1980 - The dawn of a new decade that got off to a turbulent start. Pope John Paul II drove through Cologne in his Popemobile, while Queen Elisabeth II roared to Lemgo in a black Rolls Royce. A small colourful cube enchanted an entire generation and people danced to the sound of the New German Wave. The first episode of the new WDR series "Unser Land in den 80ern" (Our Country in the 80s) tells the story of a year when the Minister of Health wanted to turn off the juice in the country's discotheques and took on "Theo against the rest of the world". The Ruhr comedy became a box-office hit. And Marius-Müller Westernhagen played himself into the hearts of the audience as the chavvy truck driver Theo. They had already been won over at the Grillo Theatre in Essen. Under the direction of Walter Bockmayer, the first German Rocky Horror Show celebrated its premiere there in January. Actress Rotraut Rieger, who played Janet, remembers a brilliant evening full of freaks and exposed buttocks.