Women enjoy lovemaking on TV, all by themselves

These ladies have much love — for themselves.

Their touch is so passionate and gratifying, it’s now pulsing through prime-time TV on networks like ABC and the CW like never before.

Take last Sunday’s episode of ABC’s “Betrayal.”

Even before the opening credits rolled, millions of viewers were treated to a writhing expression of self-love as Hannah Ware tossed and rolled in her bed.

On the show she plays Sara, a photographer who’s married to an ambitious prosecutor. She tumbles into an intense mutual attraction with an attorney, played by Stuart Townsend.

Her pillow-clenching expression of self-joy lasts just long enough for her to flip over and moan with her eyes shut, before the title screen flashes, screaming “Betrayal,” as if we’re seeing the words through a rain-spattered window.

Honestly, the moment was the only interesting part of the whole episode, which was about… well, it really doesn’t matter very much after that scene. There’s no way to top it.

Yet, despite the nocturnal emotion, Ms. Ware was not alone in her prodigious proclivities last week.

And if it wasn’t for some prudish editing to the debut of the CW’s new period drama, “Reign,” the award would have gone to Mary, Queen of Scots and her servants. In an early cut of the episode, these ladies gave new meaning to the medieval term for female servants: handmaidens.

Set to a 21st-century soundtrack, the show follows the tragic rise and fall of Mary, Queen of Scots. A cut distributed to advertisers and media last spring featured a steamy scene in which Mary (Adelaide Kane) and her teenage ladies-in-waiting attend a wedding and then secretly spy on the newlyweds’ “bedding ceremony.”

When it’s over, the horny handmaidens scatter to seek relief with their lovers, but one, Kenna (Caitlin Stasey), finds herself in a remote stairwell and, believing that she is alone, begins a solitary shag — until she is interrupted by the King of France who helps her, er, make it reign.

By Thursday, the scene had been torn to ribbons by producers, editors and network brass, who left only the barest suggestion of Kenna and the King’s unexpected appearance.

It all seems like a shaky way for broadcast networks — bound tightly by FCC decency rules — to push the envelope.

And they really have to these days, since cable shows suffer no such regulatory oversight and can use sex, violence and gore at will to attract bigger audiences.

It’s a big change for the formerly buttoned-up networks, but once again it’s a sign that ratings come first.

dkaplan@nydailynews.com