Minghella premiere was 'bitter-sweet'

The premiere of Anthony Minghella's final film on Tuesday night has been described as "bitter-sweet".

Feature-length TV pilot The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency was screened at London's BFI just hours after it was revealed that the director had died.

Alexander McCall Smith, who wrote the book on which the film was based, said the event went ahead at the request of Minghella's wife Carolyn, son Max, daughter Hannah and other members of the family.

He told the BBC: "It was very, very moving and made all the more moving by the sad circumstances - but what a beautiful film he's made.

"The remarkable thing is that Minghella didn't really have great experience of Africa before he did this. He went there and he understood, he really understood."

The filmmaker, who won the Best Director Oscar for his 1996 movie The English Patient, died of a haemorrhage on Tuesday morning, aged 54.

The joint BBC and HBO production airs on BBC One on Easter Sunday.