When did the BBC business reality show Dragon's Den first air in the United Kingdom?
Answer
4 January 2005
The BBC business reality show Dragon's Den first aired in the United Kingdom on 4 January 2005.
The programme is the British version of an international business format in which entrepreneurs pitch companies or products to wealthy investors. The investors, known as dragons, decide whether to offer their own money in exchange for a stake in the business.
Dragon's Den became a long-running BBC series and helped make televised investment pitches familiar to British audiences. Its format is related to the Japanese programme Money Tigers and was later adapted in many countries.
The date is sometimes confused with the year the format was launched elsewhere, because international versions appeared at different times. The British series began in January 2005, making that date the key starting point for the UK programme.