This week, there's more drama among friends, as Sydney Jo's viral TikTok series about a girls' group chat returns for season 3.
But that's not all the next seven days have in store.
Superman hits the big screen, Last Pundit Standing drops on BBC iPlayer, and it's the Esports World Cup.
Read on for what's coming up this week...
'The internet's favourite show'
It's scary just how relatable Sydney Jo's TikTok series is.
The 27-year-old content creator from New York posted her first video, about friends communicating in a group chat, back in March. She told me me her social media account has blown up since then.
We see the girls bicker, talk in side chats, and send passive aggressive messages to each other, something Sydney said is "a universal experience".
"My friends, work colleagues and sisters all had similar stories about their texts and group chats," she said. "This is something that's only going to continue, as we start having bachelorettes and weddings."
Sydney says she filmed the first episode hungover on a Sunday morning.
But as her followers rocketed from 264,000 to 1.6 million in just a few months, she now has a huge fan base, with Today calling her series "the internet's favourite show".
With season three now out, Sydney said we can expect more camaraderie, more feel good moments, but also more shared common enemies.
She also hinted there could be a boys' group chat series next. "I didn't anticipate the male audience I would draw. I had a 50-year-old dad recognise me recently," she said.
Superman hits cinemas
Getty Images
James Gunn's hotly awaited reboot of Superman, a film that Hollywood is hoping can break the plague of "superhero fatigue", is out on Friday.
American actor David Corenswet, 31, plays the Man of Steel in the movie that's intended to kick-start a new era for DC Studios, which writer-director Gunn and producer Peter Safran took over in 2022.
Corenswet, who has previously appeared in TV series The Politician, Hollywood and We Own This City, is the fourth person to play the role in a major Superman movie, and the first for a decade.
It also stars Rachel Brosnahan as the latest Lois Lane and British actor Nicholas Hoult as a bald and menacing Lex Luthor.
DC has struggled to find major hits in recent years, with films like Shazam! Fury of the Gods, The Suicide Squad, Wonder Woman 1984 and Joker: Folie à Deux - part of the wider DC stable - each earning less than $60m (£48m) at the North American box office.
So there's a lot of anticipation to see how this film does - and to drum up excitement, a life-like Superman figure was seen suspended at the top of The Shard in London earlier this week as part of a one-day-only installation.
Think you're good at video games?
By Andrew Rogers, Newsbeat reporter
Well you’re almost certainly not as good as the professional players heading to Saudi Arabia for the Esports World Cup, which starts on Tuesday.
Over seven weeks, the best in the world will compete for a record combined prize pot of $70m (£50m).
Now in its second year, the EWC brings together 25 different esports into one event. That means games fighting games like Tekken 8, first person shooters such as Call of Duty, and battle arena juggernauts Dota 2 and League of Legends, will all be there.
The format has encouraged some consolidation in the esports world, because the Club Competition encourages teams to field players in as many different games as possible. The team with the most points at the end gets a bonus $7m (£5m).
Some fans and players haven't been keen on the EWC though. It's been criticised for taking place in a country where women have fewer rights and being gay is illegal. Others say only with Saudi Arabia's cash can esports grow and compete with traditional multi-sport events like the Olympics.
Finding the next football pundit
BBC/Boom Cymru TV Ltd & JLA Productions
On Monday, a new BBC competition series to find the next football pundit starts on iPlayer as well as on BBC YouTube and TikTok channels.
Fronted by footballing legend Troy Deeney and YouTuber and presenter James Allcott, Last Pundit Standing follows 12 football fanatics as they compete to become BBC Sport's next big football content creator.
Think the X-Factor meets the beautiful game, as they face a series of kick-off challenges in their bid to land their dream job.
There will also be star guests, including Alex Scott, Rebecca Welch and Max Fosh, on hand to set tasks and offer expert insight.
The seven-part competition series comes shortly after Gary Lineker left the broadcaster after apologising for sharing an antisemitic social media post.
In May, he was presented with a commemorative cap and golden boot by pundits Alan Shearer and Micah Richards as he signed off from his final edition of Match of the Day after 26 years in the hot seat.
Other highlights this week
Building the Band season 1 is released on Netflix on Wednesday
Too Much, Lena Dunham's new series, drops on Netflix on Thursday
Bless Me Father: A life story, by musician Kevin Rowland, is out on Thursday
Moisturiser, the new album by Wet Leg, drops on Friday
Modi: Three Days on the Wings of Madness, directed by Johnny Depp, is released on Friday
The earliest records of Kolhapur sandals date back to the 12th Century.
The Western Indian town of Kolhapur has found itself in an unlikely global spotlight, as thousands of local artisans who hand-craft traditional leather footwear are mounting a collective attack on luxury fashion label Prada for plagiarising their designs without credit.
The rhythmic pounding of the hammer in 58-year-old Sadashiv Sanake's dimly lit workshop bears witness to the hard grind behind handcrafting the iconic Kolhapuri leather sandals.
