Former Twin Peaks star Mädchen Amick has praised the cult series for changing the landscape of modern television.

Amick, who played the pivotal role of waitress Shelly Johnson in two seasons of David Lynch's acclaimed show in 1990-91, told 411Mania: "I certainly think Twin Peaks had a huge amount of influence on the direction that television went... everything needed to be polished and lovely and sparkling clean and happy endings, and Twin Peaks just completely shattered that idea and said it can be the complete opposite and be just as interesting. I think since then, I definitely have seen different things happening in television... and it's really pushing everybody to just go further and explore things and show the darker side to it."

The actress, who has recently appeared in Joey and ER, added: "I knew it would be something special, because I knew of David Lynch's work up until that point... but I had no idea it would be that big of a phenomenon that quickly, and that it would last this long."