Will Fringe provide clues to Lost?

After a slow start, JJ Abrams' new conspiracy thriller gathered pace towards the end of the first episode - and set up a new X Files for the 21st century.

But more intriguing were the nods to Lost.

Shadowy special agent Phillip Broyles (right) looked awfully familiar, didn't he?

Let's look at the facts.

He's a Special Agent for Homeland Security intent on investigating paranormal goings-on, and wants to get the bottom of what's going on at a sinister science company.

He keeps dropping enigmatic hints about a global conspiracy, and always gets his way.

Meanwhile, over at Lost, shadowy Matthew Abaddon (below left) keeps popping up at uncomfortable moments throughout the flashbacks of the castaways.

He visited Locke as he was recovering from his spinal injury, and implanted the idea of going on a walkabout in his mind, which ultimately put Locke on Oceanic 815.

Abaddon recruited Naomi Dorrit to lead Daniel Faraday, Charlotte Lewis, Miles Straume, and Frank Lapidus, on a mission to the island.

And he visited Hurley at the Santa Rosa Mental Health Institute, claiming to be a lawyer working for Oceanic Airlines.

Both are played by Lance Reddick, of course, but there's more to the coincidences than that.

Listen to the first episode of Fringe carefully at on three occasions you'll hear the same rising electronic note that ushers in each episode of Lost.

Add to that the series of symbols - leaf, butterfly etc - that appear throughout the show and it's starting to look more than familiar ...