"I learnt the craft as a child," he tells the BBC. A day's toil goes into making just "eight to 10 pairs" of these sandals he says, that retail at a modest $8-10
Barely 5,000 artisans in Kolhapur are still in the profession – a cottage industry that struggles to compete in a mechanised world, caught in the funk of dismal working conditions and low wages.
It's no surprise then that when Italian luxury brand Prada released a new line of footwear that bore a striking resemblance to the Kolhapuri sandals - but didn't mention the design origins - local artisans were up in arms.
Reuters
Prada's leather footwear at the Milan Fashion Week sparked a major controversy
The backlash was swift. Social media was flooded with accusations of cultural appropriation, prompting Prada to issue a statement acknowledging the sandals' roots.
Now local politicians and industry associations have thrown their weight behind the artisans who want better recognition of the craft and its cultural legacy.
Mr Sanake was not aware of Prada's show until the BBC showed him a video of it. When told that that the sandals could retail for hundreds of pounds in luxury markets, he scoffed. "Do they have gold in them?" he asked.
Prada hasn't revealed the price tag but its other sandals retail at between £600 to £1,000 in the UK as per its website.
Women try on Kolhapuri sandals at a store in Kolhapur
The earliest records of Kolhapur sandals date back to the 12th Century.
"These sandals were originally crafted by members of the marginalised Charmakar (cobbler) community, also known as chamars," said Kavita Gagrani, a history professor at the New College in Kolhapur.
Chamar is a pejorative caste term used to describe Dalits (formerly known as untouchables) who work with animal hides.
"But in the early 20th Century, the craft flourished when the then ruler of Kolhapur, Chhatrapati Shahu Maharaj granted royal patronage to this community," Ms Gagrani said.
Today, nearly 100,000 artisans across India are engaged in the trade with an industry worth over $200m, according to the Maharashtra Chamber of Commerce, Industry & Agriculture (MACCIA), a prominent industry trade group.
Yet, most of them continue to work in unorganised setups under dismal conditions.
"I was never educated. This is all I know, and I earn about $4-5 a day, depending on the number of orders," said 60-year-old Sunita Satpute.
Women like her play a critical role, particularly in engraving fine patterns by hand, but are not compensated fairly for their long hours of labour, she said.
That's why Sunita's children don't want to continue the craft.
A short distance away from her workshop lies Kolhapur's famous chappal gully, or sandal lane, a cluster of storefronts - many of them struggling to stay afloat.
"Leather has become very expensive and has pushed up our costs," said Anil Doipode, one of the first sellers to open a shop here.
Traditionally, artisans would use cow and buffalo hide to make these sandals. But since 2014, when the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) came to power, there have been several reports of vigilantes - self-appointed protesters or activists - cracking down on alleged cow slaughter, sometimes with physical violence. The cow is considered sacred by Hindus.
In 2015, Maharashtra state banned the slaughter of cows and the sale and consumption of beef, forcing artisans to rely on buffalo leather sourced from neighbouring states, pushing up their production costs.
Traditional sellers are also struggling to compete with synthetic copies flooding the market.
"Customers want cheaper sandals and can't always tell the difference," said Rohit Balkrishna Gavali, a second-generation Kolhapuri sandal seller.
Women artisans engrave fine patterns in the leather sandals by hand
Industry experts say the controversy highlights the need for a better institutional framework to protect the rights of artisans.
In 2019, the Indian government had awarded Kolhapuri sandals the Geographical Indication (GI) - a mark of authenticity which protects its name and design within India, preventing unauthorised use by outsiders.
Globally, however, there is no binding law that stops other countries or brands from aesthetic imitation.
Aishwarya Sandeep, a Mumbai-based advocate, says that India could raise the issue at the World Trade Organization under its TRIPS (Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights) agreement, of which it is a signatory.
But the system is cumbersome, expensive and often lacks enforceability, both in India and abroad, she adds.
Lalit Gandhi, the president of MCCIA, says his organisation is planning to patent the Kolhapuri sandal design, hoping to create a legal precedent for future cases.
But some say real change can only happen when India starts seeing its traditional heritage in a different light.
"It's about ethical recognition. India must push for royalty-sharing and co-branding," says Ritu Beri, a renowned designer. "The more we take pride in our culture, the less we will be exploited."
Kolhapur is home to thousands of artisans who have been making these sandals for generations
Of course, this isn't the first time a global fashion brand has been accused of appropriating Indian handicrafts.
Many big labels have featured Indian fabrics and embroidery work with little to no artist collaboration. "Take Chikankari (a delicate hand-embroidery style from the northern Indian city of Lucknow), Ikat (a cloth-dyeing technique), mirror work; they've all been used repeatedly. The artisans remain invisible while brands profit from their inspiration," Ms Beri says.
