Clinic chief attacks Britain's Got Talent over Susan Boyle’s care

TV producers faced further criticism today over failing to provide Britain's Got Talent star Susan Boyle with the psychological care to cope with the pressures of sudden fame.

Unsupported: Susan Boyle after the final, in which she lost out to dance troupe Diversity

ITV's primetime show is facing a probe by TV watchdogs after being deluged with complaints over the treatment of the 48 year-old Scottish singer, who suffered an emotional breakdown after Saturday night's final.

Today, the chief medical officer at the Priory, the north London clinic where Boyle is being treated, criticised producers whom he said had a responsibility to take care of reality-show contestants.

Professor Chris Thompson said: "It seems to me a bit like walking out on to a branch and then sawing it off behind you. The fact that Susan Boyle appears to have broken down in some way so close to the end of the series suggests there is a link. I would want to know that people being exposed to such pressures are given proper care."

It came as the show's producers announced a review of its policies in assessing contestants after admitting that Boyle, who has learning difficulties, was not psychologically tested.Professor Thompson continued: "People are shocked to the core by the level of public scrutiny of them. Most of us go through life with very little feedback. When you start reading things about yourself you can start to think: Is that who I really am?'" He said if an exhausted person continued without treatment they could develop anxiety or depression.

The production company behind the show, TalkbackThames, announced today it would be reviewing its policies on psychological testing following Boyle's collapse at the Crowne Plaza hotel in Westminster on Sunday.

It admitted that even though psychologists were available to assess contestants, Boyle had not been tested.

A spokeswoman said: "It is a talent show at the end of the day and people are auditioning on their talent merits. There is no formal psychological testing at the beginning of the show.

"Compared with something like Big Brother, where you are looking at people going into a house for three months, the people on Britain's Got Talent have three or four performances maximum and spend only seven to 10 days in a hotel for the semi-finals and final. Boyle collapsed at her hotel on Sunday. She is said to have become distressed, mumbled about missing her cat Pebbles and then fainted. There are now fears that she will miss the BGT tour, which begins on 12 June.

A source said: "Susan couldn't stop crying and couldn't calm down. She worked herself into such a frenzy that she fainted. We called down for a doctor and the production company called their GP, who arrived with a psychiatrist to assess Susan."