Inside the Manchester studio where BBC’s Dragons’ Den is filmed

In the heart of Manchester’s bustling media district, you’ll find the studio that serves as the home of the BBC’s entrepreneurial TV hit Dragons’ Den.

From edible dog birthday card businesses to garden glamping, it’s where seasoned investors Peter Jones, Deborah Meaden, Touker Suleyman, Sara Davies and Steven Bartlett whip out their notebooks and quiz entrepreneurs as they pitch their business plans in return for investment.

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With series 22 now in full swing, we take a look inside the studios where the show is filmed.

The show’s journey to Manchester

From London all the way up to Glasgow, the show has been filmed across a number of locations since it hit our TV screens in 2005. .

The set was initially housed inside a furniture warehouse in Stoke Newington for the first series, but the production was forced to move after one series thanks to building work taking place next door, later moving to other southern locations including a disused warehouse in Tower Hamlets and Pinewood Studios.

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In 2012, the infamous den moved up to Manchester, with the production moving to dock10 in MediaCity, Space Studios over in Gorton from 2015-2017, later landing in the Old Granada Studios in 2018.

As part of the BBC’s ‘Across the UK’ strategy announced in October 2021, the show’s makers BBC Studios relocated the production of series 20 to its Pacific Quay hub in Glasgow in 2022 but the filming remains in Manchester.

Inside the Old Granada Studios

Plans to revamp the Old Granada Studios site, now owned by Allied London and operated by Versa, were given the go-ahead by Manchester City Council in 2018.

Formerly the headquarters of Granada Television, it is also where a mix of film and TV hits have been filmed including over the years from CountdownUniversity Challenge, to single camera productions such as Peaky Blinders and even The Jeremy Kyle Show.

The studios are part of a redevelopment scheme in the St John’s area called Enterprise City, with the re-invention of the landmark building now positioned as a “new cultural destination for the city” featuring a world-renowned hotel, studios, and workspaces.

Aside from Dragons’ Den, other long-term residences across the studio complex include the BBC’s hit daytime show Morning Live, which is based at Enterprise City’s ABC Building and includes production galleries, dressing rooms, a production office and green rooms.

Soho House Manchester is also set to open this year, the first in the North of England, across five floors of the former Granada Studios site.

The second episode of the new series of Dragons’ Den returns to BBC One at 8pm on 16 January.

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