Mr Gandhi, however, says that Prada's endorsement of Kolhapuri sandals could also be beneficial for artisans.
"Under their label, the value [of Kolhapuri sandals] is going to increase manifold," he says. "But we want some share of that profit to be passed on to artisans for their betterment."
Rohit Balkrishna Gavali, a sandal-seller in Kolhapur, agrees - he has already begun to see the difference.
"The design Prada used wasn't even very popular, but now people are asking for it, with clients from Dubai, the US and Qatar" placing orders, he says.
"Sometimes, controversy can help," he adds. "But it would be nice if it also brought respect and better prices for those keeping this tradition alive."
The issue is unlikely to die down soon.
For now, a plea has been filed in a high court, demanding Prada pay damages and compensation to artisans, along with a court-supervised collaboration between the luxury label and artisan associations.
Prada has told BBC in a statement that it is in talks with the MCCIA on this matter.
Mr Gandhi, its chief, says a meeting between the two sides is going to take place next week.
As Donald Trump cheered the passage of his self-styled, and officially named, Big Beautiful Budget Bill through Congress this week, long-sown seeds of doubt about the scale and sustainability of US borrowing from the rest of the world sprouted anew.
Trump's tax-cutting budget bill is expected to add at least $3 trillion (£2.2 trillion) to the US's already eye-watering $37tn (£27tn) debt pile. There is no shortage of critics of the plan, not least Trump's former ally Elon Musk, who has called it a "disgusting abomination".
The growing debt pile leaves some to wonder whether there is a limit to how much the rest of the world will lend Uncle Sam.
Those doubts have been showing up recently in the weaker value of the dollar and the higher interest rate investors are demanding to lend money to America.
It needs to borrow this money to make up the difference between what it earns and what it spends every year.
Since the beginning of this year, the dollar has fallen 10% against the pound and 15% against the euro.
Although US borrowing costs have been steady overall, the difference between the interest rates paid on longer-term loans versus shorter-term loans - what's known as the yield curve - has increased, or steepened, signalling increased doubts about the long-term sustainability of US borrowing.
And that is despite the fact that the US has lowered interest rates more slowly than the EU and the UK, which would normally make the dollar stronger because investors can get higher interest rates on bank deposits.
The founder of the world's biggest hedge fund, Ray Dalio, believes that US borrowing is at a crossroads.
On its current trajectory he estimates the US will soon be spending $10tn a year in loan and interest repayments.
"I am confident that the [US] government's financial condition is at an inflection point because, if this is not dealt with now, the debts will build up to levels where they can't be managed without great trauma," he says.
The first option is a drastic reduction in government spending, a big increase in taxes or both.
Ray Dalio suggests that cutting the budget deficit from its current 6% to 3% soon could head off trouble in the future.
Trump's new budget bill did cut some spending, but it also cut taxes more, and so the current political trajectory is going the other way.
Secondly, as in previous crises, the US central bank could print more money and use it to buy up government debt - as we saw after the great financial crisis of 2008.
But that can end up fuelling inflation and inequality as the owners of assets like houses and shares do much better than those who rely on the value of labour.
The third is a straightforward US default. Can't pay won't pay. Given that the "full faith and credit of the US Treasury" underpins the entire global financial system, that would make the great financial crisis look like a picnic.
'Cleanest dirty shirt'
So how likely is any of this?
Right now, mercifully, not very.
But the reasons why are not actually that comforting. The fact is, whether we like it or not, the world has few alternatives to the dollar.
Economist and former bond supremo Mohamed El-Erian told the BBC that many are trying to reduce dollar holdings, "the dollar is overweight and the world knows it, which is why we have seen a rise in gold, the euro and the pound, but it's hard to move at scale so there's really very few places to go".
"The dollar is like your cleanest dirty shirt, you have to keep wearing it."
Nevertheless, the future of the dollar and the world's benchmark asset - US government bonds - is being discussed at the highest levels.
The governor of the Bank of England recently told the BBC that the levels of US debt and the status of the dollar is "very much on [US Treasury] Secretary Bessent's mind. I don't think the dollar is fundamentally under threat at the moment but he is very aware of these issues and I don't think it is something that he underestimates."
Debt of $37tn is an unfathomable number. If you saved a million dollars every day, it would take you 100,000 years to save up that much.
The sensible way to look at debt is as a percentage of a country's income. The US economy produces income of around $25tn a year.
While its debt to income level is much higher than many, it's not as high as Japan or Italy, and it has the benefit of the world's most innovative and wealth creating economy behind it.
At home I have a book called Death of the Dollar by William F Rickenbacker in which he warns of the risks to the dollar's status as the world's reserve currency. It was written in 1968. Mr Rickenbacker is no longer with us - the dollar is.
But it doesn't mean that its status and value is a divine right.
The British band, a showcase for the intoxicating but toxic chemistry of the brothers Liam and Noel Gallagher, performed for the first time in 16 years.
