right direction rather than falling behind,’ he tells the BBC.

Rather than philosophising about the mental health crisis, Southgate has travelled the UK to speak with young men directly, asking: What’s really going on in your life? Why do you feel so lost? What is making you so uncertain about the future? ‘I wanted them to speak openly and without judgement about what’s really going on in their lives. Through these conversations, I’ve gained a better understanding of the challenges they face,’ Southgate says.

In 2026, conversations about the manosphere have reached a peak – but as BBC commissioning editor Gian Quaglieni puts it: ‘This film steps away from polarised arguments and instead listens to how young people really feel and what they’re dealing with.’ The documentary is rooted in the daily lives of young men across Britain: school, employment, identity, mental health, and home life. Viewers will meet boys falling behind academically, young men struggling to find work, young inmates in prisons, and those growing up without father figures.

According to Southgate, this last point is crucial: too many boys lack positive male role models, with cascading effects on society. But the documentary isn’t all bleak – he will explore solutions that could help this disengaged generation succeed and realise their potential.

‘It’s been a fascinating experience,” Southgate shares, ‘and I am so grateful to everyone I met who were brave enough to share their stories. I hope this documentary will go some way towards changing the national conversation and encourage us all to support them in realising their potential.’

Release Date

Gareth Southgate: Changing the Game for Young Men airs at 9pm on Monday 8 June 2026 on BBC One and iPlayer. It is a standalone film, running for 1 hour.