Park the shopping plans, pour a sherry and settle in for an early festive treat tomorrow - it's time for the third edition of the annual Christmas Punchline Talks! Business Breakfast Briefers show.

While this bumper-edition show marks the 140th edition of our popular weekly get-together, we'll be bringing you a glittering array of talking heads who represent all corners and sectors of business from every corner of our county map.

From small businesses to supersize brands, we'll be checking the pre-Christmas thoughts of our experts as they look back on 2023, sift the good from the bad and look ahead to what might lie ahead for our business community in 2024.

But Friday's show will also be a bit different to our weekly format...

Our usual newspaper reviews will be set aside as our distinguished panel pick out the Punchline Story of the Year - the report that caught their eye and perhaps best resonated with their own view of how the last twelve months have played out.

And on top of that, we will also be looking at each of the panel's nomination for Punchline's Top Business of the year 2023 - with no company being too big or too small for nomination.

Punchline Editor Mark Owen will be putting these nominations into the hat for the end of the show... when we reveal the our latest overall winner!

The trophy went to Procook in 2021 and Creed Foodservice last Christmas... who's going to emerge as the winner this year?

So who's on the show? With a team ready to roast the big issues of 2023, Friday's panel is certainly a case of all the trimmings and no turkeys...

IAN MEAN is no stranger to our screens. As the director of Business West, he's also the ex-editor of the Citizen, Echo and Western Daily Press newspapers - a man who knows business from both sides of the media spectrum.

SAM HOLLIDAY is also a familiar face. He's the development manager for the FSB for Gloucestershire and South West of England and also a seasoned newspaper man, having commanded a busy news operation as the former editor of the Bath Chronicle.

As the CEO of the Cheltenham Trust, LAURIE BELL looks after Pittville Pump Room, Cheltenham Town Hall, The Wilson Museum, The Prince of Wales Stadium and Leisure@Cheltenham. She's also responsible for 120 full-time staff, 108 part-time staff and more than 50 volunteers.

NEILL RICKETTS is the former CEO of tech trailblazer Versarien and continues to sit as the chair of both Gas Sensing Solutions and the Forest Economic Partnership - a community partnership that strives to ensure Gloucestershire's leafiest district is a vibrant place to live and work.

Fittingly for Christmas, RUTH DOOLEY began her career in the confectionery industry, but found sweeter success as a senior partner with our show sponsors Hazlewoods, Gloucestershire's premier accountants and business advisors.

No stranger to the importance of good fun, OLI CHRISTIE is the founder and CEO of Cirencester-based mobile games studio Neon Play, the first gaming company in the UK to win a Queens Award - and the creators of the iconic 'Flick Football' game. Others include Roller Splat, Cannon Man, Crossy Crash, Idle Tycoon, Idle Army Base and many, many more.

And finally, from the snow-capped peaks of the Cotswolds, we're delighted to be catching up with TALITHA NELSON, the CEO of the Gloucestershire Community Foundation and a vocal champion of rural communities.

Jam-packed as always, this Friday's glittering show is, as ever, brought to our screens by HAZLEWOODS BUSINESS ADVISORS AND ACCOUNTANTS.

See you tomorrow!