In this week’s newsletter: Live performances offering authentic human connection are drawing crowds to the stage, as AI-driven drivel worms its way into other creative industries

Last year, more than 37 million people settled their behinds into the red-velvet upholstery, plastic chairs or wooden “I’ll only tolerate this because it’s the Globe” benches of a theatre. West End attendance has reportedly grown by 11% and regional audiences have increased by 4% since 2019 – pretty impressive amid a cost of living crisis and after a pandemic that had us all locked in our houses.

The increase in attendance can be chalked up to all sorts of reasons: the post-Covid return of tourists to the UK, schemes offering more reasonably priced tickets, and big films such as Wicked leaving people wondering what that Defying Gravity note sounds like live. But I’d throw another contender into the mix: the rise of AI.

The sun is still shining but the crowds have gone … It’s the perfect time to head south, to gorgeous spots in Greece, Spain, Italy, Portugal, Morocco and Corsica

The summer has left the water deliciously warm. We paddle into sea caves as stunning as cathedrals

Big family enterprises, which previously paid no IHT, will face tax of 20% on value above £1m from April

It is a great time to be a rich kid in Britain, according to the advisers, lawyers and accountants of wealthy families.

While rumours of a wealth tax swirl in Westminster, and with tougher inheritance tax (IHT) rules looming in the new tax year, wealthy parents are starting to give away their assets and sign over parts of their businesses to their children – in some cases, decades sooner than they had planned.

As coming-of-age drama nears its end, part of its appeal is nostalgia for the noughties shows viewers grew up with

It was billed as a show for teenagers, but you would be hard pressed to find a millennial woman who has not watched – and become mildly obsessed with – The Summer I Turned Pretty.

The coming-of-age drama, based on Jenny Han’s novel trilogy of the same name, has quietly grown into a global phenomenon for Prime Video. The first two episodes of its third and final season drew 25 million viewers , triple the audience of its debut.

The odd-couple presenters’ wits are perfectly matched in this treat of a travelogue. It’s a good-natured, sweet show that walks comfortably in contentious territory

Indian travelogue shows with British TV presenters are as predictable as they are popular. Here, let me sketch the formula on the back of this samosa. Take, I don’t know, Sue Barker and James Redmond. Whack them in front of the Taj Mahal, then in a tuk tuk. Let them eat pav bhaji. Earnest closeup, while regarding temple carvings. Shot of begging children, while they reflect on what a country of contrasts this is. Much saris and smiling. Close on moment of spiritual epiphany, which evaporates by the airport. It’s a hit!

So I am unaroused by the prospect of Rob and Rylan’s Passage to India (Sunday 14 September, 9pm, BBC Two), the genesis of the three-part series being that Rob Rinder’s favourite novel is the namesake title by EM Forster. Should we send Patrick Kielty to a Kyoto entertainment district because he likes Memoirs of a Geisha? Still, the pair won a Bafta for their previous jaunt around Italy , so I decide to give them a chance.

My novel explores the consequences of extreme longevity. Meanwhile, Putin and Xi are pondering immortality in real life

I was in bed scrolling on my phone when I read the headline: Hot mic catches Xi and Putin discussing organ transplants and immortality . It took me a long time to get to sleep after that. Not yet , I thought. I pride myself on my prescience, but I wasn’t ready for the future I had imagined to arrive so soon.

Since 2017, I’ve been thinking about the implications of longevity research, sketching out possible futures – the shifts in society, the complications and subcultures. This year I published the result of my thought experiment, Who Wants to Live Forever , a speculative literary novel. It follows Yuki and Sam, a couple at a crossroads at the same time that a new drug, called Yareta – which extends the human lifespan by 200 years and preserves youth – becomes available. Sam takes it, Yuki doesn’t, and the novel follows the fallout as the world changes around them. The story ends in 2039. Naively, considering the billions being poured into longevity research by the likes of Peter Thiel , Jeff Bezos and Bryan Johnson (subject of this year’s Netflix documentary Don’t Die ), I thought that was how long it might take for my fiction to become reality.

Hanna Thomas Uose is a writer and strategist. She is the author of Who Wants to Live Forever

From Rhian Teasdale and Hester Chambers to rollers, tunnellers and dwellers, test your knowledge with the Saturday quiz

1 Which German state sent its own team to the 1952 Olympics?
2 Eiichiro Oda’s One Piece is what story-telling genre’s all-time bestseller?
3 Which halogen is widely used as an antiseptic?
4 Which band was formed by Rhian Teasdale and Hester Chambers?
5 What type of beetles are categorised as rollers, tunnellers or dwellers?
6 Who sits on the Woolsack?
7 Nicknamed the “big hoose”, what is Scotland’s largest prison?
8 Who appeared in both film versions of West Side Story?
What links:
9 Australia; Canada; Eastern Caribbean; Jamaica; New Zealand; US?
10 Northern; southern; Masai; reticulated?
11 Dorothy Ashby; Alice Coltrane; Brandee Younger; Amanda Whiting?
12 Korea, 1945; Vietnam, 1954; Aldi supermarket, 1960?
13 John Hannah; Ken Stott; Richard Rankin?
14 Castello; Cannaregio; Dorsoduro; San Marco; San Polo; Santa Croce?
15 Awesome (Nile civilisation); Vicious (Norse raiders); Terrible (1485-1603); Gorgeous (1714-1830)?

In statement Friday, Erika Kirk says ‘evildoers responsible for my husband’s assassination have no idea what they have done’

• Trump declines to call for unity after Charlie Kirk killing in stunning move

Erika Kirk, the widow of rightwing activist and provocateur Charlie Kirk , said in a statement Friday evening that her late husband’s message and mission will be “stronger, bolder, louder and greater than ever” and that her “cries will echo around the world like a battle cry”.

“I loved knowing one of his mottos was ‘never surrender’,” she said of her late husband. “We’ll never surrender.”

A feast of festive flag-waving at the Royal Albert Hall. Plus, more entertaining silliness as The Count of Monte Cristo continues. Here’s what to watch this evening

6.55pm, BBC Two
From the soundtracks of thriller films to symphonic arrangements of St Vincent’s hits and every famous piece of classical music in between, it’s been another great summer of artistry at the Proms – many of which are still available on iPlayer. It ends with Elim Chan conducting a bumper lineup including usual favourites such as Pomp and Circumstance and Jerusalem. Hollie Richardson