THE thirteenth series of hit BBC show Dragons' Den will move production from MediaCityUk to The Space Project - a new £10.6m 360,000 sq ft purpose built film studio opened in a former Fujitsu factory in West Gorton in June 2014.
The Space Project has established itself as one of the UK’s premier locations for TV production.
The hi-tech TV production centre - from the people behind Manchester's award-winning Sharp Project media hub - features five stages, multiple production rooms, prop construction and workshop spaces, dressing rooms, screening rooms, offices and even a laundrette.
Since opening last year, the Space Project has hosted production teams from the BBC, ITV and Channel 4, alongside a number of ad and film companies.
This year marks the ten year anniversary of Dragons' Den, which sees budding entrepreneurs pitch their business ideas to five multi-millionaires willing to invest their own money.
Over £15m of investment has been pledged to over 150 small businesses over the last twelve series of the show; though new research has shown that during the first eleven seasons only £6m of the £13m pledged was ever invested - read here.
Alongside veteran Dragons, Peter Jones and Deborah Meaden, the latest series will feature three new Dragons:
Nick Jenkins - founder of online greeting card site Moonpig.com (which he sold in 2011 for £120m); Touker Suleyman - retail entrepreneur and owner of brands Hawes & Curtis and Ghost; and Sarah Willingham - founder of the London Cocktail Club bar group and Indian-style restaurant group the Bombay Bicycle Club.
Susan Woodward, Founder of The Space Project, said:
“It’s fantastic to be able to host the Dragons as they celebrate their tenth anniversary. It is less than 12 months since we opened this independent production facility and to date we have had all the UK’s top broadcasters on site. The Space Project has established itself as one of the UK’s premier locations for TV production. We hope Dragons’ Den will feel at home here and wish them well with the new series.”
The show will air later this year on BBC Two.
