It’s from the twisted mind of JJ Abrams, has opening credits that feature the show’s title floating mysteriously in the ether, and kicks off on turbulence-ridden plane – however, the hot US drama we’re thinking of isn’t Lost.

Nope, we’re talking about Fringe, one of the most eagerly awaited series of the fall. We gave you a sneak peak a few weeks ago, but now, having seen the feature-length pilot, we can spill a few more of the show’s secrets, without revealing any of the episode’s many twists.

In a nutshell, the pilot follows Fed agent Olivia Dunham (Anna Torv) as she investigates a bizarre apparent terrorist attack on a plane. When one of her colleagues becomes infected by whatever was behind the massacre on that jet, Dunham takes drastic action to save his life – and for that she needs screwed-up child prodigy Peter Bishop (Joshua Jackson) to get his estranged, mad scientist father Walter (John Noble) out of an institution.

Walter’s been locked up since one of his US army-sanctioned experiments backfired, revealing his unethical interest in messing around with mind control, talking to corpses and reanimating bodies – ie. fringe science.

To say much more about the plot would ruin an incredibly topsy-turvy ride, but suffice to say we soon encounter Fringe’s answer to Lost’s Dharma Initiative - Massive Dynamics.

The series is brimming with conspiracy theories. When Dunham is told “someone out there is experimenting - the whole world is their lab“, are we to believe it’s the military, the government, the FBI or some sinister company that’s behind the intrigue? We also learn that the incident on the plane is “part of the pattern”, an increasing number of unexplained phenomena around the world that may somehow be linked.

If this all sounds rather X-Filesy, that’s because it is. However, Fringe is grounded in science. We won’t be seeing aliens or supernatural spectres; instead Dunham and co will be investigating terrifying mutations created by humans in a laboratory.

The pilot really is a rollercoaster ride, full of action, double-crossings, great dialogue and the troubled father-son relationships we’ve seen in Lost. If the full-length series can keep up this momentum, we’re going to be very happy bunnies indeed.