Inside the synagogue, some 20 people had sat down for dinner when the attack occurred
Australia's prime minister has promised to take strong action following an apparent arson attack on a synagogue in Melbourne.
Police are looking for a man who poured liquid on the synagogue's front door before setting it on fire on Friday night. Some 20 people having dinner inside at the time were evacuated without any injuries.
Police are also trying to determine if the incident is linked to an attack against a Jewish-owned restaurant in the city on the same night.
A string of antisemitic attacks have occurred in Australia in the past few months, sparked by tensions over the Israel-Hamas war.
JOSH STANYER/EPA/Shutterstock
Protesters at the restaurant shouted slogans against the Israeli military
The Australian government has appointed a special envoy to combat antisemitism, and passed tougher laws against hate crimes following a wave of high-profile attacks.
"Antisemitism has no place in Australia," Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said following the attack on the East Melbourne synagogue.
"Those responsible for these shocking acts must face the full force of the law and my government will provide all necessary support toward this effort," Albanese said.
It is not clear if the incident was linked to the attack on the Miznon restaurant in the city's business district during which rioters broke in, throwing chairs and other objects while chanting "death to the IDF [Israel Defense Forces]". Some of the attackers were led away in handcuffs.
"These events are a severe escalation directed towards our community," said Alex Ryvchin, co-chief executive of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry.
"There have been too many antisemitic attacks in Australia," Israel's Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said.
"The Australian government must do more to fight this toxic disease."
The ongoing conflict in the Middle East has become a volatile political issue in Australia.
It has resulted in protests from both Jewish and Muslim communities, as well as a sharp uptick in Islamophobia and antisemitism.
The Israeli military launched a campaign in Gaza in response to the 7 October 2023 attack, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage.
At least 57,268 people have been killed in Gaza since then, according to the territory's health ministry.
A tiny, obscure animal often sold as aquarium food has been quietly protecting our planet from global warming by undertaking an epic migration, according to new research.
These "unsung heroes" called zooplankton gorge themselves and grow fat in spring before sinking hundreds of metres into the deep ocean in Antarctica where they burn the fat.
This locks away as much planet-warming carbon as the annual emissions of roughly 55 million petrol cars, stopping it from further warming our atmosphere, according to researchers.
This is much more than scientists expected. But just as researchers uncover this service to our planet, threats to the zooplankton are growing.
Prof Daniel J Mayor @oceanplankton
Female copepods (4mm) with cigar-shaped fat stores in their bodies
Scientists have spent years probing the animal's annual migration in Antarctic waters, or the Southern Ocean, and what it means for climate change.
The findings are "remarkable", says lead author Dr Guang Yang from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, adding that it forces a re-think about how much carbon the Southern Ocean stores.
"The animals are an unsung hero because they have such a cool way of life," says co-author Dr Jennifer Freer from British Antarctic Survey.
But compared to the most popular Antarctic animals like the whale or penguin, the small but mighty zooplankton are overlooked and under-appreciated.
Prof Daniel J Mayor @oceanplankton
This copepod has hair-like arms for feeding
If anyone has heard of them, it's probably as a type of fish food available to buy online.
But their life cycle is odd and fascinating. Take the copepod, a type of zooplankton that is a distant relative of crabs and lobsters.
Just 1-10mm in size, they spend most of their lives asleep between 500m to 2km deep in the ocean.
Prof Daniel J Mayor @oceanplankton
Sacs of fat, or lipids, form in Southern Ocean copepods' bodies and heads after they eat phytoplankton (the green material in the bodies in this image)
In pictures taken under a microscope, you can see long sausages of fat inside their bodies, and fat bubbles in their heads, explains Prof Daniel Mayor who photographed them in Antarctica.
Without them, our planet's atmosphere would be significantly warmer.
Globally the oceans have absorbed 90% of the excess heat humans have created by burning fossil fuels. Of that figure, the Southern Ocean is responsible for about 40%, and a lot of that is down to zooplankton.
Prof Daniel J Mayor @oceanplankton
Millions of pounds is being spent globally to understand how exactly they store carbon.
Scientists were already aware that the zooplankton contributed to carbon storage in a daily process when the animals carbon-rich waste sinks to the deep ocean.
But what happened when the animals migrate in the Southern Ocean had not been quantified.
The latest research focussed on copepods, as well as other types of zooplankton called krill, and salps.
The creatures eat phytoplankton on the ocean surface which grow by transforming carbon dioxide into living matter through photosynthesis. This turns into fat in the zooplankton.
"Their fat is like a battery pack. When they spend the winter deep in the ocean, they just sit and slowly burn off this fat or carbon," explains Prof Daniel Mayor at University of Exeter, who was not part of the study.
"This releases carbon dioxide. Because of the way the oceans work, if you put carbon really deep down, it takes decades or even centuries for that CO2 to come out and contribute to atmospheric warming," he says.
