The filming of "The Punch and Judy Man" was beset by problems and tensions. Hancock's first marriage was falling apart and he and his wife had blazing arguments on the set. According to co-writer Philip Oakes, Hancock's drinking was becoming out of control and the comedian was terrified of the Punch puppet.
When the film was released in April 1963 it received mixed reviews (the Monthly Film Bulletin judged it a "botched" effort, while The Times considered it "slight" but with an "elusive, highly personal, quality"). According to an interview with Sidney James, Tony Hancock himself, however, was its harshest critic of all. James recalled Hancock admitted that he "would have liked to have quit the film in the middle, but by then we'd gone too far and I had to finish it". Reflecting on what he perceived to be a demoralizing failure, he said that he simply wanted to creep away somewhere and "dig ditches" or "be a beachcomber" - "anything to get away from it".
The failure of this film at the box office signaled the end of Tony Hancock's film career. There would be no more tailor-made movies for the comedian and he only made another two appearances in that particular medium.
During six weeks of filming in the studios at Elstree Hancock often drunk himself into a stupor, and injured himself several times on set (including when a window shattered straight into his face).