Abstract: When a star comes too close to a supermassive black hole, it gets torn apart by strong tidal forces in a tidal disruption event. The emitted signal represents a powerful probe of these compact objects, the large majority being otherwise starved of gas and therefore undetectable. Exploiting this potential requires a precise characterisation of the electromagnetic signatures from these phenomena that can be used to optimally interpret upcoming observations. I will present recent progress towards this goal, which relies on a suite of interlinked simulations to follow for the first time the entire evolution of tidal disruption events.