The first episode of the BBC television series Dragons' Den was broadcast in 2005.
The British version debuted on BBC Two on 4 January 2005. It adapted the Japanese business-investment format Money Tigers through the international Dragons' Den franchise. Entrepreneurs pitch businesses to wealthy investors and request funding in exchange for company equity.
The programme quickly became a long-running BBC factual-entertainment series. Its title uses the British spelling “Dragons' Den,” while versions in other countries often use different punctuation or titles. The show is sometimes confused with Shark Tank, the later American adaptation of the same broad format, but Dragons' Den began in the United Kingdom several years before Shark Tank premiered.