CENTRAL TV's Relationships Week started last night with a preview of some of the topics featured during the coming week.

The Oxford Mail has teamed up with Central to bring readers articles on each of the topics being covered on TV.

The people interviewed for each of the subjects may be different but the problems and their solutions remain the same.

Today's topic is arguing and why couples do so much of it. The subject of arguing is featured on central tomorrow night as couples in crisis open their hearts and homes to the cameras.

Called Love, Rows and Videotape, the programme, which goes out at 7.30pm, follows two couples who row constantly. SCENARIOS: Stan and Andrea have been married for three years. Both have children from previous relationships and are generally happy, except when Stan goes off on one of his periodic drinking bouts. Coming home drunk, he invariably falls out with Andrea, bringing up old grievances. In her words: "it's as if he hates me".

Emma and Phil , a couple in their early 20s, live with their two children baby and a child by Emma's previous relationship in a house where arguments are an everyday occurrence. Nothing is too trivial for them to use as the raw material for a row about and even the question of who takes out the wheely bin can fuel a squabble.

Both couples agreed to have cameras left in their homes to capture a warts-and-all view of their turbulent lives together.

See the results tomorrow night as counsellor Sue Wood tries to restore order and put both couples back on an even keel. Why do men and women argue? It could be that men and women occupy different planets - men are from Mars and women from Venus - but it's probably more simple than that. It's all down to what we both remember has been said and how we each interpret the words.

Mostly the rows are about sex, money, friends and interfering parents.

To celebrate its diamond jubilee, Relate, the couple counselling charity (notice how they've moved on from calling themselves a marriage guidance service), has published the results of a survey on arguments.

The survey was compiled from the results of more than 2,000 detailed questionnaires, sent out to men and women all over Britain.

"Relate's clients have been telling their counsellors what they argue about for the last 60 years. This survey confirms, with factual evidence, the real stresses and tensions couples encounter every year," explained Sarah Bowler, chief executive of National Relate.

"The findings confirm that many couples cope with their arguments.

"For those who don't, talking to a Relate counsellor can help them discover what lies behind their rows and bickering," she added. Here's what the survey found:

*More than 35 per cent of couples argue more than once a week. And couples aged 18-34 with children aged 0-4 are the most argumentative

*Those with household incomes of £10,000 or less are twice as likely to argue daily than those with more than £20,000

*Money rates as the top argument topic, followed by personal habits, children, housework, sex, work, parents and friends

*65 per cent of women who argue about sex argue about how often they make love; 79 per cent of people who earn £20,000 or more argue about frequency of sex and 20 per cent of these feel their sex lives lack imagination and experimentation

*57 per cent of couples see untidiness as an annoying personal habit

*Half of all arguments take place in the evenings and 23 per cent take place before a special event

*Most rows are fast and furious, followed by no communication. Other patterns include shouting matches, bickering and exchanges of accusations

*Most felt that arguments only 'sometimes' resolved problems in their relationships. Others felt they had to just 'sweep the subject under the carpet' and 39 per cent felt they resolved problems by talking over their concerns

*Housework is a common topic for arguments. Two thirds of women respondents say men do too little housework - and men agree!

*Fifty per cent of those who argue about parents do so because they feel their parents interfere

*Forty per cent of arguments over friends arise because of a partner's behaviour in front of friends.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.