The British version of Dragon's Den first premiered on BBC Two.
The programme debuted in 2005 as the United Kingdom's adaptation of an international business-investment format. Entrepreneurs enter a room and present their companies to wealthy investors, who decide whether to offer money in exchange for equity. BBC Two was the programme's original home and remains central to its British television identity.
BBC One, BBC Three and BBC Four are all BBC channels, but none was the launch channel for Dragon's Den. This can be confused with other BBC business programmes that have appeared on different channels. The show later became one of BBC Two's best-known factual-entertainment formats, combining negotiation, personal finance and entrepreneurship.
Its title uses the British spelling “Dragon's Den”; the American adaptation is titled Shark Tank. The British programme is therefore best identified by both its BBC Two origin and its panel of investors, known as dragons.