Empire: E4 viewers complain about 'annoying' ad breaks as hip-hop drama reaches UK shores

Empire received largely positive reviews aside from those pesky commercials

(Rex)

Hit hip-hop melodrama Empire finally reached UK shores last night, but while it received many rave reviews, some viewers were left less than impressed with the number of ad breaks.

The US series, about drug dealer turned music boss Lucious Lyon, his family dynasty and fresh out of jail ex-wife Cookie, hit E4 at 9pm on Tuesday and quickly drew plenty of praise on social media.

Until the first commercials began rolling, that is. “Grr, breaks are slightly annoying, come on Empire,” one Twitter user wrote, with others adding that they were “losing count” of how many were being shown.

Fans wanting to see Lucious decide which of his three sons – gentle gay singer Jamal, hedonistic rapper Hakeem or biopolar businessman Andre – will assume control of the company when his motor neurone disease gets the better of him can also watch Empire online.

Empire's creators are calling it 'the black Dynasty' mixed with King Lear (Rex)

Hulu acquired exclusive video-on-demand rights to the show last month, meaning that Hulu Plus subscribers can stream the full series instead of tuning into E4.

“Preferred watching Empire online, these adverts are annoying,” one E4 viewer tweeted, while another is opting to watch Empire on television each week as it “needs advert breaks and tension”.

Empire first premiered state-side in January, starring Terrence Howard and Taraji P Henson in the leads as Lucious and Cookie.

A spokesperson for Channel 4 confirmed that there were three ad breaks shown during Empire: “During last night's Empire on E4 the ad breaks were the same as other E4 shows in peak time and broadcast in line with Ofcom's COSTA (Code on the Scheduling of Television Advertising) rules.”