MUMBAI: BBC Worldwide and Discovery India have announced a deal by which the infotainment channel has acquired a raft of shows.

The deals were announced in Brighton at BBC Showcase, which is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year. Discovery has acquired from BBC Worldwide a range of BBC history, science and natural history programmes.

These include Pompeii The Last Day, Supervolcano, Wild Europe and a host of Timewatch and Horizon titles.

These programmes will be complemented by BBC lifestyle titles, including Friends for Dinner and Jeremy Clarkson Meets The Neighbours, which will be shown on Discovery Travel and Living in India.

Clarkson is known for hostIng Top Gear. Over the course of five programmes, Clarkson covers 20,000 miles in what the programme's publicity describe as "an informative and entertaining 20,000 mile road trip around Europe to put age-old stereotypes to the test".

A two part episode of Supervolcano looks at the fact that the beauty of America's Yellowstone National Park masks one of the rarest and most destructive forces on Earth - a supervolcano.

Another show that has ben acquired is Journey Of Life. Here the show's host Steve Leonard takes a 4 billion year journey from the first spark of life to the conquering of a planet.

Discovery has also acquired documentaries from the Timewatch series. One of them is Who Killed Rasputin? This proves that Rasputin was murdered by British Secret Service operatives. The programme-makers re-opened the investigation into his death and found conclusive evidence to suggest that Rasputin was murdered in St Petersburg in 1916 in a plot hatched by rogue members of the British Secret Service with a fatal shot fired at close range by Secret Agent Oswald Rayner.

The documentary is based on new evidence uncovered by intelligence historian, and programme consultant, Andrew Cook. In addition,Timewatch brought in Richard Cullen, former Metropolitan police commander, and a trainer of police cadets in forensic detective work in Russia, to re-open the case.

The accepted version of Rasputin's death states that he was poisoned, then shot, and finally drowned in the River Nevka by five disaffected aristocrats, led by Prince Felix Yusupov. The conspirators were said to be concerned about Rasputin's influence on Tsar Nicholas II, and his wife Tsarina Alexandra.

BBC Worldwide director of emerging territories Monisha Shah said, "Discovery India is a natural home for our biggest and best programmes. It is fantastic that viewers across South Asia will have an opportunity to watch such spectacular, talked-about BBC programmes as Supervolcano and Pompeii The Last Day."

Discovery India MD Deepak Shourie said, "Discovery India has long valued working with BBC Worldwide to deliver the best programmes to our viewers. This deal once again provides us with a wealth of quality titles which will captivate and entertain."