Ella Toone opens up on grief, wedding plans and football legacy

Ella Toone will walk down the aisle this summer without the father who helped build her career, a loss that has become part of the public story around one of England’s most familiar players. Her new BBC documentary, 24 Hours with Ella Toone, places that absence at the centre of a life lived in full view, showing how grief, elite football and family memory now sit side by side.

The film will air on BBC Three on Friday, 29 May 2026 at 7:05pm, with release on BBC Sport’s YouTube channel from 18:00 BST and on BBC iPlayer from 19:00 BST. It comes after Toone spoke about not fully grieving immediately after her father, Nick Toone, died in September 2024, three days short of his 60th birthday. She later said the loss hit more deeply during a spell away from football, when injury and time out of the game forced her to get mentally right.

Nick Toone’s connection to the game ran through his daughter’s rise. He and Karen Toone regularly watched Ella’s matches, Nick recorded games so he could analyse them afterwards, and he phoned her after every match for a debrief. Ella Toone has said he was the main reason she is where she is in football, describing him as obsessed with women’s football and recalling how he supported her from childhood, taking her to club and England games across the country and abroad.

The timing of his illness deepened the emotional weight of her career peak. Nick Toone was diagnosed with prostate cancer the day after he watched his daughter score in England’s 2-1 win over Germany in the Euro 2022 final at Wembley Stadium. That goal became part of England’s modern football memory, and for Toone it is now tied to one of the most personal moments in her family’s life.

Toone’s football record gives the documentary added force. She came through Manchester United’s academy, spent a brief spell at Manchester City, then returned to United in 2018 and became the first female player to reach 50 goals for the club. Under Marc Skinner, she has become central to United’s rise and to England’s recent major tournament success, including the Euro 2022 title. What the documentary captures is not simple inspiration, but the strain of carrying loss into a career built on visibility, expectation and performance, while still trying to honour the person who helped make that career possible.