Verify?
I wonder if you've ever asked that of anyone else here.
The source of the actual quotes, described as a "source close to the project," is apparently somebody involved in the production of the film. The BBC "admitted that it had abandoned the VC project but refused to elaborate."
I agree that this is not airtight sourcing, but it is at least as good as the many "anonymous official" stories on which huge controversies have been hung in the past few years.
I think you will agree that had this story been about a leftist issue, and a corporation confronted with it had "refused to elaborate," the credibility issue would never have come up around here.