Jennifer Freer
Dr Jennifer Freer analysed the zooplankton on board the Sir David Attenborough polar ship
The research team calculated that this process - called the seasonal vertical migration pump - transports 65 million tonnes of carbon annually to at least 500m below the ocean surface.
Of that, it found that copepods contribute the most, followed by krill and salps.
Plankton sampling often happens at midnight when the animals are closest to the ocean surface.
The latest research looked at data stretching back to the 1920s to quantify this carbon storage, also called carbon sequestration.
But the scientific discovery is ongoing as researchers seek to understand more details about the migration cycle.
Earlier this year, Dr Freer and Prof Mayor spent two months on the Sir David Attenborough polar research ship near the South Orkney island and South Georgia.
Using large nets the scientists caught zooplankton and brought the animals onboard.
"We worked in complete darkness under red light so we didn't disturb them," says Dr Freer.
"Others worked in rooms kept at 3-4C. You wear a lot of protection to stay there for hours at a time looking down the microscope," she adds.
Prof Daniel J Mayor @oceanplankton
Antarctic krill (50-60mm) with green guts showing they've recently eaten algae
But warming waters as well as commercial harvesting of krill could threaten the future of zooplankton.
"Climate change, disturbance to ocean layers and extreme weather are all threats," explains Prof Atkinson.
This could reduce the amount of zooplankton in Antarctica and limit the carbon stored in the deep ocean.
Krill fishing companies harvested almost half a million tonnes of krill in 2020, according to the UN.
It is permitted under international law, but has been criticised by environmental campaigners including in the recent David Attenborough Ocean documentary.
The scientists say their new findings should be incorporated into climate models that forecast how much our planet will warm.
"If this biological pump didn't exist, atmospheric CO2 levels would be roughly twice those as they are at the moment. So the oceans are doing a pretty good job of mopping up CO2 and getting rid of it," explains co-author Prof Angus Atkinson.
The research is published in the journal Limnology and Oceanography.
Members of the government are poised to decide whether to proceed with negotiations after Hamas said it had responded positively to the latest truce proposal.
A man inspecting damage after an Israeli strike in central Gaza on Friday. The war has killed tens of thousands of Palestinians and reduced much of the territory to rubble.
In late 2023, sisters Lisa and Nicole were told they had inherited a substantial sum from their late Aunt Christine. But while they were absorbing this life-changing news, the windfall was just as quickly snatched away.
A man unknown to Christine's family, friends or neighbours, appeared - apparently from nowhere - and produced a will, naming him sole heir to her entire estate.
Doubts about the man's claim grew as troubling details emerged. However, the police and probate service said they would not investigate.
Lisa and Nicole's is one of several similar cases investigated by BBC News in the south of England.
We found mounting evidence that a criminal gang has been carrying out systematic will fraud by exploiting weaknesses in the probate system, stealing millions of pounds from the estates of dead people, and committing serious tax fraud.
'My dear friend'
Lisa and Nicole were upset to hear about the death of their aunt, Christine Harverson, whom they had not seen since their early childhood. They were also shocked to be told that they stood to inherit her entire estate, including a house in Wimbledon, south London, which could be worth nearly £1m. She had not left a will, and they were her closest living relatives.
The sisters were alerted to their inheritance by an "heir-finder" company, Anglia Research Services. Heir-finders use an official government register that lists estates where no will has been made. They research the dead person's family in order to identify, locate and contact the rightful heirs.
In return for a portion of the inheritance, these companies act on the heirs' behalf and apply for what's known as a grant of probate. This gives them the legal right to deal with a deceased person's estate – in other words, their property, money and possessions.
However, on this occasion, the application for probate on behalf of Lisa and Nicole was stopped in its tracks.
A Hungarian man by the name of Tamas Szvercsok contacted the probate service, and produced a will describing him as Christine's "dear friend".
It named him the beneficiary of her entire estate, as well as sole executor - the person legally responsible for carrying out the instructions in the will.
The possibility that Mr Szvercsok was genuine, initially was not dismissed out of hand.
"It happens - sometimes cases slip through the net and a will is unearthed," says Matt Boardman, a former police officer who works for Anglia Research.
However, there were clear signs something was amiss:
Christine's neighbour and friend, Sue, said she had never mentioned a Hungarian friend at any point in the years they had known each other
The will was dated 2016 - Christine was housebound and disabled by this time, and receiving practically no visitors
The terms of the will meant that Christine would have disinherited her husband and carer Dennis, who in 2016 was still alive (he died in 2020)
Moreover, because Dennis was the joint owner of their house, Christine could not have legally bequeathed the house without his consent
After Dennis's death, Christine entered a care home, but there was no record of Mr Szvercsok ever visiting her
Joe Dixey/BBC
Sue (pictured in front of Christine Harverson's house) cast doubt on the authenticity of her late neighbour's will
Other even more troubling details stood out.
