Born: 5 August 1912, United Kingdom
Died: 8 September 1994
Country most active: United Kingdom
Also known as: Peggy Guido, Cecily Margaret Preston
The following is excerpted from Infinite Women creator Allison Tyra’s book Uncredited: Women’s Overlooked, Misattributed, and Stolen Work.
Take the 2021 film The Dig, based on a novel of the same name about a real archaeological dig in late-1930s Britain. Writing for The Times, Mark Bridge noted that the film portrayed archaeologist Peggy Piggott as inexperienced (even bumbling), and someone who was only hired because her light weight would not disturb the delicate site. In reality, by 1939, Piggott was an experienced archaeologist in her own right, and had earned archaeology degrees from the University of Cambridge and the University of London. She was also presented as married to an older, more experienced male archaeologist, when in fact her husband was only 29 to her 27 (they had met while both were students). Meanwhile, the head archaeologist was in his late 30s but is played by an actor in his 60s, while the female lead, landowner Edith Pretty, was in her mid-50s but is played by 34-year-old Carey Mulligan (replacing Nicole Kidman, who would have been in her early 50s). By presenting men as older, they are also presented as more experienced, mature, and authoritative.
Then there is the addition of the fictional Rory Lomax as a love interest for Piggott—not only is this not necessary, but it also adds to the insistence that she not be taken seriously as a professional who is there to do a job. Making matters worse is that Lomax’s function on the site is as photographer. In reality, two local schoolmistresses, Mercie Lack and Barbara Wagstaff, extensively photographed the site and were completely excluded from both novel and film just to create a romantic storyline that further undermines and trivialises Piggott’s contributions as a professional doing her work.