All will doubtless be revealed in the fullness of time, but it all seemed to go slightly pear-shaped rather close to Manchester. I think it's a reasonable assumption that if either flight crew had envisaged a fiery death in the near future, they'd have dumped it down there and damn the torpedoes.
Given that they didn't, let's grant them the rationality to say "It's under control, but let's not press on to Canananananada over that large stretch of water. Let's get this sorted out". No major hurry, but it would be good to get down somewhere. Being lighter would be good. Drop the gear, go to a flight level where the engines burn more fuel, and get somewhere that the paying punters can be sorted out quickly at.
Which is all rather professional. no?