TV & VIDEO - Sept. 10, 1987

Britain’s commercial ITV television network said on Tuesday it erred by showing a rape scene and a pregnant woman being tortured by Nazis during family viewing time. The scenes appeared during Joan Collins’ miniseries “Sins.” ITV broadcast the violent episode at 7:45 p.m. last weekend, even though programs containing sex or violence are not usually shown until after 9 p.m. John Whitney, director-general of Britain’s Independent Broadcasting Authority, admitted after a meeting with programming executives that the network had made a serious mistake. Opposition to television violence has mounted in Britain after last month’s massacre in the English country town of Hungerford, where a man killed 16 people before committing suicide.