Some 6.3 million viewers in the U.K. tuned in Sunday night to see director Anthony Minghella's last film, "The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency," starring R&B artist-turned-actress Jill Scott and Broadway vet Anika Noni Rose.

Britain's Guardian newspaper cited unofficial overnight ratings in declaring that the movie, which will premiere on HBO in the U.S. later this year, was watched by 27 percent of the British television audience.

The movie aired on BBC less than a week after the director's death following cancer surgery.

HBO, which has yet to set a premiere date, has announced that the film will double as a pilot for a television series based on the popular Alexander McCall Smith novels.