The first British episode of Dragons' Den aired in 2005.
The programme is the United Kingdom version of an international business-investment format. Entrepreneurs present their companies to a panel of wealthy investors and seek money in exchange for a percentage of ownership. The British adaptation became a long-running BBC factual-entertainment series.
The opening panel included Peter Jones, Duncan Bannatyne, Rachel Elnaugh, Doug Richard and Simon Woodroffe. Evan Davis presented the early programme. Several of those names are now strongly linked with the show, but the panel has changed repeatedly over the years.
The British programme was based on the Japanese format Money Tigers and belongs to the wider format family known internationally as Shark Tank. The launch year should not be confused with the years when individual Dragons joined. Deborah Meaden entered in 2006, while later investors such as Touker Suleyman and Tej Lalvani arrived in subsequent years.