Christine's home address was misspelled on the will, and even though it was dated 2016, the address given for Mr Szvercsok was a block of flats that had not been built until 2021.
Matt Boardman contacted Mr Szvercsok, who replied by email: "I never heard of any family. I'm the sole executor of her will."
Despite presenting what they thought was a strong case to police and the probate service, Lisa and Nicole were told they would have to bring a civil action if they wanted to prove that the will was a fake. That would cost tens of thousands of pounds which they do not have.
Lisa now says she sometimes wishes she had never been told about the will in the first place: "All it's done is bring misery really, and heartache. It's just a whole nightmare."
'Vacant goods'
Stealing a dead person's property and financial assets appears to be extremely easy under UK law, if no will can be located.
The official government register of unclaimed estates in England and Wales is called Bona Vacantia (Latin for "vacant goods"), and is freely accessible online. It currently contains about 6,000 names and is updated daily.
Legitimate heir-hunting companies use Bona Vacantia to research potential clients, but it also appears to have become a valuable resource for criminals.
To claim an estate where there is no known heir, a fraudster simply has to find a promising name on Bona Vacantia, produce a will quickly enough, and be awarded grant of probate.
Since 2017 it's been possible to apply for grant of probate online, but critics of the system say it is failing to detect suspicious applicants, and it also appears to increase the opportunity for tax fraud.
When someone dies, their estate has to be assessed for inheritance tax. This is not payable on estates worth £325,000 or less, but any amount over that threshold – with some exceptions - is taxed at 40%.
It's the responsibility of the person awarded grant of probate to make sure inheritance tax has been paid.
Applicants for grant of probate must complete a form to say this has been done, but under the current arrangements, they need do no more than declare on the online form that no tax is due.
It is a system that relies largely on trust, but gives ample opportunity for that trust to be roundly abused.
During our investigations we have come across cases where estates have been valued at just under the inheritance tax threshold, even though they include property worth far more.
One of these was the estate of Charles Haxton.
Whose house?
At the time of his death in 2021, Charles Haxton was living alone in a terraced house in Tooting, south London.
He was reclusive and only occasionally spoke to neighbours, although one of them, Roye Chapman, was there for him near the end when he suffered a bad fall outside.
"I rang the police and then got him up and got him into the ambulance," he says. "His head was all cut open, and then two weeks later, he died."
No will was initially found for Mr Haxton, and his name and address appeared on Bona Vacantia. This prompted Anglia Research to look for possible heirs, and they told several of his cousins that they could be in line to inherit Mr Haxton's estate.
Joe Dixey/BBC
Roye Chapman stands in front of the house of his late neighbour, Charles Haxton
Then, as with Lisa and Nicole, the cousins were told that a will had appeared after all, leaving everything to one man - also Hungarian - called Roland Silye.
The family initially accepted his claim, to have been an old friend of Mr Haxton, but one relation, Barry, obtained a copy of the will and was struck by how odd it looked.
It left Mr Silye two properties - not only Mr Haxton's home in London, but also a house in Hertfordshire.
Together, the two properties would have been worth about £2m. However, Mr Silye listed the value of the estate as £320,500 – just £4,500 short of the amount at which inheritance tax kicked in.
What was even stranger was that Mr Haxton had never owned, and had no connection to, any house in Hertfordshire.
We visited this property. It was large and dilapidated, and neighbours told us it had been unoccupied for a long time.
The puzzle of the extra house also caught the attention of Neil Fraser, a partner in another heir-hunting company. He thinks that Mr Silye may have bundled the Hertfordshire property into a will in an attempt to fake ownership.
"He must have gone past that house and thought, 'I'll just take that derelict house. How can I get that house? Well, I can put it inside a will!"
Crucially, the will was accepted by the probate service, who did not check or raise any questions about the Hertfordshire house.
We were unable to trace Roland Silye in our investigation, and his motivation remains a mystery.
The will would not give him possession of the Hertfordshire house - the property registry and the electoral roll name the owner as a woman who would be in her 70s.
However, Mr Fraser speculates that the will could be used in future as leverage to take ownership when the real owner dies.
Despite reporting his suspicions to the police and the probate service, he says action was not taken.
Mr Silye cleared probate not only for Mr Haxton's estate, but also that of George Woon, an elderly man from Southall, west London.
Mr Woon also died in 2021, and shortly afterwards, his name appeared on Bona Vacantia. Mr Silye came forward with a will which named him as sole heir. Mr Woon's house was later sold at auction for £360,000.
A complex web
We asked an expert in financial fraud, Graham Barrow, to check whether there could be any connection between Roland Silye and Tamas Szvercsok.
Both have names of Hungarian origin, and, according to Companies House, both appear to be directors in a complex and interlinked web of companies.
Mr Barrow established that the address Mr Szvercsok gave in Mrs Harverson's will was also used by Mr Silye for some of his companies.
