Drama as a pontiff is placed above God (4,5)
I believe the answer is:
soap opera
'drama' is the definition.
(type of TV drama)
'a pontiff is placed above god' is the wordplay.
'pontiff' becomes 'pope' (synonyms).
'is placed' becomes 'so' (I can't justify this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'above' means one lot of letters go next to another (in a down clue, some letters go above others).
'god' becomes 'Ra' (Egyptian god).
'a'+'pope'='apope'
'apope' after 'so' is 'soapope'.
'soapope'+'ra'='SOAP-OPERA'
'as' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for soap opera that I've seen before include "Eg, Coronation Street" , "Regularly broadcast series" , "Long-running story supposedly true to life" , "that might involve The Woolpack?" , "Melodramatic TV serial" .)