On Sunday 8 April 1990, David Lynch and Mark Frost's extraordinary, groundbreaking and influential TV series Twin Peaks debuted in the US (the UK followed suit on Tuesday 23 October that year). It was a potent collaboration: Lynch was a film-maker with a steadfast cult following and whose unique artistic sensibilities found mainstream form thanks to the procedural skills of former Hill Street Blues writer Frost.

In 1988, Lynch and Frost had met with US TV network ABC to tout the story of a homecoming queen whose brutal murder would unravel the delicate threads of a small town community. While the central mystery – who killed Laura Palmer? – would instantly capture the zeitgeist, it was the profound and long-lasting effect this seismic event would have on the local population that would keep the audience's interest. For a while, at least.

Originally titled Northwest Passage, Lynch directed the Twin Peaks pilot in the spring of 1989 in the small Washington State towns of Snoqualmie, North Bend and Fall City: a neighbouring pool of locations which, through serendipity, fulfilled the script's entire needs. Shot on 35mm film with a budget of $1.8 million, the pilot not only launched a hugely successful TV series but is a wonderful film in its own right, and arguably David Lynch's best.

After it's spellbinding title sequence featuring the now-iconic music of long-time Lynch collaborator Angelo Badalamenti, Twin Peaks begins with the discovery of Laura Palmer's body by Pete Martell. When Pete calls the Sheriff's Department to report the body, he's put on hold by receptionist Lucy Moran who launches into an elaborate explanation to Sheriff Harry Truman as she tries to transfer the call.

Lucy: 'I'm gonna transfer it to the phone on the table by the red chair. The red chair against the wall. The little table with the lamp on it. The lamp that we moved from the corner. The black phone, not the brown phone.'

'Got to find out what kind of trees these are, they're really something!'

This dichotomy between light and dark – and how they're separated by the thinnest of boundaries – runs to the heart of Twin Peaks and Lynch sets out this manifesto within the first three minutes.

Over the next hour and a half, the townsfolk and their connections to Laura are introduced with splendid economy, none more so than her parents. During her mother Sarah's desperate attempts to locate her daughter by phone you can practically see the anguish enveloping her whole body as she moves from one dead end to the next. When finally confronted by the reality of what has happened (just like her husband, Leland, she's never explicitly told that her daughter's been found dead), her agonised scream is so guttural it sounds like her heart is literally breaking.

Just as it seems that the worst of the grief is over, we turn our focus to Twin Peaks High School where Laura's friends and schoolmates learn of her demise. Like her parents, they don't need to be explicitly told of Laura's murder; they surmise her fate by tapping into the foreboding atmosphere and noticing her empty seat. The grief then infects the Packard Sawmill as workers are sent home to their families, at the behest of owner Josie Packard but to the ire of manager Catherine Martell.

It's a full 36 minutes before Special Agent Dale Cooper (Kyle MacLachlan) makes his entrance, and what an entrance it is: while driving into Twin Peaks, he delivers a monologue that firmly sets out his stall. Through a glorious 90 second take we learn that Cooper is a decent, empathetic and methodical man who genuinely appreciates the smaller things in life.

Cooper: 'Got to find out what kind of trees these are, they're really something!'

'We call her the Log Lady.'

As a director, Lynch loves it when little things go wrong on set and there's a sublime moment when Cooper and Truman are examining Laura's fingertips for a clue. As a faulty transformer buzzes overhead (a problem with the set that fits the scene perfectly), Cooper turns to a mortuary attendant and asks him, 'Would you leave us please?' The actor playing the attendant forgot his line and replied, 'Jim', to which a confused Cooper repeats, 'Um, would you leave us alone please?'

Amid the complex connections between multiple characters, many rivalries are laid bare, setting up numerous conflicts which the series would go on to develop. Significant tensions arise between Laura's love rivals, Bobby Briggs and James Hurley, between James's uncle Big Ed Hurley and Bobby's friend Mike, and notably between the ethereal Audrey Horne and her selfish businessman father, Ben. In each antagonistic pairing the former represents light while the latter depicts the dark side of Twin Peaks, although that distinction will blend as the story unfolds.

The mantra 'show don't tell' is one of the most fundamental to film-making and Lynch is one of the most visual directors around. Frost's more literal influence is most obviously felt in the brilliant town hall sequence in which Cooper and Truman discuss the town's residents as they file in for a meeting. It's an essential recap of the case so far and a wonderful exposition of the principal characters and their twisted relationships. 'Who's the lady with the log?' asks Cooper. 'We call her the Log Lady,' deadpans Truman. The relationship between the two men is slightly cagey from the start but gradually softens, exemplified by a scene in which they wait in Truman's police car on a stakeout.

Cooper: 'Do you know why I'm whittling?'
Truman: 'Okay, I'll bite again. Why are you whittling?'
Cooper: 'Because that's what you do in a town where a yellow light means slow down, not speed up.'

These delightful vignettes became a signature feature of the series and they're an example of Lynch's deft touch as a director of people, something that's often ignored by his critics. One of the final images of the pilot takes place at night. Truman and Josie gaze at the enormous driftwood log that marks the location where Laura Palmer's body was discovered.

Truman: 'It must have happened about this time 24 hours ago.'
Josie: 'I'm afraid.'

Less than a day since her body was found, Laura Palmer's murder has torn apart the town of Twin Peaks and nothing will be the same again.

Twin Peaks is available to buy from Amazon.