Simon- Nigel doesn't let his hair down that much! Very likely autopilot approach with bank angle limited to 30 degrees max. If a manual approach and exceeding 30 degrees, very likely a caning in the Flight managers office to follow.
If the pilot had been flying level at about 4000' (and being naughty doing so), the nose would be well up then (and lots of noise over central London). We are encouraged/required to carry out a continual descent approach, constantly assessing distance to landing and trying to remain on roughly a 3 degree slope- 15 miles out = 4500' etc. If he was coming in a bit high, it can be difficult to slow the aeroplane down, and an early selection of landing gear does just that. Speedbrakes are not very effective below 250kts and not encouraged with flaps out because of vibration, so dropping the gear a shade early is good practice.