What these companies do is unclear, although some have been struck off for fraudulent addresses, and others have been warned for failing to provide accounts.
The pattern - multiple businesses, related addresses, similar names - is one which often indicates a criminal network, says Mr Barrow.
He adds that owning multiple companies can allow criminals to disperse funds across different accounts and locations, and makes life more difficult for law enforcement.
Another Hungarian name featuring in this web of companies is Bela Kovacs, who, according to a will dated 2021, was heir to the entire estate of Michael Judd, from Pinner, west London.
Michael Judd's estate included his bungalow in Pinner, west London
According to his neighbours, Mr Judd was a multi-talented individual with a distinguished record in the security services. However, in his final years he had become something of a hoarder, seldom leaving his house.
One neighbour, Chris, told us he thought the will had sounded strange and not only because Mr Judd had never mentioned Bela Kovacs.
A few months before his death in 2024, Mr Judd told Chris he had made a will long ago, but the people named on it were all now dead. In any case, he added, he did not know where it was.
"I suppose I better try and dig it out some time," Chris remembers him saying.
He feels it's inconceivable that Mr Judd would have troubled himself with these decisions if he had made a will three years previously.
We tracked Mr Kovacs down to a luxury estate in the Watford area but he refused to talk to us.
Joined-up writing
Other factors seem to connect these cases.
The wills made out for Charles Haxton, George Woon and the others we have seen, appear to have been written by the same person, according to handwriting expert Christina Strang.
"The numbers two, four and seven are all written in the same way on several addresses," she says.
She also sees other similarities, such as the spacing of the letters in different signatures, and the positioning of the signatures on the line.
"It seems to be one person actually signing, forging all of these."
Handwriting expert Christina Strang says it seems one person signed all the wills
Ms Strang also thinks this same person may have also forged signatures for the witnesses named on the wills, none of whom, we found, were apparently known to the deceased, and some of whom might have been completely fictitious.
There are disturbing similarities in the way that properties were treated during and after the probate process:
Shortly after Mr Szvercsok made his initial claim on Mrs Harverson's estate, her nieces discovered her Wimbledon house had been ransacked
A workman employed to empty Mr Judd's house told us he had been instructed to empty it quickly, even though this meant having to destroy what appeared to be valuable heirlooms
After Mr Haxton's house was cleared, the windows and doors were blacked out, and the locks strengthened; a year later, it emerged that it was being used as a cannabis farm (a fact that only emerged when a rival gang tried to force entry and neighbours alerted the police)
Joe Dixey/BBC
Charles Haxton's neighbours, Delorie, Roye and Sharon (L-R), alerted police to strange goings-on at their late neighbour's house
A system in trouble
As a result of our investigation, bank accounts for dozens of companies connected to the suspected fraudsters, have been suspended.
In addition, HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) has told us it now wants to question Roland Silye about inheritance tax which he might owe on the estate of Charles Haxton.
Bela Kovacs was granted probate over the estate of Michael Judd, which was valued at £310,000 - just below the inheritance tax threshold. However, HMRC's interest was also piqued by this case, and it has now suspended a planned sale of Mr Judd's bungalow in Pinner.
Meanwhile, the dispute over Christine Harverson's estate means the probate process has been frozen, and it looks unlikely to be resolved soon. Tamas Szvercsok cannot take possession of her Wimbledon house, but Lisa and Nicole lack the funds to go to the civil court and prove his will is fake.
Probate for Christine Harverson's estate has been frozen because of the dispute between her nieces and Tamas Szvercsok
We wrote to Mr Szvercsok and Mr Silye at the addresses supplied with their probate applications, offering them a right of reply, but we did not hear back.
When we shared our findings with the Ministry of Justice, which is ultimately responsible for the probate system, it told us that it was "working with law enforcement to ensure criminals feel the full force of the law".
However, a different picture emerges from others who know the system.
"Because probate isn't high profile – it's not sort of, for want of a better word, politically sexy, it doesn't stay in the headlines," says former MP Sir Bob Neill, who until the 2024 general election was the chair of the House of Commons Justice Select Committee.
In 2023, the select committee launched an inquiry into the probate system, but it was cut short by the election.
Sir Bob believes an over-eagerness to cut costs by digitising the probate system, has produced weaknesses which fraudsters are now exploiting.
"When you had regional offices you had human awareness, contact and scrutiny that was better suited to pick up cases where things have gone wrong," he says. "A purely sort of automated system isn't really good at doing that."
Sir Bob Neill
He says the system introduced in 2017 was a cheap and quick fix. It lacks the sophistication, he says, of programs used by insurance companies to deal with fraud, which can detect patterns of suspicious behaviour.
His concerns are echoed by Anglia Research's investigator, Matt Boardman, who says that previously, executors of wills would have had to attend their local probate registry to swear an oath, which "would allow the registrar to evaluate every single case on its own merit".
