The BBC first broadcast the British business-investment show Dragon's Den in 2005.
The programme is the UK version of an international format in which entrepreneurs present business ideas to wealthy investors. Contestants seek money in exchange for a percentage of their company, while the investors question them about sales, costs, ownership and growth.
Dragon's Den began on BBC Two and became one of the channel's best-known factual-entertainment programmes. Its title refers to the investors, who are portrayed as a formidable panel capable of challenging or rejecting a pitch. The British edition later moved between BBC Two and BBC One, while retaining its core pitch-room structure.
The launch date is sometimes confused with the debut of the original Japanese format, Money Tigers, which predates the British series. It is also separate from the later international versions that adopted the Shark Tank name.