Susan Boyle — where did it all go wrong? No sooner had the world’s favourite Scottish spinster been tucked up in her bed in The Priory this week, than the massed legions of rent-a-quote experts, counsellors, psychiatrists and psychologists were being trolleyed out to explain to us all how it had come to this.

As if we couldn’t work out for ourselves how come a fragile, unworldly wee woman, constantly and coyly referred to as having been “deprived of oxygen at birth” had found seven weeks of global superstardom a bit tricky to handle.

Susan, we’re told, was fast-tracked to the clinic because she’d been observed “acting strangely”. Given that this was a show which also featured a Dancing Priest famous for dodging the Formula One traffic at Silverstone to unfurl a banner promoting Bible study, a man who put an electric drill up his nose, a ‘saxophonist’ who whinged to represent an imaginary saxophone (not to be confused with the other saxophonist who just whinged) and a woman singing operatic accompaniment to flower arranging, you have to wonder ? Define ‘acting strangely’. In Susan’s case we’re told that she ran down a corridor shouting: “I hate this show. I hate it.” If that’s the definitive symptom of meltdown, The Priory wards should be heaving. Not least with all those experts who have made clear their contempt for the show, all involved with it and all who watched it. They too hated it. They didn’t get it. And their subsequent analysis of who is to blame for its unfortunate culmination in hospitalisation make The Roots and Causes of the Second World War look straightforward. First up, according to the analysts, the public is to blame for the celebrity culture that spawned the reality TV cult that produced Susan. The media are to blame for feeding the public appetite. The show’s organisers are to blame for not protecting Susan from the media attention. Sections of the media are to blame for attempting to find a hairier angle on the story. The public is to blame for lapping up this stuff. Simon Cowell is to blame for not shutting it down.

The experts home in on every tic and leg-wiggle with ponderous interpretation about what this says about society.

There are endless theories about what lies at the root of public fascination with the show in general and its unlikely heroine in particular. But like the bloke with that Black and Decker up his nostril, sometimes it’s best not to probe too deeply. Surely part of the reason why Britain’s Got Talent has been so compulsive this time round is that right now Britain’s got precious little else in the escapism department.

Recession, swine flu, elected representatives robbing the nation blind and all those truly heart-rending stories in the headlines. Is it really such a mystery why people might wish to switch off — and turn on to a light entertainment show that allows even shy, cat-loving ladies from Lothian the chance to dream dreams?

No real surprise either in Susan coming second. On the night, as she herself conceded, the best act won. Her fans in America in particular may find this hard to accept but dance group Diversity genuinely deserved the viewers’ vote. With luck, Susan Boyle should go on to realise her dream. Ok, maybe not just with luck. But also with the help of those around her who now know their own reputations depend on this fragile wee lady being shielded from further meltdown.

Where it all went wrong for Susan Boyle — ironically enough that might actually be the point where it all started to go right.