The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin was a popular
1970′s British sitcom in which the lead character
fakes his death by drowning, then misses his wife
and returns home under an assumed identity.

Vanishing is Easy if You Stay Out of Trouble (Times Online)

“Magic trick: to make people disappear, ask them to fulfill their promises.”
Quotation from Mason Cooley, City Aphorisms