The UK version of Dragon's Den first aired in 2005.
The programme premiered on BBC Two and adapted the Japanese business format Money Tigers. Entrepreneurs present their companies to a panel of wealthy investors, known as dragons, and ask for funding in exchange for equity.
The British series became one of the BBC's best-known factual-entertainment programmes. Its early panel included Peter Jones, Duncan Bannatyne, Deborah Meaden, Theo Paphitis and Rachel Elnaugh, although the lineup changed substantially over later series.
The British show is sometimes confused with the similarly named Canadian, Irish and Australian versions. Those programmes belong to the same international format but launched in different years and have different investors.