A den whose bullies have had their day

I watched Dragon’s Den this week with a mixture of sadness and increasing annoyance. Sadness that the BBC has allowed this programme’s production standards to decline (the script is risible for a start) and annoyance that what had seemed a fresh and innovative idea four or five years ago is now mainly a vehicle for the media careers of Dragon’s whose claims to genuine and innovative entrepreneurship are flimsy at best.

Step forward Luke Johnson from Risk Capital Partners, a private equity firm, and currently chairman of the Royal Society of Arts. In a comment piece in today’s Financial Times Luke Johnson offers a corruscating critique of this desperately poor programme and rails against the damage that such a show does to the real battles of entrepreneurs to win finance for proper projects. He writes:

“In the case of Dragons’ Den, entrepreneurship has been dumbed down to the status of staged entertainment. This is a tragedy. Britain needs entrepreneurs who are positive role models, who inspire others, and who help create jobs and accelerate our recovery from the recession. The BBC gives us the bullying of The Apprentice and the superficiality of Dragons’ Den. Real angel investing is not a game. It is a vital source of funding for early stage companies that may represent the next wave of industry. It succeeds when it involves rigorous due diligence, conscientious research and professionalism. It involves long-term backing and collaboration, not macho bidding contests based on a two-minute pitch. It is a shame such a serious matter is debased by this sort of fake drama, much of it cooked up for the cameras for prime-time consumption.”

Every show has its day and Dragon’s Den will be no different. The absence of any changes to the show’s format or to the panel (parade?) of investors wreaks of complacency by the producers or perhaps that they have found it difficult to get first rate entrepreneurs onto the show? According to the latest data the 9pm slot on BBC2 saw Dragons’ Den attract 2.954 million viewers (13% of the viewing audience at the time). if the remainder of the series is as poor as the last episode, that figure can only head in one direction.