The original BBC Dragons' Den panel contained five investors.
The first British panel consisted of Peter Jones, Duncan Bannatyne, Rachel Elnaugh, Simon Woodroffe and Doug Richard. Each investor brought a different business background, giving entrepreneurs several possible routes to investment and making the negotiations more varied.
The number of Dragons has not always been identical across the international versions of the format or across every special episode. That is why the original British line-up is best understood as a five-person panel rather than a permanent rule for every edition.
The panel’s composition changed as the programme developed. Some early investors left, while later Dragons such as Deborah Meaden, Theo Paphitis, Kelly Hoppen and Touker Suleyman became prominent figures in subsequent series.