I heard the rumour to but with a new doctor I'm not sure if that would work - having one episode then a gap then more. I know series 8 itself will run without a gap so I can see them just doing that and having no special.
August isn't thankfully too far away well 6 months. The only problem with a August series for doctor who is it will be during the summer and doctor who tends to get better live viewing figures later on when it's much darker as people would rather catch up and catch the most of the sun