A young woman slashes her wrists. A prisoner hangs herself in a cell. A man swallows scores of paracetamol tablets in a desperate bid to end his life. The three haunting scenes all feature in television story lines which have provoked alarm from mental health charities who fear the media are becoming increasingly irresponsible in their treatment of suicide and self-harm.

Suicide awareness groups have highlighted several recent television dramas that have given cause for concern. These include Footballers' Wives and an episode of the prison drama Bad Girls, both of which showed one of the main characters hanging herself. Samaritans points out that prisoners are seven times more likely to take their lives than the average person.

Many production companies now consult mental health experts when writing suicide story lines into scripts. EastEnders, for example, will soon feature a suicide. The show's writers worked with mental health groups to ensure the scenes were not gratuitous and did not provide a graphic description of the method. Hollyoaks, William and Mary and the Inspector Lynley series have also sought advice from experts.

But not all producers are so sensitive, according to suicide experts. 'Over the past few years, we've become aware of quite a few instances of suicide being portrayed in a way that isn't entirely appropriate,' said Sarah Nelson, media manager for Samaritans.

The debate over the way the small screen treats suicide will be reignited later this month when the latest Britney Spears video, in which the singer's wrists are accidentally slashed and she then drowns in a bath, is aired on UK television.

The singer denies the scene could be mistaken for suicide but experts say it is 'almost inevitable' that the video will spark a wave of copycat attempts. In the month after Marilyn Monroe killed herself, for example, the suicide rate in the US went up by 12 per cent.

'It would be almost surprising if there wasn't a rise in suicide attempts after the Britney Spears video is aired,' said Greg Philo, professor of communications at Glasgow University.

Philo was part of a team that monitored suicide attempts following an episode of Casualty which showed a character swallowing more than 50 paracetamol tablets.

The episode, watched by 12.8 million viewers, prompted a 17 per cent rise in hospital admissions for paracetamol poisoning the week after it was shown and nine per cent the week after that.

The episode raised awareness that paracetamol could kill if taken in large enough doses. 'We asked people who had seen the programme what they thought about it and the main point that came across was a new awareness that if you are thinking of killing yourself paracetamols "could do the trick",' Philo said.

The study's findings appear to be corroborated by events in Germany where a television series, Death of a Student, depicted the suicide of a young man who walked in front of a train. Studies showed that, during the series, the number of young men killing themselves by similar means rose 175 per cent. Suicide by other means did not decrease, suggesting the series was responsible for a real increase in attempts, rather than influencing the choice of method.

The controversial video for Spears's new single, 'Everytime', has already been reworked once. An earlier edit, which showed the singer killing herself with an overdose, was banned by record bosses who feared a backlash from conservative groups.

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