The most disturbing (and best) TV show of 90s premiered 35 years ago

(Picture: Moviestore/REX/Shutterstock)

There have been plenty of great television shows over the years: The Sopranos, The Simpsons, Breaking Bad, and Geordie Shore (okay, maybe not that last one). 

Still, when journalists are curating lists of the best TV shows of all time there’s one peculiar horror series that may seem a little out of place: Twin Peaks.  

After all, the horror genre doesn’t get a lot of love from more esteemed critical circles. Yet this strange series – which premiered 35 years ago in 1990 – is unquestionably one of the best TV shows of all time and a technical marvel that pushed the boundaries of what people thought the small screen was capable of. 

Created by the late great David Lynch and Mark Frost, Twin Peaks follows FBI special agent Dale Cooper (Kyle MacLachlan) as he investigates the murder of Laura Palmer (Sheryl Lee), a teenage girl from the titular town.  

As Cooper digs into the case and interacts with the strange folk who call Twin Peaks home, he soon discovers something far more disturbing.  

Nominally the show was a mystery drama of sorts but honestly, that description doesn’t do Twin Peaks justice. By design, it defied categorisation, blending supernatural and surreal elements with the theatrical tropes and cliches that defined so many beloved soaps.  

The show quickly became famous for its weird tone and strange characters (Picture: Moviestore/REX/Shutterstock)

Think of it as EastEnders if instead of a pub on the corner of Albert Square, there was a lodge linked to an unknowable other dimension. 

It was the televisual equivalent of a camel (no shade to the humped horses who might be reading). A sort of mishmash of different bits and bobs that no one in their right mind would ever choose to glue together.  

Yet, somehow, this deliberately weird show became a hit. In the US the show opened with an impressive 30% audience share, while in the UK it garnered a cult following late-night reruns on BBC Two.  

Now, of course, it helps that it was written by Lynch and Frost, neither of whom were strangers to the world of television. 

Also, it should be said that the series’ main hook – the mystery of ‘Who killed Laura Palmer?’ – was more than sharp enough to keep audiences worldwide on the line.  

The mystery was only part of the show’s charm (Picture: Moviestore/REX/Shutterstock)

Yet the series’ real secret weapon wasn’t the compelling mystery at the show’s heart; it was the bizarre cavalcade of characters who called Twin Peaks home.  

Words don’t quite do them justice but all I can say is they were truly weird – from the eye-patch-wearing Nadine to Dick Tremayne who somehow has a British accent despite being born in Twin Peaks – almost everyone in the town feels like someone you’d dread sitting next to you on public transport. 

All of this is, of course, deliberate. Lynch was playing with our expectations of what small-town America looked like, and it was this – rather than the overt supernatural elements like demons (did I not mention there were demons?) and other dimensions – that made the series so uncanny.  

Beyond the bonkers world, Lynch and Frost conjured from ink and paper, it’s worth saying that Twin Peaks looks incredible. It’s been noted that the show looked more like a movie than a TV series and that’s down to the skill and handwork of cinematographers Ron Garcia and Frank Byers both of whom worked on Twin Peak’s first two seasons.  

The second season lacked the magic of the first (Picture: Moviestore/REX/Shutterstock)

Sadly, while Twin Peaks was initially a hit, the show suffered declining ratings after ABC, the network it was airing on, moved it to another slot in the schedule. To make matters worse Lynch and Frost were under intense pressure to solve Laura Palmer’s murder; something that allegedly caused friction in the writers room as Lynch was reluctant to reveal the killer so early.  

Ultimately Lynch lost the argument and in season 2 it was revealed that Leland Palmer, Laura’s dad, had killed his daughter while possessed by a demon called Bob (they can’t all be called Balthazar and Lucifer, can they?).  

After the reveal ratings plummeted as Lynch and Frost struggled to come up with another hook and critics turned against the show (season 2 has only 65% on Rotten Tomatoes to the first season’s 91%).  

Twin Peaks was ultimately cancelled in 1991 (ending on a cliffhanger) and when a follow-up film, Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me, proved extremely divisive it seemed as though the sun had set on Lynch’s odd little town.

Without Twin Peaks, television would look very different (Picture: Moviestore/REX/Shutterstock)

Yet, the series’ influence could be felt across television. The creators of beloved critically acclaimed shows like The X-Files, Lost, and even The Sopranos would regularly cite Lynch’s work as an influence.  

Unsurprisingly the show built up a substantial cult following after its cancellation and if you take a quick trip to Reddit you’ll find plenty of people writing love letters to Lynch’s television masterpiece.

‘It’s essentially a parody of soap operas, particularly the evening ones from the 80s like Dallas – but it parodies it in a sinister sort of way,’ wrote PancakePartyAllNight. ‘ The whole thing should feel like a weird fever dream… It’s not cozy TV. 

‘It is however beautifully done, really funny in places, and is the grandfather of all modern prestige TV. You will be blown away that something this messed up aired on basic cable during prime time.’

After Lynch’s death we’re unlikely to visit Twin peaks again (Picture: Showtime Networks Inc/Everett/REX/Shutterstock)

While SogePrinceSama wrote, ‘David Lynch created a masterclass in scary television that people got hooked on. To this day, no other show/film/fictional work is as suspenseful or just downright frightening as Twin Peaks was.’

Perhaps, though, it’s Dinobeam who puts it best, ‘It’s one of the best pieces of art of all time.’

With praise like that, it’s perhaps unsurprising that in 2017 the series was revived for a third season that resolved that annoying cliffhanger and brought things to a natural end.  

With Lynch’s death in January 2025, it seems unlikely that we’ll ever return to this strange little town again but if you’ve never seen it then Twin Peaks is waiting for you, just be aware that ‘the owls are not what they seem.’ 

Twin Peaks is available to stream on Paramount Plus via Amazon Prime Video.

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