He says the system's move online "completely eliminated" the chance to question the executor's demeanour or behaviour.
"Goodness knows just how many of these have already gone through and been processed by the probate registry," he says, "and how rich we're making these people."
Pictures of a weepy Rachel Reeves dominated the newspaper front pages and TV news after her tearful appearance at Prime Minister's Questions earlier this week.
The markets were spooked so much by her emotional appearance that the cost of government borrowing immediately jumped and the pound took a dive.
The sight of most of us crying in the workplace is unlikely to move financial markets, but does it matter if you do?
Does it show weakness, or strength, or simply that you're in touch with your emotions?
Anecdotally, it's not unusual to have a bit of a sniffle at work. Several people got in touch with the BBC to say they had let it all out.
Clara, 48, from Lancaster, said she had become emotional when she was a young graduate getting a "blasting", and years later "in frustration".
"I've also cried after receiving bad news from home and left work immediately."
Emma, meanwhile, felt she had to keep her emotions under wraps because she worked in "a tough male-dominated environment" and would give herself a hard time for "showing emotion or 'weakness'."
Although some research has suggested women are more likely than men to cry, plenty of men told us they had also shed tears in front of colleagues.
Guy Clayton, a doctor, said he had often cried "with patients, colleagues and families over the years, when I've shared their sadness".
A 38-year-old from London who works in finance said he had become emotional at work when dealing with personal issues and felt it showed "a professional dedication" to still turn up.
'Strength, not a liability'
So is crying a strength or a weakness? Executive coach and success mentor Shereen Hoban says it's old-fashioned to think weeping at work is unacceptable.
"We've moved beyond the old-school idea that professionalism means leaving emotion at the door," she says. "In today's world, emotional intelligence is a strength, not a liability."
Career coach Georgia Blackburn says it's not unusual for people at work to be upset, so firms need to know how to handle and support staff who are feeling a bit fragile.
Ultimately, she says it will mean workers get more done.
"An employer that truly listens, shows compassion and understanding, is so much more likely to keep their staff motivated and happier in the long run," she says.
Amanda
Amanda cried during an interview - and still got the job
That's been the case for Amanda in Stockport who contacted the Jeremy Vine show on BBC Radio 2.
She cried at a job interview at the University of Manchester 17 years ago, just after her father had been diagnosed with cancer.
She got the job and is still there.
"I cried every day for about nine months until my dad sadly passed away. It just made me realise what an amazing person I work for, and what an amazing place I work at, where that was OK."
'Bring back crying'
Getty Images
Amy Powney thinks showing your emotions at work has become demonised
Fashion designer Amy Powney was having a bit of a rough time at the end of last year.
She was having an "intense" time leaving a job, and it coincided with traumatic things happening in her life.
Amy, who founded sustainable fashion brand Akyn earlier this year, also felt pressure to be a "poster child" for ethical fashion.
"My to-do list at that time was: feed the kids, pick them up from school, sort that nursery thing out, design the next collection, make sure the staff are OK, sort out that VAT return... and then save the world," she told BBC Radio 4's Woman's Hour.
"I went through this period of time where I just could not stop crying and I was doing it in public places, I was doing it on stage."
She thinks that showing emotion at work has been "demonised" and is unapologetic about breaking down.
"I just think bring back the crying, bring back the emotions," she says.
"Women in leadership should be able to show their emotion. I think it's a superpower. I think it's a strength."
Men v women, staff v bosses
But not everybody thinks that way. Some people are still a teensy bit judgemental, says Ann Francke, chief executive at the Chartered Management Institute (CMI).
Women who weep are seen as "too emotional" while men who mope can be shamed for being soft and vulnerable, she says.
Junior staff can get away with it more than their bosses, but this shouldn't necessarily be the case, she adds.
"When a senior leader cries, it can be seen as shocking or even inappropriate. But when handled with authenticity, it can also be powerful. It shows that leaders are human and care deeply about what they do," she says.
But if you want to climb the greasy pole, it could be best to keep a stiff upper lip, at least in some organisations, says executive coach Shereen Hoban.
Crying could affect your promotion prospects, she says. "Let's be honest. There's still a bias in some workplaces that sees composure as strength and emotion as instability."
But she says some organisations see things differently, and value leaders who are "real, self-aware, and able to navigate complexity, including their own emotions".
She adds that if you break down once at work it "won't ruin your career", and that what matters more is the bigger picture:
"Your performance, your presence, and how you bounce back or move forward with intention," she says.
What to do if you become tearful at work
Give yourself permission to step back and take a moment
You don't need to hide your emotions, it often shows you care deeply about your job – that's not a bad thing
But you should feel supported, so maybe talk to a trusted colleague, take a short break or ask for support from your manager or HR
Managers and colleagues need to acknowledge when their staff are crying – offer a tissue to them, don't pretend it's not happening
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