On what date was BBC Two's Dragon's Den first broadcast in the United Kingdom?

BBC Two's Dragon's Den was first broadcast in the United Kingdom on 4 January 2005.

The programme is the British version of the international Dragons' Den format, in which entrepreneurs pitch businesses to wealthy investors seeking equity in return for funding. Its title uses the word “Dragons” for the investors, while the programme's apostrophe is conventionally written after the s.

Dragon's Den was adapted from the Japanese television format Money Tigers. The UK series became a long-running BBC business programme and helped popularise televised investment pitches among British audiences. The opening broadcast date refers to the first UK episode, not the launch date of the Japanese original or the first episode of a later international adaptation.

The programme is sometimes confused with BBC One's The Apprentice because both feature business competition and well-known entrepreneurs. They are different formats: Dragon's Den centres on voluntary pitches and negotiated investment, whereas The Apprentice uses tasks judged by Lord Sugar.