This is the touching moment a dad was reunited with his children - after months apart.

Mike Pickering, 38, had been unable to join his family in Canada due to travel restrictions.

Wife Kate Pickering, 39, and their three children Joshua, 17, Henry, 12, and Darcie, eight, spent seven months in Vancouver after the eldest landed a role in Disney's Peter Pan and Wendy.

Mike was eventually able to make it to Canada in May 2021 - and footage captured the family being reunited.

Dog walker Kate, from Gloucestershire, told her children to come downstairs because there was a bear in the garden.

Video shows them running to the back window - before Mike appears behind them.

They then break down in tears when they see their dad.

Kate said: "It was so emotional. Mike missed them terribly, and they'd missed him just as much. "

"He's the best dad ever, and we were so happy to finally be together again."

Mike, a building surveyor, remained in the UK to work while the rest of the family spent seven months in Canada, where Joshua filmed his role as John Darling.

Strict Covid rules meant he couldn't visit.

Kate said: "We didn't tell the kids he was coming because we weren't sure he'd be allowed into the country. "

"When he finally arrived, he had to quarantine until his Covid test came back clear, so we decided to make it a complete surprise."

To execute the plan, Kate had to switch their usual daily FaceTime calls to voice-only, telling the children Mike had poor signal.

Once he was cleared to leave quarantine, Kate brought him home and told the kids there was a bear in the garden to get them to rush downstairs.

Kate said: "I told the kids there was a bear in the garden because I knew that would make them come running downstairs."

"And It worked perfectly!"

"The kids were completely shocked."