The BBC launched Dragon's Den in the United Kingdom in 2005.
The British series began broadcasting on BBC Two in January of that year. It adapted the international pitch-show concept in which entrepreneurs ask a panel of wealthy investors for funding, normally offering a percentage of their business in return.
The 2005 launch placed the programme at the start of a long-running British television history. Its format has remained recognisable even as the presenters, dragons, studio arrangements, and types of businesses appearing in the den have changed. The show has featured ideas ranging from consumer products to technology, food, retail, and services.
The launch year is sometimes mixed up with the year of a particular investor's arrival or departure. Those panel changes happened across later series, while the programme itself began in 2005. It is also distinct from the launch years of local versions produced in other countries.