Dragon's Den first aired in the United Kingdom on 4 January 2005.
The programme launched on BBC Two as a British adaptation of a Japanese business-reality format. Entrepreneurs enter the studio to present business proposals and seek investment from a panel of wealthy businesspeople, known as the Dragons.
The first series established the format that later became familiar: a solitary entrepreneur or team gives a timed pitch, answers questions about sales and ownership, and negotiates directly with the investors. The British version became one of the BBC's best-known factual-entertainment programmes.
The launch date is sometimes confused with the start dates of later series or international adaptations. Dragon's Den is also often associated with BBC One because of its broad popularity, but its original British broadcast home was BBC Two.