'Dragon' offers street artist advice - and a job

Nathan Murdoch is standing in a studio wearing a white T-shirt and dark trousers. There is a large painting of a scaly, red dragon with yellow eyes next to him.

Image caption,

Nathan Murdoch entered the Dragons' Den asking: "What have I got to lose?"

ByShariqua Ahmed, Peterborough and Helen Burchell

Published2 hours ago

A street artist who appeared on the BBC Dragons' Den came away with an offer of both professional advice - and a job.

Nathan Murdoch, 38, runs Street Arts Hire and has painted several murals in Peterborough, including tributes to Prodigy singer Keith Flint, and a Jude Bellingham portrait during the football World Cup.

He said he went on the show looking for further investment in his arts business, but all the Dragons agreed instead that he needed sound advice in order to expand.

Entrepreneur Steven Bartlett was so taken with Murdoch's work he offered the artist both one-to-one advice and a job painting the walls of his new London offices.

Murdoch appeared before the entrepreneurs accompanied by a large painting of a dragon - which he had created for the show.

He was asking for a £60,000 investment in return for a 10% share in his company.

The money, he said, would help employ a full-time role co-ordinating the work he and other artists were commissioned to do, as he said they could only currently fill about 60% of requests.

A mural of singer Keith Flint is painted on a green background on a large wall. The singer has his pierced tongue out and there is a large black ant near him.

Image caption,

A tribute to The Prodigy singer Keith Flint painted in 2019 helped make Murdoch a household name

Murdoch is well known in Peterborough and in February he hosted an exhibition, Diesel Streets, celebrating more than two decades of graffiti and the city's street art culture.

The quality of his art stunned all five Dragons on the show, which aired on 27 August on BBC One.

Looking at the dragon painting brought in by Murdoch, Bartlett said: "You make me feel like a muggle just looking at that, thinking that a human being could do that versus what I can do. It's incredible."

Gary Neville said: "The artwork is absolutely stunning. You're taking home only £30,000 a year but you're a creative, you're a genius."

Pointing at the painting, which took Murdoch four hours to create, he said: "That's worth thousands of pounds", and quipped he would pay £5,000 for it.